Chico State men and women nearly sweep CCAA Championships Nine in a row & counting for the men as women also defend title

By Gary Towne, Chico State head coach Saturday, November 6, 2010

Brent Handa leads the ‘Cats pack through 3 miles controlling the front.

WHITTIER, CA -- Through the years the Chico State men’s and women’s cross country teams have enjoyed much success together, with each squad seemingly feeding off the other’s accomplishments. On Saturday after watching the men dominate the competition with a near perfect score of 16, the women somehow found a way to top this performance. Although their 19 point effort was three points shy of the men’s, the women managed to steal 9 of the top 10 places in the race, while absolutely crushing the competition. Both runs were quite impressive to watch and are a direct reflection of the work and commitment that this team has put toward their goals. For the men’s squad, this was the ninth straight CCAA crown, and for the Wildcat women it was their seventh in the past nine years. Both races shared a common 1.3mi flat loop (which both races did twice while the men's race also included an expanded lake loop) around Legg Lake and a smaller loop that passes behind the finish and starting areas before tacking on a final kilometer of fun, to an eventual finish. Men’s 8k Championship: The plan for the Wildcat men was to run as

a pack near the front through the opening miles on the Whittier Narrows Regional Park course, and then press the pace over the final kilometers to the finish, and drop the competition (or at least most of it). The initial execution of the plan went quite well as the Chico men all ran among a 20-25 man lead pack through a 4:45 opening mile (a bit quicker than was hoped). All looked comfortable and ready for what was ahead. During the second and third loops the pack strung out, and by the kilometer to go mark ‘Cats occupied the top 4 spots with an uninvited guest (Pomona’s Ryan Carrell) sneaking into the 5th position just ahead of Chico’s Alan Campos. Having never enjoyed a perfect score for the men’s squad Alan was encouraged to stick with the young Pomona standout, in hopes that he could help that 15 point tally become a reality. (not meant to rhyme). As the men approached the finish stretch Senior Brent Handa (running in a pair of pink Vibram barefoot running “shoes”) strode confidently with frosh teammate Isaac Chavez at his side. Handa would take the win, complimenting his second place ’09 finish nicely, while Chavez would finish .3 seconds back. Anthony Costales who’s quietly enjoyed a very consistent fall for the ‘Cats would take third place overall, and Joey Kochlacs would give the ‘Cats 4/5 of a perfect score.

Amy Schnittger approaching the 3 mile mark with teammates Michelle S. Johnson and Katie Spencer following.

Entering the final straight Pomona’s Carrell sprinted hard while glancing back to see where Campos was. The Chico senior was gaining ground on Carrell and meters were made up, but in the end, the Campos kick had come just a touch too late (finishing just .3 seconds back). Still a 6th place finish and 5 of the top 6 overall is nothing to be disappointed in. With the top-15 earning All CCAA honors, the remaining ‘Cats had plenty to fight for. Manny Mejia (HS teammates with Campos while prepping at nearby El Rancho HS) would take the 7th spot. Miles Dunbar who’s battled an assortment of injuries/illnesses this season gave the ‘Cats 7 of the top 10 with his 10th place effort and Alfonso Cisneros’ 13th place run finished the ‘Cats All CCAA binge (8 total this year). Joseph Rivera and Dayne Gradone (17th and 19th respectively) had “off “ days and just missed out on the All Conference awards. But, all in all a very nice run for the Chico State men’s squad, especially considering that usual #3 runner Adrian Sherrod was rested this weekend in preparation for the upcoming Regional and NCAA competitions. Women’s 6k Championship: The evening before the race the CCAA and Pomona put together an annual pre-race banquet dinner. During this affair the season’s “CCAA Athletes of the Week” were announced, brought to the front of the room, and granted certificates for their accomplishments. By the end of the ceremony 7-8 talented young women stood holding certificates, some having won the award twice even. The only Wildcat represented was Kara Lubieniecki who has enjoyed a great senior season for the ‘Cats. Unfortunately despite strong performances by many of her Chico peers, the CCAA had failed to recognize Any of her teammates during the season. This ‘slight’ of sorts didn’t really mean anything, but it was brought up during the Chico pre-race meeting, and definitely added a bit more motivation to the group as they prepared for the big race the next morning. The plan for the women was pretty similar as that of their male counterparts. The ladies, with Lubieniecki on point being the clear favorite for the individual title, were to get out well by running a solid early pace and

then go to work over the final miles, hopefully separating themselves from most of the competition. All coaches understand how difficult it is to have a full squad of 10 athletes perform at near the top of their abilities on the same day, especially in a championship setting, but this group would do just that. After the first of two loops around the lake was completed the Wildcat women were in great positions with 9 of the 10 running among the Top 20 overall. Lubieniecki, and teammates Jonah Weeks and Shannon McVannel ran among a five-runner lead pack through the 1.5 mile mark having cruised through the mile in just under 5 minutes and 30 seconds.

Since another loop around the fairly large lake had to be navigated before the fans could again see the women as they would approach the 3 mile mark, all coaches and fans could do is hope that their athletes were fairing well in the tougher second loop. As the runners came back into view at 2.8 miles the familiar stride of Kara Lubieniecki appeared to be at the front, but the gait of the second runner overall looked a lot like teammate Jonah Weeks (you might remember her from the Youtube vid last week when she fell into the water during her long run?). Usually the team’s #4-6 runner, Jonah Weeks was running in second overall going into the 3 mile mark, with Pomona’s standout Tiffany Dinh hot on her heels. Following in 4th overall was Chico’s Stephanie Consiglio. Consiglio, who’d yet to run among our team’s top-10 in any race this season, had shown big improvements in recent workouts. Trailing after Consiglio, it was one Wildcat after another without a sign of any other teams. The women had done some amazing work in loop 2 and it was highlighted to everyone present as 9 of the top 10 athletes to hit the 3 mile marker and eventually the finish, were from Chico State! Perhaps one of the best races to happen within the race was that by the ‘Cats #10 Paige Henker who’s struggled with anemia this season. Henker ran just inside the Top-30 early in the race and had moved up methodically along the way. With .7 miles remaining Paige ran in 19th place and yours truly asked her aloud how many of the women in front of her could she catch in the next 4 minutes of running. Paige’s answer (done through the use of legs and lungs of course) was “6” as she would eventually place 13th overall, giving the ‘Cats 10 of the top 13 finishers and of course 10 All CCAA honorees. This was definitely a historic run for the Wildcat women, and sets them up nicely for the regional and NCAA competitions ahead. Of course it should be noted that the women ran without All American Alia Gray who is coming back from a lower leg issue and hopes to be back in the line-up by the time of the NCAA meet in early December. Kudos go out to the alumni, family and friends of the program who made the trek to Legg Lake to give enthusiastic support to the Wildcats Saturday.

Jonah Weeks enjoyed her best outing to date placing 3rd overall.

The 2010 CCAA champions, the Wildcat women’s team post race. All of whom earned All-CCAA honors!

Next Up: The NCAA West Regionals will be held a week from Saturday in Bellingham, WA. Stay tuned for a pre-race preview early next week.

2010 Chico State Men’s Cross Country make it nine straight times as CCAA Champions.

Joey Kochlacs shown with 100m remaining with Pomona’s ‘sweep buster-Carrell’ looking for the hard charging Campos just behind.