SAINT LEO, FLORIDA -- When I was a child and there were only 3 TV stations out there to watch, every weekend sports enthusiasts (myself included) tuned into ABC's Wide World of Sports. The preview of each week's show included a video clip w/ the background narration (in part) exclaiming "The thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat" (mixing footage of a boxer being carried atop a cheering sea of fans, with a fast moving skier suffering a heart-wrenching crash). (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv368yWOSas

I'm aging myself a bit in using this as an analogy to our day at the NCAA Championships on Saturday, but it's what keeps coming to mind as I try to put into words a quick summary of our races on the very challenging Abbey Golf Course in St. Leo Florida. There were some victories, and there were some crashes..

Our women's team's run of surprisingly strong performances finally met it's match as the ladies struggled to a 25th place outing on Saturday. The Chico men were VERY Close to a top-5 day, but the same humidity and unforgiving layout that caused 2 of the 3 early race-leaders to drop out (and the other to fade out of contention), caught up with the 'Cats as well. It was a day of surprise All Americans, and hours in the medical tent, but overall I'm still pleased with how our Chico State Wildcats competed once again on the national stage.



Women's Championship 6k:

Before the 2021 season began, I'm not sure that I would have ranked our women among the top-10 in the West Region. With just one athlete returning with any type of post-season racing behind her (Gracie Dupuis), and a a roster full of women who'd never even worn the Chico State uniform before, yours truly took a deep breath and promised that after 1.5 years away from the sport, that we would be thankful for all opportunities to race, regardless of the outcome.

Since the championship season has begun some 6 weeks ago, there hasn't been a workout where our entire CCAA or NCAA roster was present, as we've had an assortment of setbacks that have consistently chipped away at our momentum. On Saturday, these inconsistencies, along with a very inexperienced line-up finally caught up with us.

As I'd stated after the 2016 Championships, the course in St. Leo is the hardest NCAA course that this coach has witnessed in some 30ish trips to the big dance. The 2.5 mile main circuit that the women's 6k traverses 1.5 times has athletes climbing or descending in every stretch, with just a few short flat areas, which this year were thick with mud from recent rains. Add a humidity figure that was in the mid 80's and you had a course that exposes All weaknesses. There is no faking fitness in St Leo, especially not on a day like we had on Saturday. Due to the heat factor, race times were much earlier than normal, which meant that the women's competitors from the West were starting at 5:30am Pacific time (another factor that seemed to affect West region runners).

From the gun the Chico women struggled for early positioning. The course starts with a 100m flat stretch, before hitting a natural drainage at the base of a large climb, and then ascends for the next 400-500m as it reaches the highest point of the layout. As the Chico ladies passed by at the 600m point, they were mostly placed well back in the field. The lone exception being Marissa D'Atri who ran among the Top 30 in the early going. The remainder of the 'Cats all ran in the 100's or 200's overall, including Hannah Ryan who crossed the 550m mat in 197th place Thankfully there was plenty of racing ahead, but the Chico women had their work cut out for them.

The middle kilometers of the race didn't offer much in the way of improvements for the Chico women. True frosh Hannah Wirth and Jaclyn Denham struggled with knee and hamstring injuries that left them well off their usual race paces. D'Atri lost places over the middle kilometers but still ran among the top 60 in the 250+ runner field. Hannah Ryan passed over 50 athletes in one 2.5k stretch in the early going, but had a hard time sustaining that type of forward progress throughout the race. RS Frosh Alexi Steinmaus who'd been plugged into the Wildcats' line-up after not making the regional roster two weeks previous, ran as the 'Cats #5 most of the race, and fought hard to move forward in the field between each of the timing mat check-points.

Marissa D'Atri would find the finish first for the Wildcats with her 67th place finish. Hannah Ryan would cross the line some 30 seconds behind in 110th. Katie Hawley followed in 147th, while Gracie Dupuis would take 165th. Steinmaus would pass 18 additional athletes in the final kilometer to stop the scoring with her 172nd place NCAA debut. As the points were tallied the 'Cats would finish in 25th place in the 34 team field. This was certainly not the performance we'd hoped for, but the Chico women had fought hard, and were unfortunately outmatched by the course, conditions, and the competition. With no seniors on our championship rosters, I'm 100 percent confident that we'll be back next year, and in a Much more competitive place.



Men's Championship 10k:

Like their female counterparts the Chico men also had to endure some setbacks in the weeks leading up to the final race of the season. Regional 7th place finisher Charlie Giannini came off the muddy Western Oregon course two weeks ago completely beat up. Both ankles were strained from the uneven/muddy conditions, and a knee issue also helped to sideline him for several days. The RS Frosh only managed 1 of the 3 workouts with his teammates between the regional and national races. Joining Giannini on the IR was Sophomore Dylan White who after a rugged 38th place regional race, managed to sprain his foot during our final hard workout leading into NCAA's. White would be unable to run Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday leading into Saturday's race, and spent a fair amount of time in a boot in the days leading up to travel, and even in Florida. With a very fit and capable alternate (Cameron Duquette) on hand, Dylan knew that we needed to make a tough decision as to whether to take the spot on the line, or whether to turn it over to a healthier Duquette. After Thursday's course preview Dylan approached yours truly and told me that his foot was hurting during the run and he wasn't sure that it could handle the tough terrain on Saturday. His main concern was that he Didn't want to take a spot on the line-up if he wasn't 100 percent sure he could run an effective race for the team. We agreed to wait to make a final decision until after his Friday course preview run with the team and just before the race declaration meeting.

On Friday morning after a final run over the course, Dylan told me that he would like to accept the spot on the line, and that he felt confident that his body would hold up. I smiled and told him to get ready to roll the next day. (more to come)



As the men's race began, the sun made it's first appearance of the day, and the heat seemed to jump 10 to 15 degrees in a matter of seconds. Although the sun would come and go during the men's 10k, the high humidity would remain a constant and unfortunately would take an ugly toll on a number of athletes and teams (including ours).

The Chico men had a mixed start on paper as Junior Jack Emanuel led the charge, working himself into the top 40 by the 1.3k timing mat. The rest of the 'Cats were scattered mostly in the second half of the field. In fact at 1.3k your Wildcats were in places: 35, 72, 90, 170, 184, 197 and 203 and had a team score of 476 while in 16th place on the course. As frosh Brayden McLaughlin ran by yours truly looking for insight on his positioning (170th at the time), I said "You're buried.. But you've got plenty of time."

Between 1.3 and 3k, the 'Cats made up valuable team places including Brayden's passing of 61 runners. The team score at 3k had the 'Cats in 11th with some great momentum going into the final 7k of racing. A big part of this momentum was Dylan White, who got off to a conservative start (184 @ 1.3k), but appeared to be feeling no pain in the foot, while mowing down runners with each kilometer covered.

By 5k the 'Cats had moved into 7th place (matching their pre-meet ranking). Jack Emanuel was the first Chico runner to hit the mat, crossing in 13th place at 15:02. Senior Matt Herrera was next to get to the mid-way mark running in 51st place, with Brayden crossing in 71st, and White in 82nd. Rory Abberton ran as the 'Cats #5, but had lost several places between 4k and 5k.

The next 3k of the race unfolded (mostly) beautifully for the 'Cats, as Jack Emanuel hit the 8.8k split mat (the final of the race before the finish some 1200m later) in 20th position. McLauglin followed relatively closely running in 40th position and looking ready for the kick ahead. Also on fire was Dylan White, who was in 47th place with just 1200m remaining and hungry for a potential All America finish. Matt Herrera crossed the final mat just 4 seconds behind White in 50th position (his best placement of the race), BUT his face was now flush and he looked as though the heat was starting to affect his stride and ability to focus. Freshman Omar Alvarez-Hernandez was the 'Cats 5th on the course at 8.8k in 121st, but even with the large 4/5 gap the 'Cats ran in 6th position just 3 points behind Augustana College who ran in 5th.

The final 1200m takes me back to the beginning of the story and ABC's Wide World of Sports.. Jack Emanuel would close well enough to grab his second NCAA All America Honor while hitting the finish in 24th. McLaughlin would pass 8 more athletes over the final stretch to finish 32nd while earning his first All America award (as a frosh!).. Dylan White who on Thursday doubted whether he'd be able to run on Saturday smashed the final stretch to take 37th overall while earning his first All America award (*note that during our most recent XC season-2019 Dylan was arguably outside our team's top-15 runners). Now cue the "Agony of defeat" music. Senior Matt Herrera seemed to hit a virtual wall over the final quarter mile of the course. As his legs began to give out Matt ran, walked, crawled, and did whatever he could to try to get to the finish line. While his body dealt with the affects of heat sickness, nearly 150 runners streamed by, but thankfully Matt was able to eventually get across the finish, and spent the next 90ish minutes in the medical tent, along with many other athletes. In fact pre-race favorites Colorado School of the Mines had two athletes drop out of the race, and end up at local hospitals. Colorado Christian College ran in 4th place at the 8.8k mark, but had their top athlete succumb to heat illness as well. They would end up 10th.

With Herrera falling back to the 'Cats 7th position, Alverez Hernandez' 118th place finish ended up becoming the fourth stick, and Rory Abberton's rough 143rd place day ended up stopping the bleeding. Thankfully the guys were able to salvage an 8th place finish, despite the unfortunate turn of events late in the race.

With the run, the Wildcat men have now finished among the top-10 in 20 of the past 21 NCAA Championship races. While the 'Cats graduate Abberton and Herrera, all remaining men return for the '22 season, including all three All Americans!

Although it wasn't our best day at the NCAA meet, it can't be overlooked that this group of student athletes are coming off an unprecedented window of time in which many didn't know when and if they would be able to return to the sport. As was the case at the beginning of this season, we're full of gratitude to be back racing, and especially on the national stage. We're not satisfied with our result in Florida, but we'll use it to take steps forward in the spring, and of course next fall.



Speaking of next fall, mark your calendars for another West Coast NCAA Championships, as the big meet will be held in Seattle, WA the first week of December (Festival year). Looking forward to returning to the West and seeing many of you there! Thank you all for the support and especially to those who trekked out to Florida this weekend. What an experience it was!