Bellingham, WA - Two weeks ago the. Chico State road-warrior XC teams travelled by charter bus to nearly the Mexican border in order to win San Marcos' Cougar challenge cross country meet. Now two weeks later the same squads travelled to Bellingham, WA (Just 1 hour south of the Canadian border) to participate in Western Washington's Bill Roe Invite. This trip included a Thursday workout in Portland's Forest Park..,. Some Friday loops of Bellingham's Lake Padden Park (Site of numerous NCAA West Regional Championships through the years). Two Saturday races over the scenic Sudden Valley Golf course layout, and a Sunday long run on Pre's Trails in Eugene. Although the trip was absolutely enjoyable and memorable, yours truly is looking forward to flying to our next three races. Speaking of races. both teams enjoyed solid outings in Bellingham on Saturday with the men easily winning the competition, while the women finished second behind top-ranked (west region) Simon Fraser. Feel free to follow along below to hear in detail a bit more about our final two races of the regular season.

Men's 10,000m: : Two weeks ago yours truly, addressed the men's team moments after their 2nd place run at San Marcos to let them know that they were capable of a lot more, and to remind them that they would need to be much better if they wished to contend for an NCAA trophy at season's end. The men responded as I hoped they would, with a resounding win over strong Western Washington and Simon Fraser squads. Two weeks ago WWU placed 2nd in the Griak DII race, besting over 25 DII teams from across the country, and Simon Fraser entered Saturday's run ranked among the top-3 in the west region.

One of the bonus' of the WWU race is the fact that the men run the rarely contested 10k distance. Given that we'll be up against 10k's at the regional and NCAA meets, it's nice to experience the extra 2k during the regular season, so the regional run isn't as much of a debut for the guys. The Sudden Valley course circuits a 2.5k grassy and relatively flat loop, 4 times. Weather was blustery and threatening to rain, but thankfully mother nature held off her wet plans for the post race hours.

As they usually do, the Chico men established themselves well among the lead pack in the initial loop of action. Given that this was our final race of the regular season, and final CCAA spots were on the line, it wasn't surprising to see 14ish Wildcat jersey's among the Top-20 of the field in the early-going. One jersey that wasn't present among the leaders early was RS frosh Charlie Giannini who was the 'Cats 3rd runner at the SF meet, but then the 17th at San Marcos. The Chico native has dealt with a very challenging digestive issue that causes him mid race bouts of nausea. Today Charlie attempted a more modest intensity early, and then built his momentum over the second half of the run. This would prove to be a successful strategy.

With multiple loops to cover, no one seemed ready to press the pace at the front in either of the first two circuits, but as the third lap began two post collegiates Tom Anderson and Miler Haller made a move to gap the field. Chico's quartet of Brayden McLauglin, Matt Herrera, Daniel Hernandez, and Dylan White now led the chase pack, with Simon Fraser's 3:42 1500m guy Aaron Ahl content to sit in behind the Wildcat group. Strung not far behind were Chico's Rory Abberton, Jack Emanuel, Cameron Duquette, Joshua O'Neill and the surging Charlie Giannini.

The final lap brought a rematch of the earlier SF Invite with Chico's McLaughlin and Simon Fraser's Ahl locking horns (on this day fighting for 3rd place). Once again, Ahl's supreme speed won the day as he would become the first collegian to cross the line. McLauglin would finish strong in 4th just 4 seconds behind. Senior Matt Herrera would finish next for the 'Cats taking 6th overall, and RS frosh Daniel Hernandez would finish 8th in a respectable 31:51 final time. Host WWU's first finisher would place 9th, and Chico's ever improving Dylan White would grab a 10th place finish. Stopping the 'Cats scoring with a massive finishing lap was Charlie Giannini who sprinted home 12th overall. Rory Abberton, Joshua O'Neill, Omar Alvarez-Hernandez, Cameron Duquette, and Jack Emanuel would give the 'Cats 10 of the top-22 placers overall, while notching an impressive :58 1-10 split on the day, over the 10k distance! Also, lost in the 'Cats big run at the front was a very solid effort by #11 guy Michael Ramirez who finished 24th overall just a few seconds behind Emanuel. Although Ramirez won't quite make the 'Cats uber deep CCAA line-up, he can be proud to know that he finished only 5 seconds behind 2nd place WWU's fifth runner on the day. This was a very fine outing for the Wildcat men as they head into the post season.

Women's 6,000m:

The very young and inexperienced Wildcat women's team has enjoyed a surprisingly successful and smooth start to the season to date. Each race has offered a tight 1-6 gap, with different athletes leading the charge from this group in both races. On Saturday the Chico women would face their first adversity of the '21 campaign, as we'd be running without our top finisher from each of the first two meets.. Katie Hawley would sit this one out as she's nursing tender knee, and Hannah Wirth didn't make the trip, due to illness. This would mean that each of our 4 remaining women from the front group would need to have pretty good races, along with at least 1 from the usual 7/8/9.

Competition on the day would come in the form of Simon Fraser, the same team that had defeated the 'Cats in the first race of the season in SF. Also running relatively strong through the season was host WWU who placed 6th in the DII race at Griak (out of 30ish teams). Alaska Fairbanks would also offer an interesting challenge, as their top-3 runners have looked very good throughout the season.. but the pack has been a major liability for the Nanooks.

As the first lap of the 3 loop course was traversed, the 'Cats appeared to be pacing themselves well, while reasonably positioned among the field. Leading the way once again was Hannah Ryan, who this week Didn't attempt to lead the race, but tucked into a Top-10-15 spot in the early going, saving energy for the all-important 2nd and 3rd circuits. Not far behind was the trio of Gracie Dupuis, Marissa D'Atri, and Jaclyn Denham. Paulina Guerrero, Alexi Steinmaus and Sophie Peletier (all frosh) represented what looked to be the pack that would determine the 'Cats final scorer.

Loops 2 and 3 were rough ones for Denham, a Bellingham native who was running in front of family and friends for the first time since HS. Unfortunately tight hamstrings weren't cooperating, and she slid well back into the field over the final circuits. Also struggling on the day was usual #7 Paulina Guerrero, who was losing several spots with each kilometer. Thankfully Ryan was running strong among the top-15 for the 'Cats, and D'Atri and Dupuis were hanging tough among the top-20. Usually our #8 runner, Alexi Steinmaus was running a consistent effort and was in the 4th position over the final loop. Our final scorer would come from an unlikely source in Esmeralda Aguayo, who hadn't raced in 4 weeks, due to her illness the week of our SD race. Aguayo had shown promise prior to the Covid break, but didn't have a great summer of running. On Saturday she held the key to our eventual 2nd place (collegiate teams) finish.

Simon Fraser's Olivia Willitt would finish 2nd, starting the team scoring. Alaska Fairbanks would pour their speedy trio across before Simon Fraser's #2 and just before Chico's top finisher Hannah Ryan (13th). Simon Fraser would put runners 2/3/4 across the line in 10th, 11th, and 12th pretty much sealing the eventual victory. Marissa D'Atri (17th) and Gracie Dupuis (18th) would give the Wildcats 3 in the top-20. Host WWU would place their 4th runner across the line just 1 spot in front of the 'Cats' Steinmaus, and Aguayo would complete the 'Cats scoring with her 36th place effort.

Although it wasn't pretty, and the Chico women were missing some fire-power up front, they had run well enough to save a 2nd place finish, just 9 points ahead of Alaska and WWU. There's no doubt that we'll need to run much better to have a chance at repeating as CCAA champs, but that will be the goal heading into the championships in two weeks. Stay tuned, and if you're in the San Diego area, we'd love to see you out at the course on the 23rd!

Up Next:
Oct. 23: CCAA Championships @ San Marcos campus 9:00am Start for Women, 10am for men
Nov. 6: NCAA West Regional @ Western Oregon U. campus
Nov. 20: NCAA Championships @ St Leo, FL