we stayed the night before heading up the Sequoia Park Highway where the team enjoyed a spectacular long run on the High Sierra Trail. Several athletes were treated to a sighting of two bear cubs (thankfully the mother wasn't too nearby) as they finished their runs. A team picture was taken at the base of one of the giant Sequoia trees and the team circled the same tree for the classic Chico State XC Pre Race chant. Although it was a long drive home from Sequoia National Park the teams arrived back in Chico on Sunday night completely exhausted and ready for bed (after a shower of course).
Now on to the races: This year's Aztec Invite was by far the most competitive version of the meet in some time. Having kept the same course for the better part of the 64 year history of this meet, times from the '08 event were faster up front and deeper than ever. It seemed as though many of the teams present (especially on the women's side) had their best squads ever. With such a high level of competition there would be little room for error for each squad if a top team finish was to occur. We'll start with the Women's Invitational race first:
Women's Invitational 5k. Comparing results from last year's race to this years' shows just how deep the fields were in the 2008 competition. In 2007 only 27 women broke the 19 minute mark for the 5k layout. This year Chico's soph Kara Lubieniecki was 51st overall with a 18:59 mark. A mix of solid DI competition and nationally ranked DII, and NAIA teams produced one of the best competitions in some time. From the gun Azusa's Kenyan standout Jacky Kipwambok (4:23, 16:30's, 34:30's track PR's) controlled the tempo from the front. Chico's Tori Tyler ran at the tail end of the top 10 flying through the somewhat downhill mile in 5:30. Soph's Kara Lubieniecki and Shannon McVannel followed running somewhere just inside the top 50 at the mile mark. RS Frosh Alia Gray, Katie Spencer and Hannah Dillard all looked solid running just inside the first half of the field. Gray moved through the field well in the middle and final miles of the race, as did fellow frosh Stephanie Consiglio. As Kipwambok approached the finish stretch the Chico contingent present to cheer on the Wildcats searched for the 'Cats first runner. Unfortunately 32 runners filed through before the familiar stride of Sophomore Shannon McVannel hit the final stretch. Shannon stopped the clock in 18:49 and started the 'Cats scoring with her 33rd place effort. Six seconds later Gray crossed in 43rd place and Lubieniecki and Tyler were quick to follow as Chico now had a 1-4 split of only :10 seconds. Katie Spencer ended the scoring for the 'Cats with her 63rd place finish (19:08) and Hannah Dillard looked solid with her 19:10 effort. Jessica Nelson, Stephanie Consiglio and Colleen Joyce all finished within 10 seconds of one another as the 'Cats had all 9 uniformed runners finish within 48 seconds. Red Shirting frosh Samantha Racine entered in the race as an unnatached runner also dipped under 20 minutes with her 103rd place finish respectively.
Admittedly it was a bit of a shock to not finish among the top 10 in the team scoring with this women's team, but after analyzing the results more closely it was obvious that we were very close to finishing among the top 5 teams overall and our team time compared quite favorably when held up to past years' results on this course. In fact in 2000 when the 'Cats ran here most recently Paige Osborn was Chico's top finisher at 19:13. Our #2 that day crossed the finish at 20:00, #3-20:12, #4-20:14, and #5-20:17. The 'Cats would go on to finish that year with a Top-10 NCAA finish. This year's 'Cats went 18:49, 18:55, 18:59, 19:01, 19:08, 19:10, 19:26, 19:30, and 19:37! Add results from the Women's Open race where the Wildcats "B" squad Won the Team title and you have a few more sub 20 minute marks to add to the list: Kayla Silva (coming off a summer bike accident and still working into shape) finished in 19:34 and RS Frosh Shannon Rich looked sharp finishing in 19:35! Another great result was turned in by red shirting frosh Amy Schnittger a product of Aptos HS. Amy finished 2nd overall in the Open race recording an impressive 19:15 mark! As the women continue to develop through the season, and as we move this large deep group forward in fields such as this, we should have a lot to look forward to.
Men's 8k Invitational Race: Mirroring the women's race with the quality of runners in this year's field the men's 8k was a highly competitive affair. In 2007 only 10 men broke 26 minutes for the difficult 8k layout. This year Chico's Red Shirting frosh Anthony Solis was the first athlete Not to break 26:00 placing 39th overall in 26:01! In 2007 Air Force was the team champs with their top 5 posting the following times: 25:49, 25:55, 25:57, 26:01, and 26:01. This year Chico State's men's top-5 were: 25:16, 25:46, 25:47, 25:56, and 25:58 and this was good for only 5th overall in the team scoring. Running without #1 Scott Bauhs and with a sick Michael Wickman (All West Region-'07), the Cats still managed a solid team finish. Sophomore Brendan Scanlon led the way with a smooth evenly paced effort over the difficult Balboa Park layout. The only other 'Cat to put himself among the leaders early was Junior Thomas Whitcomb. Whitcomb ran among the top 25 overall for nearly half the race before fading a bit over the final kilometers. Moving up through the pack well were Angel Marquez, Jordan Fairley and Beau Rogers. Also enjoying impressive efforts were red shirting frosh Anthony Solis and Adrian Sherrod who would both run in the 26:'0's on this day.
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