Monmouth, OR -- The Chico State Cross Country teams enjoyed a nice start to the 2015 season on Friday while competing in the Ash Creek Invitational in Monmouth, Oregon. Both teams came home with convincing victories as the men nearly perfect scored the competition (17 points), and the women defeated 16th ranked (DIII) Willamette University 40-73 for the women's title. Along the way the 'Cats enjoyed a fun trip up to Oregon as well, spending two nights in Eugene and taking in everything from Hayward Field, to Pre's Rock.

Women's 4.6K (2.85 miles): The Chico women expected a pretty big fight from regional foe Simon Fraser who defeated the 'Cats in '14 for the regional title, and came in ranked #8 in the most recent NCAA polls. With the upcoming regional championships taking place on the Ash Creek course, Friday would be a nice early season test for the two top ranked teams in the west region.

As the gun sounded the 'Cats established themselves well among a fast moving lead pack. Running a 4,600m course (?) no one wanted to concede much in the early going. As the race developed Simon Fraser's top returner Rebecca Bassett (3rd in the '14 Regional Championship race) separated from the field. Bassett would establish a 30-40m lead with several different athletes taking the fore of the chase pack, but with no real dent made in the growing advantage at the front.

As the race started to hit the second half and the 85+ degree heat began to take it's toll, the race really began to develop. Chico's Sadie Gastelum had now separated from the chase group into second place, and for the first time in the race, Bassett's advantage appeared to be decreasing ever so slightly. Running well among the top group throughout was Chico's Quetta Peinado and Lora James, as both worked together while several athletes from other teams fell from the pack. Also moving quite well over the final half of the race was McCall Habermehl who had missed the team time trial the week previous, due to a knee injury. On Friday the Junior from Roseville rallied well over the final kilometers.

Camila Turati, Olivia Watt, Nicole Anthony and Julie Finn also looked solid, operating within the Top-20 throughout the race. Going into the final kilometer loop of the course it was evident that Sadie Gastelum was determined and would catch Bassett. The question was whether Bassett would be able to respond when the catch was made. Sadie reached her mark with approximately 300m remaining in the race and Bassett answered with a hard surge from 250m out. Gastelum did her best to match the stride of the Canadian, and the small gap that had formed, was now back to half of a stride. The two would race to the tape with Bassett taking the win by a scant .5 seconds. Seniors Lora James and Quetta Peinado would follow in 6th and 7th places, while McCall Habermehl would just miss a Top-10 finish with her 11th place run. Track All American Olivia Watt would conclude the 'Cats scoring with her 14th place run. Nicole Anthony (16th), Camila Turati (17th) and Julie Finn (21st) would give the 'Cats 8 of the top 21 finishers overall.

Overall it was a good opener for the women. Sadie Gastelum seems to be picking up where she'd left off at the end of the track season (10k/5k PR's at CCAA Championships), and the supporting group is as strong as it's been in some time. Next up for the ladies will be the Stanford invite on Saturday Sept 26.

Men's 6.3K (3.91 miles): A year ago the Chico men enjoyed a great season, picking up a 13th straight CCAA title, and an 11th regional title in 13 years. All of this was done while we red shirted two very talented transfers in Will Reyes and Steven Martinez. Both Reyes and Martinez cracked the 24 minute barrier for 8k during the '14 campaign, and on Saturday the 'Cats were able to enjoy the uniform debut for both. Not to be outdone by his fellow red shirts Arturo Arevalo (RS Frosh) also looked like a star in the making in his uniformed debut.

As the gun sounded and the men's field circled the first of many 1k-ish grass loops, the 'Cats hogged a good number of the top spots in the field. During the second kilometer Will Reyes and teammate Falco DiGiallonardo appeared to become antsy and separated from the main pack. Not long after this separation occurred Reyes' tempo became a bit too hot for DiGiallonardo and the two would run the final kilometers alone in 1st and 2nd positions.

A good portion of the Chico group ran among the lead pack through the first 3k of the race. Aaron Mora, Steven Martinez, Arturo Arevalo, Nick Valenzuela, Brandon Taylor, Kyle Medina, Nick Grubiss, Connor Fisher and Caton Avilla, were all working hard in the chase pack along with a smattering of top runners from other teams. The second half of the race brought no change for Reyes and DiGiallonardo, who were locked into their zones, but a number of top runners listed above slid from the chase pack, perhaps due to the heat, or the fast early pace. In any event, Medina, Arevalo, and Martinez charged on along with Academy of the Arts 8:40 steepler Valentin Pepiot and Simon Fraser's 14:28 5k guy Oliver Jorgensen.

Reyes would use his long flowing stride and superb fitness to propel him to a convincing 25 second margin over teammate DiGiallonardo. His final time of 17:47 over the 3.8 mile course shows that he has a LOT to look forward to this season and beyond. Falco looked strong finishing in second place and teammate Kyle Medina won a hard fought personal battle with Art's Pepiot who has a 3:42 1500m PR to his credit. Medina (a 3:46 performer himself) would defeat the French star by .1 second for 3rd overall. Martinez and Arevalo stopped the 'Cats scoring with their 5th and 6th place finishes.

2014 All CCAA performer Nick Valenzuela enjoyed a nice seasonal debut with his 9th place finish, and Brandon Taylor gave the 'Cat's 7 of the Top-10 overall. Connor Fisher's Chico debut resulted in a 12th place finish, and Aaron Mora, Steven Velarde, Andrew Cobourn, and Derek Morton would take places 13, 14, 15, and 16. How lop-sided was the 'Cats win on Friday? Even after removing our Top-7 men, the next five easily outscore Simon Fraser (Ranked 25th in the latest NCAA polls).

The Chico men will now turn their sights on the Stanford Invitational, which will be run on Saturday September 25, 2015. Women will race at 9:50am, while the men will follow at 10:30am.

Golden Gate Open: A motivated group of red shirting frosh along with a number of alumni raced in last weekend's PA Series XC race in SF's Golden Gate Park. In the men's open race Chico Alum placed 1st, 2nd, 7th, and 9th overall w/ Scott Bauhs and Isaac Chavez leading the charge. True frosh Zachary Chamberlain (17th) and Anuare Magana (24th) enjoyed great races as well. In the women's 4 mile open race red shirting frosh Desirae Jones (12th) and Kayden Carpenter (13th) led the charge, with fellow newbie Jenny Giguere placing 26th respectively. Full SF results can be found here at the Pacific Association web site.: