Chico State come away victorious at Mike Johnson Invitational
NW Nazarene give men a scare but Wildcats tight finish too much to overcome

Saturday, September 27, 2025
Comments & photos by Gary Towne/Chico State Cross Country Coach

CERES,CA - I'm happy to report that your Wildcat cross country teams enjoyed a victorious trip to Oregon this past weekend as both squads notched wins at the Mike Johnson Invitational in Monmouth. With the upcoming West Regional championships to be held on the same layout in early November, this was a nice opportunity to gain some familiarity with the grass-loop layout. On the men's side, we overcame a 1-3 finish by regional foe Northwest Nazarene by packing our 5 scoring runners across the finish between 4th-9th places. It should be noted that 2024 CCAA and West Region champion Mario Giannini was held out this weekend to limit his racing schedule a bit. The Chico women also employed a nice job of pack running while defeating regional foe Alaska Anchorage, and DI Portland. Overall it was an enjoyable trip to the PNW as we start to zero in on the championships ahead (less than 4 weeks till CCAA's). Please find the short re-caps of each race (along with results) below:

Women's 6k:

The goal for the women's team was to do our best to challenge for the team win. Expectations were that U of Portland would most likely be the biggest obstacle that might stand in the way of the eventual title. As things would turn out, Alaska Anchorage ended up providing the biggest challenge as the Seawolves ran within a few points of the 'Cats through the first two laps.

True frosh and Orland HS alumna Paulina Martins led the 'Cats in the early going as she and teammate Megan Malloy ran among a 12ish strong lead group through the first of four, mile-long (ish) loops. The 'Cats 3,4,5,6 runners ran within several seconds of one another through the greater majority of the race and nestled nicely among the Top-25-30 throughout.

Martins' potentially over-zealous start caught up with her a bit in the second half as she slid from the main group, but did a great job of employing damage control along the way. Megan also fell from the splintering lead group in the final kilometers, but fought to maintain her spot among the top-10 overall. It should be mentioned that red shirting 'Cat Iresh Molina stuck with the lead group throughout and would eventually lose a kick over the final meters for the individual title. The chasing pack of 'Cats did a great job of shedding quite a bit of the competition around them, which ended up providing the cushion needed to gain the eventual win.

Megan Malloy pulled together a nice finish stretch to eventually earn 7th place honors. Also finishing strongly was teammate Paulina Martins who would take 8th. Just 6 seconds later a massively improved Olivia Beschorner would hit the tape in 12th. RS Frosh Kira Forsberg would take 16th as the 'Cats 4th, and Sienna Bianchi concluded the scoring with her 19th place effort. Jasmine Fletcher would provide a nice insurance package as our 6th on the day while finishing 22nd. Jasmine's solid finish put her ahead of every other team's 5th scorer, highlighting the strength of the win on the day for the Chico women.

Men's 8k:

The plan for the Chico men was to work together as a pack near the front of the race and hopefully secure a win by the finish. The thought process was to limit the number of "all in" type races for the guys, who will be in high pressure races in each of their next 4 runs. As mentioned previously the 'Cats were without CCAA/West Region champ Mario Giannini who was left home in an effort to keep him healthy for the big races ahead.

For the most part the men's race went according to plan, although Northwest Nazarene did make things interesting at the front.

The men's race was a six-loop affair (over a number of different circuits that varied in distance and difficulty) and the 'Cats top runners all operated within a second or two at the conclusion of the first lap. NNU was running quite aggressively as their 4th runner ran stride for stride with the 'Cats' first runner at the conclusion of lap 2.

During the third lap NNU's top three pressed from the front and only Chico's Sergio Cuartas III and Alaska Anchorage's top runner covered the move. Although I haven't gone back to look at the real time scoring, I'd guess that NNU was either winning the race, or very close at the conclusion of lap 3, as their top 3 occupied the first three spots on the course, and their number 4 ran alongside our 2/3/4/5 runners. NNU's fifth runner was also out aggressively, but would pay a price over the final kilometers.

During the fifth loop NNU's top-2 men Brody Kemble and Grady Mylander pulled clear of teammate Ian Stockett and Chico's Cuartas. Stockett appeared to be on the ropes and Cuartas moved into third by the conclusion of lap 5. The Chico scoring pack, composed of Travis Selby, Matthew Gordon, Jesus Villarreal, and Damian Garcia worked well together through the tougher stretches of the race, and with a lap to go NNU's 4th was struggling to keep up.

NNU's Kemble and Mylander could cruise to convincing 1-2 finishes. Cuartas ran in 3rd until 100m remaining, when Stockett went all in and gave NNU a 1,2,3 finish. Sergio held on for fourth and Alaska's Ty Elliott took fifth. The 'Cats remaining scorers would take the next 4 positions with Damian Garcia, Travis Selby, Jesus Villarreal and Matthew Gordon finishing 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th. NNU's fourth runner would finish 10 seconds after Gordon, but only 2 team points behind. Scoring after 4 runners.. NNU 17, Chico 25. Thankfully NNU's final scorer was some distance back as the 'Cats would take a 6 point win once the points were tallied. In an exhibition of depth the 'Cats put 13 across the line (counting our red shirting frosh in the race) before NNU's fifth man. In fact, if our true frosh could have run as a scoring team they'd have finished 5th overall. Leading this group was Vacaville HS alum Jackson Stream who placed 11th overall (24:24!). Speaking of young and developing runners.. Shout-out to Emmanuel Wallace (Fr) 24:36, Adrian Hipolito (So) 24:37, Alex Lamoureux (So) 24:40, Xander Schulte-Sasse (Fr) 24:41, Andrew Stevens (So) 24:44, Jack Rattary (Fr) 24:48, and Preston Mullin (Fr) 24:49 who all finished among the Top-30 overall. The future is certainly bright!

Next up: The squads will now split forces, as 7 men and 7 women will compete in Lewis University's annual DII Crossover meet in Chicago, ILL on Saturday Oct. 11th. The remainder of the squads will compete at the San Francisco Invite in Golden Gate Park on Friday Oct. 10.