Dear Chico State Cross Country Fans, On Saturday September 24, 2005 nearly 100 cross country teams representing universities across the nation converged on the Stanford University Golf Course for the Stanford Cross Country Invitational. Race formats that combined teams from all Divisions (I, II, III, NAIA) created high powered fields and fast times. After the dust had settled, two programs rose to the top of the list in the two major university races, Stanford University, and Cal Sate Chico. Yes the Wildcats of Chico, rose to the top of the stack that included many Division I opponents, finishing second behind the Cardinal in both the men’s Championship 8k, and the women’s championship 6k. Led again by the strong front running of Katie Lee and Scott Bauhs, the Wildcats again established themselves as one of the strongest distance running programs on the west coast, regardless of division. We’ll start with the Men’s 8,000m Championship event. Men’s Championship 8k Knowing that this would be their final major test before the NCAA championships, and running with a sense of purpose that comes with the often lack of respect given to Division II teams, the Chico State men toed the line on Saturday as a team on a mission. This would be the chance to show all those who were watching, what the Chico program was all about. The pace from the start was fast and furious and the Wildcats established themselves from the gun among the leaders of the race. Josh McDougal a sophomore returning DI All American from Liberty University shared the early lead with 2-time Foot Locker top-10 guy Garrett Heath of Stanford. Chico’s Scott Bauhs started relatively conservative, but by the mile had surged up to the shoulders of Stanford’s lead group of Bret Gotcher (28:50’s 10kPR), Neff Aria (13:44 5k PR), and Forest Tahdooahnippah (14:10/29:30 credentials). Bauhs was in good company. Not to be left out with the quick early running the trio of Pat Boivin, Charlie Serrano, and Beau Bettinger each ran within the top 20 by the mile mark (reached in the mid 4:30’s). By the two mile mark things hadn’t changed much and the pace was still hot. Scott tore through in the mid 9:20’s w/ Pat,Charlie, and Beau crossing before nine minutes-thirty seconds had expired. At the three mile mark McDougal had a solid lead on the field and now Bauhs pressed the pace of the main chase group with the quick Stanford runners. Boivin, Serrano, and Bettinger now ran alone between groups trying to catch Scott’s group ahead. Running in a large group behind was Kyle Ivie who was also having a great day, splitting through 3mi well under 5 min pace per mile. Antonio Miramontes rolled through 3mi looking very solid and was now running among the top 40 in the field. Not to be left out in the category of racing with heart and pride was Tim Tollefson who was running Pr’s through the 3 mile mark after having gone out VERY aggressively. Holding things together well over the final 2 miles which included the very difficult hills of the outer loop, the ‘Cats raced to the line with a top team finish assured. Stanford, just too deep in former HS All Americans wouldn’t be denied on this day as Heath, Gotcher and Araia finished 4,5,6 overall. Bauhs would start the clock for a miniscule 1-5 Wildcat spread (26 seconds) as he crossed the line in a blazing 24:04 mark. Boivin, Serrano, and Bettinger would claim 12th, 13th, and 14th places overall giving the ‘Cats 4 of their needed 5 scorers. Having moved up well throughout, Kyle Ivie stopped the clock at 24:30. With 5 in the top 21 overall the Wilcats finished 2nd behind the Stanford Cardinal 51-67. Ironically the two squads are both ranked 4th nationally (for DI and DII). Women’s 6,000m Championship Event: Although the women didn’t enjoy a near perfect performance as the men had before them, they once again found a way to get the job done in a high powered field that included 9 DI schools out of the eventual top 10. Hot off her big win at the Irvine Invit, Chico’s Katie Lee put herself among the top 10 from the gun and split around 5:20 for the initial mile. Teammates Jen James, Missy Lendl, Ciara Harvey, Lindsay Nelson, and Julie Shaw placed themselves among the top 40-60 overall through the mile. Lee, who may have approached the initial kilometers just a bit too aggressively lost some time on the leaders as the runners negotiated the difficult hills on the back loop, but still hung tough as the race neared the final stretch. James moved up very well as she had the year previous, and ran among the top 25 by the 3 mile marker. Ciara Harvey always a tough competitor followed close behind James and Lendl and Nelson kept within seconds of Harvey. Frosh Julie Shaw had fallen quite some distance behind the top ‘Cats as she dealt with some calf issues that had flared up in the early stages of the race. RS frosh Megan Williams also struggled somewhat but was still running among the top half of the field. Stanford’s women’s team which is just as loaded with top HS talent as it’s men, cruised to an easy victory today. Running with just over a :30 1-5 spread and placing it’s top 5 among the top 41 overall, the Wildcats of Chico would nail down the second place finish in the team battle, beating DI defending West Coast Conference champ U of Portland by 15 points. The women’s team average of 22:35 on the 6k layout was a 9 second average improvement over last year’s 22:44 mark. Women’s 4,000m Short Course Race: (Chico ran Runners #8-#16 on squad in this race) The Wildcats would use the relatively new 4k race to give more of their runners an opportunity to score, while highlighting the depth of the squad. Most of the competing teams in the 4k were “A” squads, so the competition level was definitely of high quality. Senior Dallase Scott who continues to improve after starting the season injured, led the way for the ‘Cats with her solid 15:28 clocking. Only three ticks of the clock back was Sophomore Krista Roessler, who is also returning from injury and looking strong. Hilary Oppido, Lindsey Brown, and Nancy Cavaletto would round out the ‘Cats top 5, while placing them just inside the top 10 teams overall, out of 17 competing teams. The Chico 4k crew defeated several conference and regional foe, beating Humboldt, Monteray Bay, Sonoma St, and SF State. A nice outing for the ladies! Men’s Open 8k: Last year Chico coaches decided to enter a B squad in the men’s short course 4k because it was a scored event and the open 8k wasn’t. This year the coaches decided to go with the 8k event knowing it was more specific to what the men are training for in terms of distance. This race was a lot of fun to watch develop as there were many changes in the lead and the ‘Cats would put on a clinic of how to run an 8k event as a group. Being an open event the Wildcats had runners #8-16 running in uniform, while red shirts also joined the party, gaining valuable experience for future years of running in uniform. As you can see below the ‘Cats dominated this race eventually placing 10 runners of Chico affiliation in the top 13 overall. Aaron Torres and Alex Duenas led the early stages of the race while athletes from other schools mixed it up with the lead group of Chico runners behind. Rory Kuykendall who races the middle and final miles quite well, took the lead at around mid race, and appeared to be on his way to victory. BUT teammate and training partner Nick Clinton ran the final 2 miles in amazing fashion, reeling in the lead pack, and eventually bridging up to Kuykendall. With 4:00 1500m wheels, the finishing kick and the eventual victory belonged to Clinton. By 3.5 miles the Wildcats occupied the entire top 5 places, and this wouldn’t change to the finish as Torres, DiMeo, and Rollin gave the ‘Cats an unofficial 15 point score while packing in well. Although it’s never fun competing against your teammates, the guys admitted that it was fun running as a pack and working well together. Women’s Open 5,000m Red Shirting teammates and roommates, Allison Ivie and Amy Cranford competed in the women’s open 5k. Ivie recorded a nice PR while competing closely with some top competition. Ivie ran almost the entire race with UCSB redshirting frosh Erin Schuyler a sub 5 min HS 1600m performer. Ivie’s 19:54 finish time would have placed very well in the earlier HS sections. Cranford also ran strong to a 78th place finish in 24:01. Place No. Name Yr University Wopen Pace ===== ===== ====================== == ==================== ===== ===== 1 4628 Kim Ramirez SEE JANE RUN 18:32 5:58 2 4859 Ashley Hadway SR 3UNATTACHED 18:52 6:05 3 4509 Stephene Gaitan SO PORTLAND 19:18 6:13 4 4510 Stacy Holtmann FR PORTLAND 19:20 6:14 5 4899 Michelle Born FR USF 19:45 6:22 6 4989 Erin Schuyler FR UCSB -UNATTACHED 19:51 6:24 7 4860 Allison Ivie FR 4UNATTACHED 19:54 6:25 8 4398 Melis Garner SR NEVADA 20:10 6:30 9 4584 Valerie Weilert JR SAN JOSE STATE 20:13 6:31 10 4434 Brittney Ballin SO NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR 20:15 6:31 11 4609 Lauren Swigart JR SANTA CLARA 20:16 6:32 12 4867 Jenny Perham FR 10UNATTACHED 20:18 6:32 13 4582 Tabitha Guzman JR SAN JOSE STATE 20:21 6:33 14 4903 Ashton LeSieur FR USF 20:22 6:34 15 4606 Adriane Puetz SO SANTA CLARA 20:30 6:36 16 4581 Laura Fairly JR SAN JOSE STATE 20:35 6:38 17 4957 Kelly Stockwell FR WESTMONT 20:41 6:40 18 4583 Jenna Hicks FR SAN JOSE STATE 20:42 6:40 19 4401 Jenna Huber SR NEVADA 20:46 6:41 20 4407 Yesenia Archuleta FR NEW MEXICO 20:48 6:42 72 Amy Cranford Fr Unnat 24:01 95 total finishers Next Up: The ‘Cats return to action next weekend at the annual Willamette Invit in Salem, OR. Both teams are the defending champions of this meet and will look to hopefully repeat in ’05. Thanks so much for your continued support and happy running! Sincerely, Gary Towne