2013 Cross Country campaign opens in Seattle's Lincoln Park NCAA rule changes allow DI schools not to be embaressed by Chico State this time around

By Gary Towne, Chico State head coach Saturday September 14, 2013

Eventual race winner Husky Aaron Nelson pulls away from Chico State's Isaac Chavez on the final straight

Seattle, Washington -- The Chico State Wildcats’ 2013 cross country season officially got under way on Saturday at the University of Washington's Sundodger Invitational held in Seattle, WA. The ‘Cats would send 3 teams to the line in separate races on the Lincoln Park course, and each enjoyed successful runs against some stout competition. On the men’s side the Wildcats would run 7 men in the Invitational race, but due to new NCAA rules that mandate competition between DI teams be scored separate from other divisions, our group wouldn’t officially be scored. Thankfully the Washington staff allowed our men’s group to run in the DI race anyhow, and the guys would go on to unofficially finish 4th overall, just 4 points behind second place Washington State, and 1 point off Gonzaga’s tally. With our top 7 men running in the invitational race, and our #8 Alan Cuevas resting for precautionary reasons, the ‘Cats #9-17 men would line up against Nationally ranked Western Washington’s A squad, as well as #4 ranked (NAIA) University of British Columbia and a host of other A teams. One could argue that the most impressive run of the day

between the three Wildcat squads was this group of men as they completely hammered the competition while putting 6 in the Top-15 in tallying a miniscule 17 second 1-6 split to take top honors in the open race. Meanwhile the Wildcat women ran into a two headed Canadian buzz-saw of sorts as defending NAIA National Champions U of British Columbia ran to a convincing victory. Newly minted DII opponents Simon Fraser would finish 2nd overall pulling off the mild upset over our Wildcats, but Chico would take a solid third place in the 18-team field. Now off to the races.. We’ll start with the Men’s Invitational run first. Men’s Invitational 8K Race: The ‘Cats would start Saturday’s race a bit short-handed with 2010 CCAA 3rd placer Jonah Weeks unable to make the trip due to academic obligations. Also unable to join the fun (for precautionary reasons) was RS Frosh Quetta Peinado who was a 17:42 5k performer on the track last spring. In any event, a very capable and motivated group of harriers took to the course in Portland in hopes of helping the team to a solid finish. From the gun Ayla Granados (Butte College’s Female Athlete of the Year for ’11-’12) led the Wildcat charge, operating just inside the Top 20. Following closely behind were returning All Region runners Amy Schnittger, and Paige Henker. True frosh Anna Barcelo (who we were considering red shirting this season) was running unattached and also among the top 30 overall as the fast moving pack passed the mile mark. Sara Mikesell, Rebekah Bahra and red shirting true frosh Haley Kroll ran among the top half of the field, waiting for the excitement ahead to let up before making a move forward through the field. Since Day-1 of cross country practice it has been known that Isaac Chavez is Extra motivated this fall. The fifth year senior has seen some ebbs and flows during his career as a ‘Cat, but an “ebb” in his case was a mildly disappointing 13th place finish at the ’12 NCAA Championships (he was 5th as a frosh and 3rd as a soph). This season Isaac is on a mission, and he’s determined to bring his teammates along for a great ride, and Saturday was the beginning of this ride. Running in a very talented field of DI competitors Chavez tucked into the lead pack with his teammates in the early going and bided his time for the real racing to begin. With a modest early pace (4:49 mile) all 7 ‘Cats ran among the 40ish strong lead pack in the early going. As runners looped the 2k oval course that winds through scenic Forest Park, the ‘Cats were very well placed among the lead pack for the first half of the race. During the second half the lead pack predictably began to unravel to some degree, and by 3 miles Chavez and teammates Dayne Gradone and Alex McGuirk were the last ‘Cats left in the main group of leaders. Johnny Sanchez, Aaron Thomas, Aaron Mora (Debuting for the ‘Cats after red shirting his true frosh year in ’12) ran together in a chase pack and teammate Alfonso Cisneros was just a few strides behind.

Wildcat's Dayne Gradone leaves nothing out on the course as he sprints to a Top-10 finish in the Men’s Invite race

(L-R) Phil Graber, Geoff Bogan, and Germay Tesfai leading the chase pack in the Men’s Open race

As the race entered the final mile a group of 3 composed of Washington’s Aaron Nelson, Tyler King and Chico’s Chavez broke from the front of the pack. King would be the first to crack from this group and with a quarter mile remaining Chavez trailed the hometown favorite Nelson by just a few strides. Unfortunately Chavez was unable to make up this small piece of real-estate down the stretch, but he did close well en-route to posting his first ever sub 24minute XC 8k. A strong final stretch by Dayne Gradone gave the ‘Cats two among the Top-10. Alex McGuirk (Running in the ‘Cats top-7 for the first time) finished strong as well with a 22nd place effort. Cisneros, Mora, Thomas, and Sanchez would all finish in the next 11 seconds to wrap up the ‘Cats day, having put their entire 7 in the Top-29 overall. When first viewing the results and seeing that the ‘Cats placed 7 well ahead of Washington State and Gonzaga’s fifth and final scorers, it appears that we had placed second to the Huskies, but further review shows that most of the competitors between the ‘Cats 7th finisher and the final scorers for Wash. St. and Gonzaga were either UW 8+ runners or Unnat. Athletes.. Therefore, they don’t add points to the scores of the Cougars and Buldogs. The end result has the ‘Cats finishing 4th overall just 4 points shy of Washington State’s second place total, and only 1 point behind Gonzaga. A great race for the Wildcat men nonetheless! Women’s Open 6k: The 2013 Chico State’s women’s cross country team knows it’s going to have to establish it’s own identity as the season goes on. Having graduated a large core of the 2012 squad that won CCAA and West Region titles and finished 5th at the NCAA Championships, this year’s squad has a very youthful look to it. Making their challenge a bit tougher, injuries/illness have taken out several of our top returners, so everyone took a deep breath before the start of Saturday’s women’s race, hoping this relatively inexperienced group could make some thing happen. Thankfully the ’13 version reacted to the big meet pressures with a solid first meet showing. Leading the charge from the front was Senior Ayla Granados. Granados finished 3rd in the West Regional a year ago for the ‘Cats and picked up where she’d left off with a very nicely run 5th place 21:34 effort for the 6k course. Granados ran the entire race in or near the front pack and held on well over the tough final kilometer (which is mostly uphill). After struggling through a very rough RS Frosh year Quetta Peinado showed that recent workouts do indeed point toward a nice breakthrough. The sophomore moved through the field quite well en-route to an eventual 14th place finish. Running her usual strong second half of the race Sara Mikesell rolled through fellow competitors over the final 2 miles to also notch a top-20 finish (16th respectively). Rebekah Bahra, one of the few returning athletes with championship experience ran a steady race, hitting the tape 28th overall (22:22 overall time). In the next 20 seconds 7 more ‘Cats would cross the finish with only a single senior among them. Perhaps the best run out of this group was that of Jackie Mansoor who passed nearly half of the field during her eventual 43rd place effort. As the scores were tallied it was evident that we lacked the low sticks to compete with UBC and Simon Fraser, but hopefully as the season progresses and we continue to develop fitness and get some of our key runners back healthy, we can challenge the S.F. squad and Alaska Anchorage for a regional title once again.

Quetta Peinado enjoying a successful return to racing after a year of injury, seen here with Trinity Western Fiona Benson, Club NW's Jane Larsen and Seattle Pacific's McKayla Fricker.

(L-R) Jacquie Adams, Bailey Henshaw, and Jordan Walsh working as a group at mid race.

Men’s Open 8K Race:: Our men’s open performance on Saturday was one of the better regular-season overall team performances that I can remember. As previously mentioned, the ‘Cats would send 9 uniformed men to the line in this race (#9-#17 runners on the roster), Plus 2 red shirting true frosh who travelled up on their own to compete unnatached. All 11 men ran between 25:03-25:33 for the 8k race, and finished among the Top-26 overall in a race with almost 200 finishers. The men’s team also managed to defeat 18th ranked Western Washington and 4th ranked (NAIA) University of British Columbia. As the race unfolded Phil Graber, Geoff Hull, Geoff Bogan, Ryan Rampoldi, and Germay Tesfai all ran among a main lead pack. Their teammates followed somewhat closely in smaller packs, or individually, but there was little doubt that the familiarity of seeing so many teammates near the front of the race helped each of the guys to solid performances. As the race progressed Western Washington alum Dak Riak (’12 XC All American and 5th in region) took a commanding lead and separated from the front pack. Chico’s RS Soph Geoff Bogan led the chase group for a stretch, before falling back, and then it became teammate Germay Tesfai’s turn to chase Riak. Tesfai suffered the same fate as Bogan had, as he was caught and dropped by the chase group with over a mile remaining. As the lead pack separated in the final mile Chico native Phil Graber emerged looking strong and full of life, eventually closing well for a 5th place finish. Much improved RS Frosh Ryan Rampoldi who had his nose among the lead group throughout closed well while notching his best XC race to date. Not to be outdone in the best race to date category, junior teammate Geoff Hull finished very well while notching an 8th place effort (25:09). Red shirting frosh Nick Valenzuela gave the ‘Cats another of the Top-10 spots, with his 10th place run. Bogan would hold on well for 11th and teammate Tommy McGuan who has missed much of the past 2 years with injury enjoyed a great comeback race while grinding his way to a 14th place effort. Germay Tesfai would finish a relatively disappointing 15th, but showed flashes of the talent and and toughness that took him to 14:30/30:33 on the track last spring. True frosh Kyle Medina would run his first 8k in 25:31 while leading RS frosh Cesar Patino to a big 25:31 PR as well. Rogan Meza would follow just a second back, with Andrew Cobourn closing the ‘Cats day with an impressive 25:33 effort (26th overall). After watching this race I have no doubts that if it were allowed, Chico could qualify at least 2 teams to the NCAA Championships this fall. The depth of the current roster is phenomenal and today’s run was a great opportunity for our developing guys to showcase this strength. Next up: The ‘Cats will send a split roster to Stanford and Folsom races in two weeks. Stanford allows only 10 per gender to race in their invitational, so the remainder of our roster will race in an open competition in Folsom, CA the same morning. Stay Tuned!

Olivia Watt (#68) and Sadie Gastelum (#64), shown mid race, have improved Tremendously since the fall of ‘12. Wildcat Jackie Adams, Lora James, Tiffany Heflin trail behind.

Chico State men posing after the Invitational 8K race. (L-R Thomas, Gradone, Chavez, Cisneros, McGuirk, Mora, Sanchez.