San Bernardino, CA -- In 2002 a determined group of Chico State harriers upset heavy favorites UC Davis at the CCAA Championships in Bakersfield. It was Davis' final year in DII and the long rivalry between the schools would soon be lost, so the win was a special one for the Wildcat athletes and coaches. On the heels of their first ever CCAA team title it would have been hard to imagine standing atop the podium in each of the next 16 years, but that's exactly what the Chico men's team has done since that breakthrough day. The Chico women would go on to win 13 of the next 15 championships, adding the most recent this past Saturday at Cal State San Bernardino. There's no doubt that the 'Cats (both past and present) have a lot to be proud of as they reflect on Saturday's runs and the many before them.

Three substantial streaks were in play on Saturday and all three were extended. First, the Chico men won their 17th straight CCAA team title, adding another year to their record (encompassing all CCAA sports). The women's team would push their consecutive total to 11, and Eddie King would become the 'Cats 11th straight male CCAA individual champion (joining a list of Wildcat legends in the process). All told the two Wildcat teams have won 32 of the past 34 CCAA Championship races. There's no denying it's been a great ride and a lot of hard work and dedication have helped to create quite a legacy of success here at Chico State.

Before diving into the details of our most recent CCAA runs, I want to give a shout out to our younger developing runners who also enjoyed quite a day while winning both men's and women's team titles at UC Davis' Doc Adams Invite. RS Sophomore Matt Herrera notched his first ever collegiate win, while PR'ing on the Davis course with a 24:46 8k run. With the latest team win our men's team has combined to win all 6 races that we have contested this year.

Men's Championship 8k: The plan for the 'Cats was to work together among the lead group for the first half of the race, trying to keep the pace close to at least a 5 min pace rhythm, but not committing to making it an all-out affair from the gun. With a 10 year streak of individual wins on the line and SF State's star grad student John Lawson (8:58 hs 3200m PR/9th @ Foot Locker XC Nats) in the field, the race would need to be close enough to honest, to help our chances of producing a winner over the second half.

The Chico men did a great job of executing the race plan as a number of different 'Cats touched the lead in the early going, and by 2 miles the lead group had whittled down to 20ish athletes (including all 10 Chico men). As the race reached the midpoint Jack Emanuel, Luis Ortega, Eddie King and Jason Intravaia began to press from the front and the once clumped lead group began to stretch. Not surprising Lawson was up to the challenge and covered the surge in pace.

With 2 miles remaining Chico senior Eddie King took to the front and applied some pressure, separating himself from his teammates, but unfortunately not Lawson who was obviously running to win. Over the final 2.5k King's consummate effort, of gradually squeezing the pace down, finally produced a gap between himself and Lawson. The slight advantage would never grow to more than 20-30m as King was showing signs of fatigue and of the effects of the warm conditions on hand. With a quarter mile to go Lawson made one last push in an attempt to draw King back to him. Several strides were made up leading to the final 200m straight, but King had saved one last gear to sprint down the last stretch of the run. King would find the tape first, with Lawson following just a few steps behind. Also closing well was Chico's Jason Intravaia who would place 3rd just two seconds behind the SF State star. Then the floodgates opened and the Chico guys were running through them, as 8 of the next 9 finishers would wear the Chico kit.

Final pre-race instructions from yours truly to the Chico men were to run 10 strong during the run. Daniel Harrigan-Cota and Zach Chamberlain would earn their first All-CCAA honors with 11th and 12th place finishes, while giving the 'Cats 10 of the first 12 finishers in the field. Mission accomplished for this group of tough runners.

King, with the win, becomes the 'Cats 11th straight champion, and earned CCAA Runner of the Year honors in the post race awards ceremony. RS Frosh Jack Emanuel had finished 4th overall in his first CCAA run and hauled in 'Newcomer of the Year' honors as well. The 10 of 12 finish nearly matches the 'Cats 10/11 finish from 2011 and is one of just a few years where all 10 men earned All CCAA honors. The 2018 men have a lot to be proud of.

Women's 6k Championship: The Wildcat women would enter Saturday's competition as relatively heavy favorites, but an early season defeat to Cal State Stanislaus wasn't lost on this group of women. Of course all of the 'Cats scoring group have progressed nicely since the Capital Cross race in late September, but the women were reminded that nothing was to be taken for granted when it comes to championship racing. All teams would take aim at the Chico target, knowing this could potentially be their last race of the season.

Adding a bit to the nerves of the Chico crew was the unsure status of top runner Karlie Garcia who had battled some pretty difficult sickness issues earlier in the week and wasn't a lock to race until completing her warm up the day of the championships. Thankfully for the 'Cats Garcia did feel well enough to start the race and by 1 kilometer into the race had actually established a small gap on the closest pursuers.

Prior to Garcia's move and true to Chico form, as the leaders flew by yours truly at the 600m point of the run we had no runners in the top 10, but the core group nestled in the large pack of runners.

Watching a cross country race evolve can be a thing of beauty, especially if your team is executing a strong race plan from start to finish. This was indeed the case for the Chico women on Saturday. As Garcia added to her lead with each passing kilometer, teammates behind did an amazing job of sorting through the tiring runners from other teams, who might have been a bit overzealous in the early stages of the run. At the 9 minute mark of the race 'Cats ran in 1st, 3rd, 7th, 8th, 15th, and 18th spots respectively. Everyone except Karlie (who was leading the race) would improve on those positions in the second half.

While Garcia would run away with her first ever CCAA XC title, teammate Alexandria Tucker began to pull away from a group of 4 and into the second position overall. Also moving nicely over the final loop of the San Bernardino Athletics area were Kayden Carpenter and Nora Pizzella who had been working together since the early going of the race. It was at CCAA's a year ago that RS frosh Haley Boynton began to factor into the 'Cats scoring mix, and on Saturday Boynton picked up where she's left off a year ago while running among the top-15 with a mile remaining.

The final stretch of the race sealed what was to become a very convincing win by the Wildcat women. Garcia would sail to her first victory, while Tucker would hold on nicely for a second place finish. San Marcos' Lisa Flora would hang tight for third place just holding off Chico's Pizzella and Carpenter who claimed 4th and 5th place finishes. With four in the top-5 the Chico women had the race in hand, and Boynton's 12th place finish easily sealed the victory. A strong final mile by Desirae Jones earned the Junior her first All CCAA honors while she edged Stanislaus' 3rd and 4th runners who finished 16th and 17th. The 'Cats #7 on the day Talia Swangler (a Paradise HS alum) nailed down a 21st place finish while earning Newcomer of the Year honors. True frosh Nadine Dubon didn't have her best race of the year but still fought hard and passed 7 runners in the final mile of the race while placing 37th overall.

With the win Garcia becomes the 'Cats 8th individual champion in the past 15 years, while leading the women to their 11th straight team crown. The women have now won 15 of the past 17 CCAA titles and although one never wants to look too far down the road.. Garcia was the only senior on the women's CCAA roster..

Doc Adams: Counting the red shirts, the 'Cats men put 4 finishers among the top-6 overall. Sophomore Matthew Herrera notched his first collegiate win while clocking a 24:46 PR on a Very windy morning in Davis. Teammate Christian Woolfolk would place 4th overall while eclipsing the 25 min mark for the first time (24:58), while Remington Breeze would take 5th in 25:07. On the women's side the Wildcat women (counting red shirts) would also place 4 among the top-6 overall. Red Shirting true frosh Carrie McDonough placed 2nd overall behind UC Davis' Julia Lemak. Fellow red shirting true frosh Esmeralda Aguayo would place 4th while redshirting soph Jalen Burns would take the fifth spot.

Up Next: the 'Cats will head north to Billings, Montana in two weeks (Sat Nov. 17) for the DII West regionals on the Amend Park course they competed at two years ago. The top 3 at the regionals will earn automatic spots to the NCAA Championships two weeks later in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Wildcat men ( ranked fourth in D2) will go into the regional as the top-ranked squad, with Alaska Anchorage ranked #2 (7th nationally). The Chico women, ranked 5th nationally, will most likely also enter the regional ranked #1 ahead of Alaska Anchorage and Simon Fraser (ranked 7th & 10th nationally, respectively).