San Diego, CA -- The men's and women's cross country teams from Chico State made the trek to San Diego this weekend to compete in UCSD's annual Triton Invitational and ran two completely different races, while enjoying the same winning outcome. The women eeked out a 2 point victory over the host Tritons, while the men trounced the field with a 15 point perfect score. The weekend glimpse at our Southern California competition for the upcoming CCAA Championships should prove valuable for both squads who look to keep their CCAA winning streaks alive.
Women's 6K: If the women's race were to be compared to a basketball game, the Triton Invitational would have first been termed a game of Chico State Vs the UCSD Tritons. In this game the Wildcats couldn't sink a bucket for nearly the entire first quarter and only a few in the second.. while the host Tritons were raining threes and couldn't miss in the opening periods. At the half the score would have been something in the neighborhood of 35-15 Tritons, with most of Chico's scoring having come in an average second period. After a strongly worded half time speech by yours truly (i.e. me yelling from the forested course that we HAD to move up) the 'Cats would storm back in the second half capped by huge three pointers by Seniors Ayla Granados and Sara Mikesell, and some nice contributions by youngsters Sadie Gastelum and Jordan Walsh.
Well, of course Saturday wasn't a basketball game, but the 'Cats were certainly well behind the host Tritons in the early going. By the mile mark UCSD had 4-5 athletes running in the lead pack with Chico's Ayla Granados, and another 3 running in a chase group with 'Cats #2 Sara Mikesell. Bekah Bahra Chico's #3 had another small group of Tritons in her midst as well, while our largest pack (#'s 4-10ish) ran some 30-40 meters off this group. Of course there was plenty of running left, and the UCSD layout is not a forgiving one (quite hilly) so yours truly didn't panic at the early deficit.
The tide finally began to turn near the mid race point when the athletes made their way up and down the tougher 'finger loops' that make the UCSD course one of the more challenging in our conference. During the second mile Ayla Granados sailed away from the front pack and would run unchallenged to an eventual win. Teammate Sara Mikesell hammered the same stretch and passed UCSD's top 4 runners and made her way into second place for good. Still the Tritons had 4 running among the top 7-8, and the 'Cats 4,5,6,7,8 still ran behind UCSD's #5.
Solid work was done over the final kilometers by the 'Cats and the eventual winning margin would come in the final 150m (run on the track) as a few 'Cats scorers would outkick opponents to seal the eventual difference in scores. In fact if Sophomore Jordan Walsh (Chico's #6) doesn't beat UCSD's #5 Ximena Cruz (by 1 second!) we tie the Tritons for the win. The 'Cats did pack in quite well placing 12 across the finish line before UCSD's #6 but of course they only score 5, and only 7 can add points to the opponents' score.
Stay tuned as these two squads will lock horns again in 2 weeks on the 'Cats home course with the CCAA team title on the line. It should be a great race!
Men's 8K: If the men's race were to be compared to a basketball game, it might have been summarized like this: "The Chico State men jumped out to a commanding lead with a series of high flying dunks by Isaac Chavez and some beautiful three pointers by Johnny Sanchez and Alfonso Cisneros. All Wildcat starters enjoyed scoring efforts as they glided away from the competition en route to a 30 point half-time lead. In the second half the Chico coaching staff began to plug in athletes from the 'Cats Deep bench and this second group actually enjoyed just as much success against the Tritons' starting group. Reserves like Geoff Hull, Phil Graber, and Geoff Bogan kept up the offensive barrage helping the 'Cats to an eventual 45 point margin of victory over the home team."
Of course it wasn't all roses for the 'Cats (as it rarely is) but the men did enjoy a very nice run in San Diego. An eventual 1-6 finish was helped by the fact that CP Pomona rested their top 2 runners (Ryan and John Carrel). Ryan has twice finished 5th in the CCAA Championships nixing hoped perfect scores by the 'Cats, and now his brother has joined him at CPP for their final year of eligibility (John transferred to Pomona from Fullerton last spring).
On Saturday 3-4 Tritons tried to mix it up with a Chico-heavy lead pack in the opening miles, but one by one they slid from the group. The scrappy Scott Acton (the '12 CCAA freshman of the year) hung tough the longest in an attempt to prevent a perfect score by the Wildcats. The challenging UCSD layout took it's toll on a number of the usual top Wildcat runners like Dayne Gradone who slid from the pace in the second half, along with teammate Aaron Mora. Still the Wildcats depth, and big races from previously mentioned Phil Graber, Geoff Hull and Geoff Bogan, easily made up for the "down days" by Mora and Gradone.
At the 4 mile mark Isaac Chavez, Johnny Sanchez and Alfonso Cisneros ran unchallenged. UCSD's Acton ran in 4th, with Graber and Aaron Thomas just behind. A gap followed with a struggling Gradone, along with UCSD's #2 (2013 CCAA 10k Champ) taking the next few places.
The final mile saw a blanket finish by Chavez, Sanchez and Cisneros, with the camera picking up Alfonso's torso first. Aaron Thomas and Phil Graber did some nice work over the final stretch to put 10 seconds on Scott Acton, giving the 'Cats their first 15 point score in some time. Alex McGuirk most likely ran the fastest final mile of any competitor in the field as the Junior rallied to pass 3-4 runners and finish 6th overall. Dayne Gradone would follow next, followed by teammate Geoff Hull who enjoyed his best outing yet as a 'Cat. Hull, who didn't make the 'Cats deep CCAA 10k roster in the spring, outkicked the CCAA 10k champ (Kellen Levy) as he hit the track. One by one 'Cats followed in suite and as the dust had settled the Chico guys had packed an impressive 14 across the line before the 20th finisher had stopped the clock.
With this run the Chico men certainly served notice that they will be tough to beat in looking ahead to the CCAA Championships. Perfect scoring against the home team (UC San Diego is ranked 17th Nationally!) was quite a statement for the guys. A big goal coming into the race was to again highlight the depth of our roster, and the men successfully did this once again (as had the women in their run earlier).
