A broiling start to the 2019 season at the Stump Invitational in Davis
Chico State men upend their D-1 oppenents, women third

Friday September 13, 2019
Comments & photos by Gary Towne/Chico State Cross Country Coach

Davis, CA - The year was 2000, and a hungry group of Wildcats had trekked (via 15 passenger vans) all the way to San Diego, CA to race in the high-powered Aztec Invite. Highlighting the competition for the 'Cats were UCLA, and Southern Utah Universities, as well as a number of other DI's from Southern California. After a little more than 25 minutes of racing the 'Cats had beaten ALL DI foes, including the Bruins of Westwood. Since that September day the 'Cats have never looked back and have always run especially tough against their DI competition during the regular season.

On Friday, the 2019 'Cats would open their season at Davis' first annual Stump Invite. Chico State would be the only Non-DI in attendance, and the conditions would be sweltering hot. Highs were projected to reach 98 degrees during the women's run, and in the low/mid 90's for the men's 8k. Davis would host their meet at a new facility (Wild horse Golf Course) on a surprisingly rolling and challenging course. Both races would circuit the 2k "loop" 3-4 times. Each skeleton loop had multiple fingers within, so the entire course sat within a stretch of golf course that was only a quarter mile long and perhaps 200m in width. It was a spectator's dream, but perhaps an athlete's nightmare (Lots of turns and repeated rolling and uneven terrain).

Men's 8k: Speaking of nightmares, the competition might not have slept well after the men's 8k race, in which the 'Cats would absolutely crush the field with an 18 point performance. From the gun the 'Cats asserted themselves in the front pack, but given the heat and challenging course, didn't press the pace beyond what was needed to maintain control of the front.

As the field crossed the timing mats at 2k the 'Cats enjoyed a 15 point total, but in all honesty the lead group was comprised of nearly 40 athletes running within a few seconds of one another.

The second 2k loop brought some separation of the pack as Davis' alum Trevor Halstead (8:50 HS 3200m runner) applied some pressure to the front. At 4k Chico's team score was still 15 points (Halstead wasn't part of a scoring team so he couldn't factor into team scoring) as the 'Cats had 7 men running in the top 8 overall, and minus a complete implosion, were en route to a lop-sided win.

The third 2k loop offered some separation among the lead group as Trad Berti, Wyatt Baxter and Matt Herrera all covered surges by Halstead, while teammates Jhavahn Holston, Raymond Lopez, Remington Breeze and Zachary Chamberlain had slid from the front quartet, but still ran safely ahead of the nearest collegiate competitor. Team score at 6k. 15 points.

Approaching the final loop Halstead attempted to win the race with a hard surge that pulled he and Chico's Trad Berti away from Baxter and Herrera. The pair ran just short of 1k together when the surge appeared to catch up with Halstead, who almost immediately gave up 10 meters to Berti with just over 1k remaining in the race. Trad (who raced only twice between XC and track in '18/'19 due to injuries) looked controlled running away from Halstead en route to his first collegiate victory. Baxter and Herrera would overhaul the tiring Halstead, while finishing second and third. Halstead would finish in fourth place. Making a big surge late in the race was Davis' #1 man Ryman Crone who would overtake Chico's Chamberlain, Breeze, Lopez and Holston while breaking up the 'Cats perfect score. A big finish by CAL's #1 Colin FitzGerald just saved the Bears from being perfect-scored by the 'Cats, as Raymond Lopez (Chico's #5) was just nipped at the line by the CAL runner.

In reviewing the results after the run the Wildcat men have a lot to be proud of as they completely dismantled the field on this day. Even if the 'Cats had not scored their top-5 finishers they would have easily won the meet with #'s 6-10. A few impressive results lost in the mayhem of the near perfect score at the front were the impressive showings of RS Frosh Rory Abberton (13th) and Dylan White (19th) who ran in uniform for the first time after red shirting their frosh campaigns a year ago. All told, the 'Cats would place 11 in the top-20 of the race while enjoying an 18-74 advantage over the 2nd place Aggies. Also it should be noted that the 'Cats ran without Sophomore Jack Emanuel who finished 4th overall in the 2018 CCAA Championships. Emanuel is healthy but missed some late summer training with a knee issue.

Women's 6k: : I wish that I could report that the Chico women had an amazing summer with no hic-ups, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. In what was a set of unrelated circumstances, a decent portion of the 'Cats top returners dealt with some setbacks that have hindered our hoped early season fitness. Thankfully in most cases the women are now mostly healthy and moving forward with training and fitness. Unfortunately early season results won't reflect the true potential of this group, as we're going to have to work into shape as the season progresses this fall.

Conditions during the women's 6k were VERY hot as temperatures hovered near 100 degrees throughout, and the exposed nature of the course provided zero relief. In what was a bit of a surprise the women's field went out at a relatively conservative early clip as Davis' top gals and Chico's women took most of the top places among the top 20 in the early going. One fortelling fact in the early going, was that all of CAL's women ran as a large pack, just on the heels of the leaders through 2k.

As athletes poured across the 2k mat the announcer read off preliminary scores, which had Davis in a comfortable lead, with Chico in second, and CAL in third position. Leading the way for the 'Cats were Talia Swangler a senior who prepped at nearby Paradise HS, and transferred in from Butte College. Also running near the front were teammates Nora Pizzella, Haley Boynton, Taylor Bailey, and Alex Tucker.

The second loop brought a huge surge by CAL's women who apparently had tempo'd the first circuit, but began racing in earnest in lap-2. As the pace at the front quickened the Chico women gave up some places, but did a nice job of maintaining their composure while running in VERY challenging conditions.

At the conclusion of Lap-2 the 'Cats had fallen into 3rd place, with Saint Mary's running a very close 4th overall. With Swangler running her best race to date as she operated among the Top-10 overall the Chico women held on nicely over the challenging final circuit. Junior Haley Boynton was running inside the top-20 alongside true frosh teammate Destiny Everett (who ran the first race out of uniform as she decides whether to red shirt or not). Nora Pizzella and Taylor Bailey worked together among the top-25 to help preserve what would become a 3rd place team effort.

At the finish Swangler would place 11th on the heels of CAL's #4 (a 4:49 HS miler), while Boynton would cross the finish in 16th place. Everett would take 18th, but of course wouldn't factor in the 'Cats scoring on this day since she ran out of uniform. Pizzella and Bailey would finish 23rd and 24th, and Alex Tucker would conclude the 'Cats scoring with her 28th place run.

Overall it was a pretty solid early season run for the Wildcat women. Both Swangler and Bailey have made huge strides over their running a year ago, and as Pizzella, Tucker and Jones (all big parts of the '18 team's successes) round into shape this team could be very dangerous by November.

Next Up: The 'Cats will enjoy a weekend off racing before heading to Sacramento on Saturday the 28th for the Capital Cross Challenge. Of course this year's Capital XC meet will be extra exciting as it will serve as the NCAA preview for DII schools. The fields are already looking very strong and deep. Hopefully we'll see a good number of you out there taking in the action, and planning your spectating routes for the upcoming NCAA meet. ;v)