Maroon tidal wave gives Chico State men sixth straight CCAA title Wildcat women take second to a quick starting Cal State LA squad

Kayla Silva, Dinora Moran and Shannon McVannell bracket two UCSD runners in the conference final held on the Stanislaus campus

By Gary Towne, Chico State head coach Saturday, October 20, 2007 Turlock, California- Another CCAA cross country championship is in the books and the Wildcats of Chico returned to the trails of Bidwell Park with a team title in one hand, and a runner-up honor in the other. The Chico men made this year’s title look fairly easy, placing their top 6 among the top-7 overall. The women had hoped to win a second straight CCAA crown by upsetting Cal State LA, but this wasn’t to be as the Golden Eagles ran away with the title with relative ease. The women’s race was run first so we’ll start with the Championship 6k. Women’s 6,000m: All season long the CSLA women had been ranked atop the West Region with the ‘Cats somewhere between second and third depending on the week. Having studied LA’s results all season I was a bit puzzled as to why LA who had run with at least a 1:30 1-5 all season would be ranked so high over teams who had similar front runners but a smaller 1-5 gap. Saturday would be the first time the ‘Cats would line up against LA since the NCAA meet last Fall and it was obvious that both teams were excited to see how they stacked up against the other. LA, a fast starting team would surely blaze a quick early pace and the Wildcat women would need to keep them in their sights and reel them in over the final kilometers if they were to win the title. As the gun sounded things began to unfold exactly as expected. Cal State LA sprinted from the start and

established their top runners among the lead group. Even knowing that CSLA liked to go out fast, everyone on-hand to watch the action had to be surprised to see their entire Top-5 cross the mile marker among the top-6 overall with their fifth hitting the mark in the 5:20-5:25 range. Having run that mile myself I can assure you that this was a correctly measured distance. Chico’s Sarah Montez ran in second place through the mile just a few ticks behind Karla Alburez. Individual contender Dianne Dunn ran just off the CSLA 2-5 runners still hitting the mile very fast. The Chico pack of Aisha Kamala, Shannon McVanell, Allison Ivie, Kara Lubieniecki and Lindsay Nelson were placed perfectly just 5-6 seconds behind the CSLA group ahead. UCSD the #10 ranked team in the NCAA had Dunn running in 6th position and a large group just off the ‘Cats pack. The contenders were in position and now it was a matter of seeing how the middle miles would unfold. Waiting at the Two mile mark near one of the only grassy stretches on the entire course (Stanislaus’ “XC” course resembled a road race more than an XC one) CSLA’s Karla Alburez appeared first and with a descent sized lead. Her quick early pace hadn’t allowed Montez to catch up, and now UCSD’s Dianne Dunn had taken control of the second position. When the CSLA pack appeared next and fully in tact it appeared that LA was well on their way to winning the team title. Chico’s Aisha Kamala who’s enjoyed an awesome season to date ran with LA’s #2 Maribel Cespedez, but just behind them were three more CSLA runners. Lindsay Nelson was now among the top 10 overall and was looking strong. Dinora Moran and Shannon McVanell fought hard around the 15th position trying to stay with UCSD’s top group, while Ivie and Lubieniecki were falling off the pace and back into the field. Things weren’t looking great for the ‘Cats at the 1/2 way mark, but thankfully Kayla Silva our usual #8-9 runner was enjoying a very impressive effort. Silva who’d never run in an XC race before this season having spent her early years at Chico State in the “400/800” track group, rolled through the field like a seasoned vet. Positions didn’t change much between 2 miles and the finish with the exception of Silva who’d passed at least 15 runners in that span, working up into the Top-15 by the finish. Hitting the tape first was Alburez with Dunn close to follow. Montez started the Chico scoring at third, then came LA’s 2,3, and 4 runners. Kamala fought hard to nail down her best CCAA finish ever at 7th and LA’s #5 would finish next, ending their scoring with an 8th place finish. Lindsay Nelson would place ninth, giving her another Top-10 CCAA finish. Stanislaus’ talented pair Erin Frier and Cherise McNair would take 10th/11th before UCSD’s 2,3 runners hit the tape. Silva’s 14th place finish earned her All CCAA honors and put the ‘Cats closer to a second place finish. UCSD’s 4/5 runners would finish next, and Dinora Moran ended Chico’s scoring with her 17th place run. Insurance came in the form of Shannon McVanell who crossed the line 2 tenths of a second behind teammate Moran. With their scoring five among the top 8 overall CSLA had won their first CCAA title since 1994. Although UCSD had a fifth scorer in before Chico, the lower places of 2-3 runners Kamala and Nelson as compared to their Triton counterparts gave the ‘Cats second place overall.

Men’s 8,000m: In what was a strange weather morning in Turlock, the winds had picked up between races, and by the start of the men’s 8k winds were gusting fairly well. This would play a factor in the strategy early, as nearly 30 strong ran through the mile together at around 5 minutes. With no one wanting to take the lead into windy stretches, the pack remained quite large for the second mile as well with only 5-7 falling over this segment of the run. At two miles only two Wildcat men had fallen from the pace and appeared to be having rough days (Manny Mejia and Isaias Escobedo). All others looked fairly smooth within the large pack. During the third mile Stanislaus’ 30:50 10k guy Bobby Olivera took a lead and surged ahead of the field. This move was quickly covered by Tollefson and Olivera’s teammate Vicente Moreno (Stanislaus’ usual 2-3 guy). By the 5k Olivera’s move had backfired on him and Tollefson and Moreno now ran alone quickly separating themselves from Olivera and the now scattered pack behind. During the middle miles the ‘Cats top-8 split into two sub-groups, each with a few other runners from different teams. Sophomore Jordan Page who hadn’t made the travel roster a year before for the ‘Cats did much of the work for the first group as the hungry young alum of Oak Park HS looked as if he were on a mission. Following him closely were Soph Michael Wickman and Jr. Angel Marquez. In the second group which trailed the first by 30-40 meters at the 5k were Soph Jordan Fairley, Jr. Ruben Alvidrez and a pair of frosh, Matt LoForte and Brendan Scanlon. With two miles remaining all eight ‘Cats ran among the top 20 overall and several UCSD and Stanislaus guys appeared to be on the edge of falling off these two groups. Up front Tollefson appeared to have the race in hand working against a relative unknown in Moreno, but in a true hometown-upset fashion Moreno threw in a surge at the 4 mile mark that dropped Tollefson. Tim didn’t respond to the move and quickly the race became Moreno’s to enjoy in front of the cheering hometown fans. With Jordan Page leading the way Wickman, Page, and Marquez who had shaken all others from their sub-group now moved closer to Tollefson as they all made their way closer toward the finish. Running an excellent final mile themselves were Jordan Fairley and Ruben Alvidrez who had been controlling things in the next group, before breaking away and eventually chasing down their teammates ahead. The result all of this action was an enjoyable victory by Moreno, and then a sea of maroon. Wildcats had moved into 2,3,4,5,6, and 7 spots and one-by-one they hit the tape in what was a definite show of force. Even with usual Top-5 runner Manny Mejia having stomach problems and finishing a minute back the ‘Cats managed to pack 6 into the top-7 overall. Brendan Scanlon who had been

The Chico state men populate the lead pack early on in the conference final held on the Stanislaus State campus in Turlock

Jordan Page leads teammates Angel Marquez, Michael Wickman in a race done alot on the roads

dropped by Fairley and Alvidrez’ move in the final mile held on to finish 11th, and fellow frosh LoForte kicked hard to hold onto the final All Conference spot. Even though they had rough days (considering each had scored for the team earlier in the season), Manny Mejia and Isaias Escobedo each finished among the top 25 overall. A few final notes: With the victory the Chico men improved their Conference win streak to six, and set themselves up nicely for the regional and national meets ahead. The women’s team didn’t enjoy their best day this season with two usual scorers finishing well behind, but hopefully with some good health and two more weeks of training before the West regionals, this group can bounce back and finish strong. On November 1st the ‘Cats will fly to Boise Idaho for the DII NCAA West Regional Championships. This meet will determine the West Regional representatives to the NCAA Championships to be held two weeks after in Joplin, MO. The top-3 men’s squads from this meet will qualify for NCAA’s, while the top-4 women’s will punch their ticket to the big dance.

Eight Chico State men earn all conference honors (top 15 finishers) but having six of the first seven finishers does not get Gary Towne CCAA men's coach of the year.

Four Chico State women (Montez, Kamala, Silva and Nelson) make up the All Conference team