Men's 8K: A start time of 10AM allowed the men knowledge of the success of their teammates in LA (isn’t modern technology wonderful?), and this fired them up to do well (a little ribbing-all in good fun-was had at Alan Campos’s expense for not completing the perfect Chico sweep, but many of us were absolutely thrilled for Alan, as he is an excellent team leader and one of the hardest workers in the program). The course was hard-packed dirt, and although narrow in some sections, relatively wide and very flat. The weather was extremely favorable, in the mid-to-low 60s, so fast times were expected. From the start, Stanford’s B-squad threw down the hammer. Yours truly wasn’t exactly at the mile mark (close enough), but based on feedback from athletes, a foursome of Stanford runners hit the mile in mid-4:40s, with Robbie Reid (red-shirt from Santa Clara), Matt Miller (red-shirt from Cal), Johnny Sanchez (red-shirting Chico frosh), and Dylan Anthony (red-shirting Chico frosh) in the mix. Donald Truesdell (JR) led the Chico State men through the mile in 4:52, with Julio Jimenez (SR), Zachary Zadrozna (FR), and Brendan Scanlon (SR) within 5-6 seconds. Sprinkled among and slightly behind the Chico athletes were the numerous red-shirt freshmen from Chico’s huge class, many running their last 8k of the season.
The next time the athletes were seen (~3 miles), Reid had broken away and built up a comfortable lead. Sanchez was still in a pack of 4-5 runners all battling for 2nd place. Dylan had fallen off some, but was still looking good. Zach Zadrozna had moved up and had taken the number one Chico spot, with Donald Truesdell and Brendan Scanlon (who had been running for just 3 weeks after missing most of the season with a back injury) not far back. Freshmen Dan Parker, Tommy McGuan, Will Melton (also running his first race of the year after starting the season late due to a stress fracture last spring and an infection from appendicitis in August), Geoff Hull (also running his first race, after breaking his ankle at camp and missing ~1 month of training before returning to running), Jeremy Brummitt, Kevin Svahn, Dillon Breen, and Alex McGuirk were sprinkled in and among the Chico athletes. Rogan Meza (FR), Chico’s 5th, was right with his red-shirt teammates as the men set out for their last loops.
Reid would hold on for the win in an impressive 24:10, but finishing 3rd was red-shirt Johnny Sanchez. The Roosevelt High (Fresno) product had an excellent race, recording a super-fine 8k PR of 24:33. Only 15 seconds back, fellow red-shirt Dylan Anthony (Kodiak, AK) finished a superb run of his own, stopping the clock with a time of 24:48 in 9th place, another solid PR. Leading Chico State home in 13th place was freshman Zach Zadrozna, who also enjoyed a solid 8k PR of 25:09. Also riding the PR train were Tommy McGuan (16th 25:12), Will Melton (19th, 25:17 in his 1st 8k ever!), and Donald Truesdell (20th, 25:19). Finishing just behind Donald was Brendan Scanlon, who finished 22nd and clocked a solid 25:25-not bad for 3 weeks of running (yours truly mixed his and Julio’s bibs up, hence the screw-up in the results)! Dan Parker finished 24th, capping a fine run and PR of his own (25:27). Julio Jimenez was Chico’s 4th finisher, claiming 28th place in a time of 25:37 in his last XC race in a Wildcat jersey. Red-shirts Dillon Breen and Alex McGuirk were next across the line in 36th and 37th-just off their 8k PRs, but recording solid 25:50 and 25:53 outings, respectively. Jeremy Brummitt (40th, 26:05), Geoff Hull (46th 26:16-1st 8k), Kevin Svahn (47th, 26:18) were next across the line. Rounding out the scoring for Chico State was Rogan Meza, in 56th. Rogan was a bit off his 26:40 PR, but completed the race as a solid #5 for Chico nonetheless. Unfortunately, UC Davis did not post team scores after the top-3 teams. With the unattached athletes, Chico State would have scored 139 points, so after removing the unattached runners, the men likely would have finished a respectable 4th or 5th as a team. Of note is how the red-shirts would have done had they been a team: they would have been 4th, with 71 points, just 9 back from the UC Davis “B” team.
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