San Francisco, CA -- The Chico State cross country teams enjoyed another fantastic outing on Friday as both squads would take home convincing team victories at the San Francisco State Invitational. The men would put 9 across the line before the 15th finisher had hit the tape, and the women would place 4 among the top-10 en-route to their second team victory of the season. Will Reyes would capture the men's individual title for Chico, while teammate Sadie Gastelum did the same in the women's race. Overall it was another great step for the 'Cats as they prepare for the championship season that begins in two weeks.

Women's 6K: Friday's women's race had a number of positive sub-plots for the Wildcat women. Two of the strongest were the comebacks of Alex Burkhart and Haley Kroll. Burkhart has raced this season, but well below the level that she showed during her freshman track season last spring when she won CCAA titles in the steeple and 5k. Lingering injuries had taken their toll on training through the summer and early fall, but most recently Burkhart has been able to log most of her targeted miles and workouts. Kroll's comeback was of a greater magnitude, given that she hadn't run in a college cross country race since the NCAA Championships in 2013 (her frosh season). A diagnosis of compartment syndrome and subsequent surgery (June '15) have allowed just enough time for the gritty junior to return to racing fitness. On Friday both Burkhart and Kroll enjoyed solid outings, which certainly boosts the 'Cats chances in looking at the championships ahead.

As the gun sounded in SF, Burkhart placed herself among the lead group that included Cal Baptist's Kenyan standout Caroline Barkechir (NCAA 10k qualifier last spring). The rest of the 'Cats did a very commendable job of placing themselves among the top quarter of the 230 runner field in the early going. Monterey Bay's NCAA 1500m qualifier Hannah Bell joined Burkhart and Barkechir as the trio sailed through the mile in the 5:35-5:40 range. A pack of 'Cats followed not far behind as the masses began flowing through a quick first mile.

By mid race Sadie Gastelum had moved clear of the chase group and was now making quick strides toward the leaders. Haley Kroll looked strong, as she was obviously taking places with every kilometer she covered. Burkhart was no longer spearheading the field but by implementing some damage control still looked composed and was still operating among the top-5.

The Chico women ran a beautiful final half of the race on Friday. While Sadie Gastelum would catch and eventually pull away from the leaders, teammate McCall Habermehl would run a similar effort to an eventual 6th place finish. Burkhart hung on strong to place 7th behind her teammate, and Quetta Peinado would close well to finish 10th. Lora James would finish as the 'Cats final scorer with her 19th place performance while red shirting frosh Kayden Carpenter crossed less than a second behind! Julie Finn (25th), Nicole Anthony (28th), Haley Kroll (30th), Olivia Watt (33rd) would all cross the line within 70 seconds of Gastelum. Given that 2014 CCAA Freshman of the Year Camila Turati was held out of the competition for precautionary reasons, it makes the 'Cats performance that much more impressive.

Men's 8K: Going into the Friday race the top Chico men were instructed to pack run with teammates in the early going, before switching to full race mode as the race evolved into the second half. With International laden squad Cal Baptist present, the 'Cats knew that they would need to keep themselves close enough to the action at the front in order to hopefully take home the team title.

As the race began a group of fast starters including some of the pre-race favorites formed at the front. Most notably was Academy of the Arts' Valentin Pepiot a French standout with 3:40/8:40 PR's for the 15/steeple. Chico's Brandon Taylor was the lone 'Cat willing to put himself among the lead group, partly due to the restricted start request of normal top performers Reyes, Martinez, and DiGiallonardo. As Taylor mixed things up with Pepiot and San Marcos' lead trio among the front, his teammates settled into places in the 30-50 range in the still well-packed field.

Watching the men's race evolve was a thing of beauty. As the difficulty of the challenging layout took it's toll on the leaders, the Chico men gradually moved their way into better positions. By mid race a once close team score between Chico, San Marcos and Cal Baptist, was no longer close. Will Reyes had split from his teammates and took aim at the few bodies and meters that lay between he and Pepiot. Falco DiGiallonardo, like his teammate ahead, was rolling through competitors with each kilometer as well and appeared to have some gears to work with heading into the final 2k. As Will and Falco made strides on the small group of leaders at the front, a pack of seven more 'Cats were now operating among the Top-20 overall as well.

Over the final 2k of racing Reyes caught the lead pack and started to pull clear from the small group. Only Pepiot was able to handle the change in pace, but this was only temporary as Will would break the Arts senior over the final kilometer and sail to his second uncontested victory of the season. Falco closed very well also, passing his own French standout in Valentine Robert (Cal Baptist senior) over the final meters of the run, en route to a third place finish. Now the finish chute would look a lot like the end of our annual pre-season inter squad, as one 'Cat after another would find the finish in a short span of time. Steven Martinez would start this flood of maroon with his 5th place finish, followed closely by Caton Avilla (6th), Aaron Mora (8th), Connor Fisher (10th), Nick Valenzuela (11th), Arturo Arevalo (13th), Kyle Medina (14th), and Steven Velarde (21st). The spread between #3 'Cat Steven Martinez and #9 Kyle Medina was a miniscule 15 seconds!

A closer inspection of the results reveals the Wildcats' incredible team dominance and depth. Nine of the first 14 finishers and 15 of the first 68 wore a Chico State uniform. This translates into taking the other 19 teams in the field and combining them into one and the Wildcats would have still won 23-34. Now take Chico State's top five finishers out of the race: Head Coach Gary Towne's second five to cross the line would have beaten runnerup California Baptist 43-69.

Not to be left out in the solid race category, red shirting true frosh Moshe McCarter-Ribakoff raced to a 25:39 finish time in his first run of the season. Fellow newbie Zachary Chamberlain followed closely in 25:40. Another stellar performance (that flew under the radar) was notched by Chris Kigar who raced to a 25:42 finish time. Chris has been away from racing competitively for over a year and is now returning to form and fitness.

Next up for the 'Cats are the CCAA Championships on Sunday October 25. The CCAA courses will be the exact layouts the 'Cats raced on this past Friday. For those interested in coming out to support the action next Sunday here are the basic details:

9:00am- Women's 6k Start, 10:00am- Men's 8k start.

We hope to see many of you at Golden Gate Park next week!