Palo Alto, CA -- The Chico State Wildcats have been contesting the Stanford Invitational for many years. Having the opportunity to test ourselves in a large field packed with top level DI, II, and III teams is invaluable as we prepare ourselves for the championship settings that lie ahead. On Saturday both Wildcat squads performed exceptionally well in their fields as the Men placed second behind the host Cardinal, and the women would finish 4th in the 30+ team field.
Even with these sparkling results there lies a good amount of potential to improve for both rosters. On the men's side, 29:50s 10k guy Aaron Mora is coming off sickness and was only our #7 on Saturday, and 14:10 5k runner Nick Grubiss has been under the weather for several weeks now, and was only our #10 finisher. Add the fact that Caton Avilla who didn't make the trip to Stanford nearly won the Garin Park Open the same morning, and you see an opportunity for a solid team to become even better. On the women's side 2 x CCAA champ Alex Burkhart is only running at 75% due to a lingering hamstring injury, and 4:22 1500m gal Olivia Watt was only our #10 on Saturday after a lethargic week of training. With some luck all of the above should be running much closer to 100 percent as we get into the championship phase.
Let's start with the women's run since they took to the links of the Stanford Golf Course first.
Women's 6,000m:
Through the years the Chico women have struggled to establish early positioning in the fast starting Stanford field, and it's cost us valuable points in the team standings. This year the Wildcats did a wonderful job of putting themselves in the top third of the 250+ runner field in the early-going, and then went to work on competing the final 5k.
Somewhat surprising from the gun was Wildcat-to-be, Karlie Garcia (who's sitting out the fall season due to NCAA transfer regulations) who found herself operating among the lead group in the early going. Leading the charge for those in uniform was McCall Habermehl who was in very unfamiliar territory operating in the top 30 of the Stanford invite. Habermehl walked onto our team as a frosh with modest Pr's of 19:40's for 5k XC out of HS but has steadily improved to where she nearly qualified for the NCAA track championships last spring. Now she was testing herself among the best, and looked great doing it. Following closely was teammate Quetta Peinado. Teammates Olivia Watt, Camila Turati, Hannah Dorman, Alex Burkhart and Julie Finn all ran relatively close to one another among the Top ? of the field through the early kilometers.
As the race developed Karlie Garcia showed that she is truly returning to the form that sparked her to a fifth place finish in the Foot Locker championships during her junior year of high school. She ran stride for stride in a three woman lead pack at mid race with North Dakota's Erin Teschuk (a 9:40's steepler!) and Aminat Olowara from Southwestern JC who won the JC State championships last fall. By mid race Sadie Gastelum had caught McCall and Quetta and the 'Cats had three operating in the top 30-40 overall. Lora James followed some distance back with Camila Turati, Hannah Dorman, Alex Burkhart and Julie Finn not far off the pace.
In the final kilometers Karlie would fall off the lead group, and eventually would be caught by Sac State's speedy Chloe Berloiux,. Garcia would finish strong in fourth place overall in what was her first big race since high school. Closing amazingly well over the final kilometers was Sadie Gastelum who charged home with a 21st place finish. Her 21:26 finish time was a full minute faster than she'd run on the same layout a year ago. Speaking of HUGE improvements, the 'Cats second runner to cross the line would be McCall Habermehl who placed 37th overall in 21:49. McCall's time on the same course last year. 23:16! Senior Quetta Peinado gave the Chico women a solid #3 finish following Habermehl across the line in 38th. Although a full 30+ seconds expired before the next Chico finisher, numbers 4,5,6,7 and 8 flew through the line within a 15 second window.
Having watched the finish of the race, yours truly was pretty certain that the Wildcat women had achieved the pre-race goal of finishing in the Top-5 overall, and as the results were finally announced, this was indeed the case. Stanford has won the team title with SLO taking second. The 'Cats lost a close battle with former NCAC rivals UC Davis by a mere 3 points. A host of DI teams followed the 'Cats in the standings, including UC Santa Barbara, Sac State, North Dakota State, San Jose State, UC Riverside, Fresno State, Irvine, and Northridge. The Stanford Invite is always our team's best opportunity to weigh themselves against some good DI opponents, and Saturday we took full advantage of this opportunity.
Unofficial Women's Team Scores: (Tallied by yours truly, as meet scores Non-DI's separately)
1. Stanford 44 17. Simon Fraser 399 2. Cal Poly 65 18. Academy of Art 437 3. UC Davis 187 19. Southern Oregon 499 4. CHICO STATE 190 20. Pomona-Pitzer 547 5. UC Santa Barbara 224 20. Cal St. Northridge 550 6. Sacramento St 226 21. UC Irvine 561 7. North Dakota St 241 22. Southwestern 634 8. San Jose St. 255 23. Alaska Fairbanks 670 9. UC Riverside 284 24. Fresno Pacific 683 10. Cal Poly Pomon 289 25. Mt. SAC 731 11. Claremont-Mudd 305 26. Cal St. East Bay 766 12. Cal St. Stanislaus 335 27. Whittier 771 13. Azusa Pacific 368 28. UC Merced 773 14. Central Washington 376 29. CSU Monterey Bay 816 15. Fresno St 398 30. Notre Dame de Namur 943
Men's 8,000m:
In addressing the men's team the evening before the race I told the guys that a Top-3 finish should be their goal. With Stanford, SLO, Baylor, North Dakota State, UC Davis and CCAA rival Cal Poly Pomona in the line-up the competition would be there, and now it was up to us to show how good we truly are.
As in last year's race the 'Cats did a good job of establishing themselves among a lead pack that seemed a bit reluctant to Really press the pace early. As the group ran through the mile mark William Reyes, Kyle Medina, Falco DiGiallonardo were all a part of a wall of athletes that composed the head of the race, and if a score had been tallied, the 'Cats were certainly in the lead. Of course there was still 4 miles of racing left, and the real competition had yet to begin.
Surprisingly enough it was a Chico runner that finally broke up the giant lead pack as Will Reyes had become a bit restless and surged to the lead as the group approached the end of the second mile. Stanford's 13:30's 5k guy Sean McGorty and Cal Poly SLO's Swarnjit Boyal were the only two who ventured at covering the move. This trio would run together for just over a kilometer before Boyal started to drift off the hot pace. As Reyes locked into stride with Stanford's lead man, his teammates ran as inspired in the packs behind. In the third mile a chase pack of 10ish guys had formed behind the leading three ahead. Chico's Steven Martinez ran among this group and Falco DiGiallonardo and Kyle Medina followed not far behind this grouping. Making great progress from behind was teammate Connor Fisher who would eventually catch and work with Medina for the second half of the run.
Just as the many Chico alumni who were present started to imagine possible Chico State team and individual wins, the Stanford Cardinal started to rally trying hard to win their only home race. McGorty surged hard at the beginning of the fourth mile and immediately gapped Reyes. Although the Wildcat men were still in great positions in the field, a Stanford chase pack began taking points back from the Chico men.
McGorty would sail home to a convincing victory in 23:07. Will Reyes would hold onto second position until the final 100m when 2 X Foot Locker National Champ Grant Fisher (running out of uniform for Stanford) flew by with a well timed kick. Will would finish 3rd with a very impressive 23:36 clocking. Steven Martinez would finish just 2 places behind Stanford's #2 Steven Fahy in 11th place. Falco DiGiallonardo would win the battle of #3's taking 14th and just ahead of Stanford's #3. Stanford's Thomas Coyle would hit the line in 24:21 as would Chico's #4 Kyle Medina, but unfortunately Coyle hit the tape first. The close finishes between the two teams didn't end there, as Stanford's #5 Patrick Perrier hit the line just 1 place ahead of Chico's #5 Connor Fisher. RS Frosh Arturo Arevalo ran another stellar race while posting a 31st place finish in 24:32 as well.
Although the 'Cats had narrowly lost to the Cardinal, it of course should be noted that Stanford ran without the All American Rosa twins and several other potential scorers (including Grant Fisher).
As the results were tabulated it was very gratifying for the Chico men to see the long list of DI opponents well off their pace. Cal Poly SLO, UC Davis, Baylor, San Jose State, Irvine, North Dakota State, Riverside and Fresno State, were just some of the DI schools chasing the 'Cats on Saturday. The fourth place finish of Cal Poly Pomona also gives fans of the sport something to look forward to, as the 'Cats go head to head with their So-Cal rivals in CCAA, West Region and NCAA action in the coming weeks. Stay Tuned!
Unofficial Combined Men's 8K Team Scores:
1. Stanford 62 16. Azusa Pacific 444 2. CHICO STATE 67 17. Academy of Art 485 3. Cal Poly 97 18. Sacramento St. 492 4. Cal Poly Pomona 128 19. Simon Fraser 525 5. UC Davis 168 20. Davis XC&T Club 551 6. Baylor 224 21. Fresno Pacific 595 7. San Jose St. 225 22. Cal St. Northridge 605 8. Claremont-Mudd 287 23. Whittier 626 9. UC Irvine 305 24. UC Merced 660 10. Southern Orego 329 25. Central Washington 735 11. North Dakota St 330 26. Cal St. Stanislaus 746 12. UC Riverside 345 27. Alaska Fairbanks 774 13. Fresno St 354 28. La Verne 846 14. Mt. SAC 368 29. Holy Names 852 15. San Bernardino 428 30. Cal St. East Bay 882
Garin Park Open:
Given that the Stanford invite only allows 10 athletes max, and we have a very deep roster, several vans full of our #11-20 runners trekked across the bay to run in the Pacific Association's series race for the week in Garin Park. Results from Garin were very promising for both genders.
On the men's side, Caton Avilla led the charge with a 15:34 second place effort on the hilly 5k layout. Seven more 'Cats would follow Avilla across the line before the 20th finisher had hit the tape.
On the women's side red shirting frosh Kayden Carpenter led the Chico charge with her 8th place finish (19:27 final time), followed by another red shirting freshman Desirae Jones in 13th. Bekah Bahra was the first uniformed 'Cat to cross the line, finishing 14th overall. A total of 6 'Cats (counting red shirts) would finish among the top 25 on the day.
Finish Line Video Link for Garin Park men's race: and
women's race.
