University Place, WA - The Chico State Harriers travelled to the Pacific Northwest over the weekend to participate in the 2022 NCAA Championship Preview Invitational, hosted by Seattle Pacific University at the Chambers Creek Regional Park course. Chambers Creek is a beautiful setting, as the course sits on the shores of Puget Sound and circumnavigates a portion of a golf course that hosted the 2015 US open. Massive structures that once formed an old papermill and lumber center still stand, and add to an already impressive and unique backdrop. The course itself includes mostly flat grass loops in the lower area of the golf course, nearest the sound. Recent rains soaked the course pretty well in the days leading up to Saturday's run, but thankfully mother nature spared competitors and fans this time around.

Given the NCAA meet will be staged at Chambers Creek in 6 weeks, many teams converged from across the country for the preview meet in hopes of getting a look of the layout, while also earning points toward potential At-large bids to the championships. Due to the number of competing teams, meet organizers created a DII-only field (10 max per team) and two open races (one per gender). The open races would provide opportunities for club runners, Non DII teams, and "B" teams from deep DII squads like ours. It was our goal to enter 7 women in the DII race, 8 men in the same on the men's side, and the remainder of our rosters in the Open races. So for the second straight week, we had four scoring teams toeing the lines. Unfortunately we ended up not travelling the Molina twins at the last minute, which left our Invitational women's squad a bit short-handed (they were our 1-2 finishers at last week's Bronco Invite). Also unable to make the trip was 2021 All Region runner Katie Hawley, who for the second straight week couldn't compete due to sickness. The men's squads were mostly full, and actually included the seasonal debut of Brian Hastings, who picked up an injury at the end of the summer, and missed the first 6 weeks of running this season. Recent training had indicated that Hastings was in surprisingly strong fitness, so he was added to the men's open roster. Please follow below for the quick run-downs for each race.

Men's Open 8k: The men's open 8k would start the day for the 'Cats. The Chico crew would be up against a Lewis and Clark squad that was ranked 11th in the most recent NAIA polls, Lane Community College, Western Washington's second squad, and a number of club teams. From the start the 'Cats trio of Anders Beil, Brian Hastings, and Travis Selby established themselves among the leaders of the field. Jayden Olea (who's missed a fair amount of training the past several weeks) followed relatively closely in the early going, while Ethan Crouch and Michael Ramirez rounded out the potential scorers for the 'Cats.

As the race evolved, Hastings inserted himself among a lead group of 3-4, while teammates Beil and Selby ran within a few strides of one another (also among the Top-10 overall). At the mid-race point, the 'Cats lead trio ran ahead of Lewis and Clark's top runner, but Jayden had been caught by a LC pack, and Crouch and Ramirez appeared to be distressed running behind the NAIA school's main group of scorers. This could be a close team score!

At the finish, Hastings held on well for a surprising 8k PR of 25:22 (5th). Beil employed his trusty kick to secure 6th place, just 1 second ahead of teammate (and roommate) Selby who gave the 'Cats 3 of the top 7 placers. Jayden fought hard over the final mile, despite the mixed training coming into the weekend, and finished 16th, just ahead of Lewis and Clark's #4. Our NAIA opponent would put 5/6/7 runners across the line before Crouch would finish (34th), but thankfully the low sticks would win the day for the 'Cats open crew. One race, one win!

Men's DII/Invite 8k: The DII invite race would be the 'Cats biggest challenge (this season to date) as a team until the actual NCAA Championships. The main reason for this was the fact that NCAA #1 (ranked) Colorado School of the Mines had made the trip out to Seattle to check out the course, while debuting their top guys. Also joining the 'Cats on the line would be Western State (Colorado) ranked #10 nationally, and a host of regionally ranked squads from the west (Pomona, Simon Fraser, Western Washington, etc..). The current Mines squad is arguably the best DII team ever assembled. Number 1 runner Dillon Powell ran a 13:33 5k last track season, and was the NCAA 10k champ, where he ran the final 3200m in 8:40! The Ore-Diggers sent several more sub 14 minute 5k guys to the line, along with a host of low 14 minute runners.

Given the depth and quality of the Mines' squad, it wasn't a surprise to see a lead pack evolving in the early going that was full of the Blue Mines jerseys. The 'Cats were relatively well placed in the early going, but were a bit more spread out than in our previous two invitationals of the year. This of course was somewhat expected since the front of the pack was full of high quality runners and the pace was not dawdling.

As the race materialized, Jack Emanuel, Rory Abberton and Omar Alvarez-Hernandez all operated among the top-20 overall, but almost never with one another. Emanuel spent much of the race in around 8th-10th positions working with Mines' Chris Cathcart. Alvarez had spent the early kilometers with Emanuel, but had been dropped and was slowly giving up places over the final kilometers of the race. Abberton had the best momentum of all the 'Cats as he worked his way from around 20th in the early going, up to the doorstep of the top-10. Brayden McLaughlin never looked 100 percent in full control on the day, but pressed on in hopes that his legs would respond. Daniel Hernandez ran as the 'Cats fifth, never quite able to bridge to his teammates ahead. 6/7/8 'Cats Cameron Duquette, Joshua O'Neill, and Bennett Woodward were buried in the field throughout and struggled to overcome their early deficits.

Not a lot of change occurred over the final stages of the run, as Mines would pack 6 into the top-9 overall by the finish. Rory Abberton would beat teammate Jack Emanuel to the line, as the duo would begin the 'Cats scoring with 10th and 11th place finishes. Alvarez-Hernandez would hold on well for a 16th place finish. Brayden would cross the line a disappointed 22nd but ahead of Western State's #4, and Daniel Hernandez would finish the 'Cats scoring day with his 26th place effort. Although it wasn't the performance that we'd hoped for, the Chico crew had at least upheld their pre-race ranking, and took 2nd place, ahead of Western State's #10 ranked team. They'd also secured wins over the good majority of the west Region's best on the day. Not a great outing, but then again, not especially bad either. It should be noted that this crew raced a hard 8k just 1 week earlier and trekked up to WA in vans in the days leading up to the race. From here on out, racing will come every-other-week through the championship segment ahead.

Women's Open 6k: The women's open field was not as deep as we'd hoped going into the weekend, but thankfully the 'Cats had each other, and there was a lot on the line, as a number of women were vying for final CCAA roster spots.

As the leaders of the race approached yours truly just beyond the quarter mile mark, no less than 7 Wildcat women stretched across the front of the lead pack. As the race navigated through it's 1.5 mile perimeter loops, the front group of 'Cats predictably separated, and opponents began to work their way in between sub groups of Chico runners. At mid-race, a trio of Chico runners including true frosh Jasmine Fletcher, Avery Lambrite, and Sophie Pelletier ran together alongside Lane CC's top runner. Jacqueline Cascione ran alone some 15 meters behind, and teammate Hannah Wirth trailed the same distance back, as the 'Cats fifth.

In the second half of the run some sort of breathing issue struck Lambrite and she quickly slid from the group of leaders, just as Cascione had caught the front pack. As athletes entered the final kilometer of the run Cascione made a bid for the win, breaking from teammate Pelletier, and a Club Northwest runner who'd caught them along the way. Cascione's move couldn't have come any later, as Lewis and Clark 2:14 800m runner Geraldin Correa was charging fast, and had caught and passed Pelletier by the 3.5 mile mark of the course. Cascione looked great in closing out the run, and claimed her first collegiate win in the process. Pelletier would lose a sprint finish by less than a second for 3rd place while taking fourth. Jasmine Fletcher would cross next in 8th place, while teammate Wirth gave the 'Cats 4 of the top-13. Esmeralda Aguayo's 15th place finish secured the 'Cats narrow 1 point team-victory over local Club Northwest's women on the day. Another solid run by the Chico open crew!

Women's DII/Invite 6k: As previously mentioned, the Chico women went into the Invite race without last week's 1-2 finishers (Della and Iresh Molina) as well as All Region performer Katie Hawley. In fact, only 5 women in the Chico uniform would toe the line, so each would be a scorer at the end of the day.

The Chico crew got out to a surprisingly fast start (we generally aren't at the front of big fields in the early stages) as Gracie Dupuis, Hannah Tiffany, Hannah Ryan, and Marissa D'Atri ran among the front of the pack as they approached the 600m mark of the race.

As the race evolved through the middle kilometers Marissa D'Atri hung strong among the top 20 throughout. Frosh Hannah Tiffany would lose some places over the middle stretch, but still looked in control of her running at the mid way point. Gracie Dupuis also battled well throughout, operating among the top 30-40 overall. The gap between our front three and final two (Hannah Ryan, and Jaclyn Denham) grew wider through the middle stages of the race, and it was hard to imagine that the Chico women were running among the top-4-5 teams at mid race.

Marissa would find the finish first with her 14th place effort (her first time leading the 'Cats this season). Gracie Dupuis and Hannah Tiffany would hold on for 32nd and 33rd place finishes. Hannah Ryan (60th) and Jaclyn Denham (74th) would conclude the 'Cats scoring. Even with a much larger gap from 1-5 than we had a week ago (1:10 today) the Wildcat women somehow held on for a 4th place team finish behind Mines, Western State, and Biola. If the 'Cats are to challenge for a regional title in 4 weeks, they'll be up against the same Biola team, along with Azusa Pacific. On the day though, Biola was the only regional foe to defeat the 'Cats. This wasn't our best day, but it certainly was a great learning experience and motivator as we head into the championships ahead. Also it will be nice to Hopefully have our entire women's team back on the line at CCAA's in a few weeks!

Next Up: CCAA Championships Saturday November 5th @ Carmel (Palo Corona Regional Park)