Race day saw midday temperatures warm into the 70s under sunny skies. The challenging course was in great shape with very few muddy spots and plenty of tough hills to climb with each 3k loop. The women's course was comprised of two 3k loops and the men ran the same loops with an additional 4k loop sandwiched between. Each of the 3k loops started with a net downhill first mile and a tougher second mile that included a very challenging "shoe tree hill" that sorted out the field quite well as the race wore on. The men's 4k loop was basically the regular 3k circuit with an additional 1k finger that had another very challenging hill that faced the athletes just beyond the halfway mark.
Women's 6k Championships:
The women's race was predictably fast from the start. With a net downhill two time defending champ Jessica Pixler battled Shippensburg State's Neely Spence (USATF Junior XC Champ) from the front, with a long line of women close to follow. Pixler and Spence's split at the mile mark was a sizzling 5:01-:02. West region runner-up Sarah Porter (Western Washington) followed in 5th at 5:08ish. Not too far behind was Chico's Tori Tyler battling with CCAA champ and '08 NCAA Top-10 finisher Vivien Wadeck. Normally this aggressive pace wouldn't be considered too tough for the gritty Chico runner who was the CA state meet 3200m champ while a senior at Gunn HS. However Tori has only been running 2-3 days a week for most of the season (various injuries), making her situation quite precarious.
Chico teammates Alia Gray and Kara Lubieniecki, who were both searching for their first XC All American honors (Alia earned track AA honors last spring), were only 10 seconds back and running among the top 40. Following closely behind the pair was Julie Shaw who hit the mile at 5:24, but already looked spent from the process. Just behind Julie was frosh Paige Henker who hit the mile in a very aggressive 5:30. This wouldn't have been too scary except for the fact that Paige's mile PR is only 5:24. With such a quick first mile Paige would hit a pretty big wall going up Shoe Tree Hill and the rest of the race unfortunately was a gradual slow-down. Sophomore Shannon Rich crossed the mile around 5:35 and looked in good control of her effort as did teammate Stephanie Consiglio who was racing for the first time in uniform since the SF Invitational due to injuries and illness. Position-wise the 'Cats were out a bit farther up in the field than I'd hoped, given the difficulty of the course, but I can't fault them for taking the bull by the horns and going for it on Saturday.
The Chico women's fast early pace left loop two a much tougher circuit. Tori held as best she could to leaders but even so was losing a few places with each mile. While Tori was holding on as best she could, teammates Alia Gray and Kara Lubieniecki made their way deeper into the top 40. Gray had separated from Kara and had put about 10 seconds on her teammate by 5k, but Kara rallied well over the final kilometer before catching and passing Alia over the final stretch. Tyler, despite losing a few more places over the final 200m, managed a very impressive 27th place finish to earn her third All American honor. Kara, using her big kick over the final 100m, finished 32nd place just 7 ticks of the clock behind Tyler, to earn her first All American certificate. Finishing only two places back was Alia Gray who notched her second AA award (1st for XC) and gave the 'Cats three All Americans on the day.
A little further back and running a very controlled and tough race was Stephanie Consiglio. Consiglio, who hadn't made the CCAA or West Region rosters, but ran a solid 18:05 at the recent Almond Bowl 5k, which was deemed enough for the Chico coaches to plug her into the NCAA line-up. This proved to be a great move as Consiglio rolled through the field steadily over the second loop and closed well, to narrowly miss a top 50 finish in the end. Consiglio hit the tape only 15 seconds shy of the final All American place but gave the Chico crew a very solid #4.
An agonizing thirty-five seconds expired before the 'Cats #5 crossed the line, and the thirty four places between our 4th and 5th runners proved to be the difference between a top-4 trophy and the eventual sixth place finish. To her credit, Shannon Rich our usual #6-7 runner had run a solid effort on Saturday but the rough and real rough outings by Paige Henker and Julie Shaw proved costly to the 'Cats chances for hardware.
As highlighted earlier though, the 'Cat women had finished with the team's second lowest total score in the history of the program (172) and would have finished second place with such a score in the '07 championships and third place in 2008! Although we missed the mark of earning a team trophy the women of Chico can be quite proud of producing one of the best NCAA runs that any Chico team has at these championships.
On a side note, the West Region proved that they were clearly the best as West Region teams took 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th places overall. Given that each region is given two auto marks to the ncaa championships each year and an additional spot for every team that finishes in the Top-8 at the NCAA championships the season before, the West Region will now send 6 teams to the NCAA meet next fall!
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| Stephanie Consiglio (51), and Shannon Rich (62) approx 1/2 mile into the 6k. (Towne photo)
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Men's 10k race:
Having watched the women get out a bit too aggressively in the first mile of the run, I made it clear to the guys to run their races and to not get lured out too quickly given the difficult layout that faced them. With temperatures still rising, and a very difficult course ahead, it was important that they measured their early intensity well, and stayed active throughout the race.
Having set up a position approximately 700m in, and then at the mile mark, the guys looked to be in perfect position for the difficult 5 miles that lie ahead. All seven Chico men appeared to be operating within the Top 100, with our top few running in the 50's or 60's by the mile mark. With the leaders going through the mile in 4:30-4:35 I was happy to see our guys hitting the mile in a more modest 4:44-4:55 pace. However despite the slower early pace many of the guys looked a bit more ragged than I would have hoped when I saw them at the 5k mark, as they headed into the back loop of the 4k loop.
Senior Jimmy Elam looked awesome as he went into the 1k finger just outside the Top-20 overall, and back out of it in 18th place with 4k remaining in the race. Teammates Brendan Scanlon and Joey Kochlacs also looked quite well considering that they were our #6 and 7 runners at the recent West Regionals.
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