Chico State men take second straight Capital Cross Challenge title
Wildcat women show improvement over season opener

Saturday, September 30, 2017
Comments & photos by Gary Towne/Chico State Cross Country Coach

Sacramento, CA -- The Chico State cross country teams enjoyed another solid outing this past weekend while racing at Sac State's Capital Cross Challenge at Haggin Oaks Golf Course. Running on the course that will serve as the home of the 2019 NCAA DII XC Championships the 'Cats enjoyed first and fourth place team finishes overall. For the men it was their second straight Capital Cross title in as many years. The Wildcat women improved on their 6th place outing a year ago and finished ahead of 3 teams that had gotten the best of them two weeks previous at the Riverside meet.

Men's 8k: On paper the 'Cats most recent victory at the Capital Cross meet may look like another ho-hum victory for the program that has won plenty of invitationals through the past 15 years. This wasn't the case though, as several of the 'Cats top performers from Riverside, had unexpected rough outings in Sacramento. Thankfully the always present depth saved the day as several youngsters stepped up for the Chico crew.

As the race began defending champ and 2017 Chico alum Will Reyes (who's still living and training in Chico but now repping the Hoka Aggies) assumed the front, and quickly built a sizeable lead. Kyle Medina and Connor Fisher ran side by side just as they had in Riverside, while teammate Caton Avilla (running his '17 debut) followed a stride back as the trio operated in the top 10-15 overall. Red Shirting true frosh Trad Berti along with JC transfer and red shirt Luis Ortega also operated among the top 15-20 in the early going. The remainder of the 'Cats were spread throughout the top third of the 230 runner field.

As the race progressed to the half way point one thing that was a near certainty was the eventual win of Reyes who had formed a 100m lead over a dwindling chase pack. Medina ran among the front runners, along with Pomona's 14:03 5k guy Ruben Dominguez but had no motivation to try to bridge ahead to Reyes. Unfortunately Connor Fisher's day began to unravel early and by mid race he had fallen back 30-40 spots from his early placement. Juniors Jack Johnson and Teddy Kassa were making nice progress forward throughout the race and were now running with teammate Caton Avilla. Although they were relatively spread out among the field, key 'Cats were making progress forward in the field and a solid final half would hopefully solidify the eventual team title.

In what was in essence a repeat of the 2016 race at the front, Will Reyes would sail to the individual victory, while Medina would finish second, this time with a big kick over Dominguez. Although Pomona's #2 Grant Stromberg would beat the 'Cats 2 to the line, thankfully the Cats would put Jack Johnson, Teddy Kassa and Caton Avilla in before Pomona's #3 finished. Chico's fifth and final scorer (Wyatt Baxter) would finish 32nd overall just a few places ahead of Pomona's 4th and 5th runners.

Although last week's 2nd and 3rd finishers for the 'Cats had finished outside the team's Top-7 in Sacramento, the Chico crew was still able to secure a hard fought victory. It should be noted that red shirting true frosh Trad Berti (14th-24:46) and Jack Emanuel (57th-25:31) enjoyed very solid days. Junior red shirt Luis Ortega had a rough finish, losing 10 or so places over the final 300m, although still managed a 28th place run.

Women's 6k: Coming off a rough outing at the Riverside Invite the Lady 'Cats were eager to have another chance at competition. On Saturday their first goal of the race was an improved start, which was achieved as the solid majority of the Wildcat crew were placed near their intended target by the half mile point of the race. Leading the way just as she had two weeks previous Hannah Dorman placed herself among the top 5 overall and never looked back. Track All-American Alex Burkhart had an improved start and looked composed in the early going as did freshman teammate Alex Tucker. Sophs Nora Pizzella and Kayden Carpenter had spotted our front three quite a few places, but both are notorious second half racers.

With sub 16 min 5k gal Danielle Shannahan pulling the front of the race at a swift pace the lead pack was quickly splintered and Dorman ran among a pack of 3 between 4th and 6th positions overall at the mid race point. Chico's pair of Alex's both looked strong operating among the top 30, though never running together. At mid race Alex Tucker ran several strides ahead of Pomona's lead duo of Lorraine Fernandez and Casey Monoszlay. Nora Pizzella and Kayden Carpenter were moving through small groups of athletes with each passing kilometer and the team looked to be in a good position overall with 3k remaining.

The final stretch saw a strong finish by Dorman who pulled away from her closest competitors as she logged her first top 5 finish at this invitational by taking fourth. Alex Burkhart would give the 'Cats two finishers among the Top-15 with her 15th place effort. Alex Tucker, despite losing in kick to the Pomona gals, still enjoyed a hard fought 27th place run while averaging 5:49 per mile. Nora Pizzella and Kayden Carpenter would close out the 'Cats scoring with 46th and 47th place efforts. Senior Haley Kroll, making her season debut, followed some 16 seconds behind as the insurance package for the team on this day.

As the dust had cleared the 'Cats had finished fourth behind DI's San Jose State, Nevada, and Loyola Marymount. In the process they had beat Southern Utah, UC Davis, and Fullerton, all of whom had beaten the 'Cats at UCR. The Chico women had also soundly defeated rival CCAA opponent Cal Poly Pomona.

Next up for the 'Cats: The Cats take a long road trip to the Pacific Northwest to run the Western Washington Classic in Bellingham, Washington on Saturday Oct. 7. Stay tuned!