MONMOUTH, OR-- I'm incredibly proud to report that the Chico State Wildcat cross country teams enjoyed another memorable day at the West Regional Championships. For the 25th year in a row Both Wildcat squads will be ending their seasons together at the NCAA Championships, this year due to twin regional wins in Monmouth, Oregon. The women continue to get better with each race, this week dominating the rest of the region while scoring less than half of the points of second place Cal Poly Pomona. For the men, things were tight throughout, as the real time scoring had us hovering within a few points of the lead at each checkpoint as we battled Western Washington and Pomona on a day where none of the 3 teams had their best outings. The men were led by junior Damian Garcia's individual win, while the ladies were anchored (once again) by Iresh Molina, who placed 2nd. In championship racing things rarely go as scripted, but the great teams find a way to get the job done, and both Wildcat squads did exactly that on Saturday. Please enjoy the short recaps below.

Women's 6k Championship: Going into the championships the 'Cats biggest competition on paper was Stanislaus, Biola, and Western Washington. In reality, their closest competition came in the form of a very inspired group from Cal Poly Pomona, who had taken 3rd at CCAA's and had only 1 finisher on the All CCAA team. At each of the first two split points, the Broncos were leading the competition, with the Wildcats in second. Surprisingly Stanislaus (usual fast starters) were a distant third.

Thankfully the 'Cats were placed well in the early going of the regional race as all 7 ran among the top 50 through the early checkpoints, and with each mat that was crossed, the 'Cats' were dropping places systematically. Pomona had gotten out very aggressively, and were giving up places, but also holding on well enough to maintain second place throughout the second half of the race.

On paper yours truly felt that Iresh Molina was the favorite to win, but there was a solid group of gals who on any given day could vie for the title. The women's lead group was down to a predictable 7 or 8 going into the final 2 loops of the 4-circuit course and Iresh was a part if it, but she didn't look as relaxed as she had during the CCAA race. Her face showed some strain as she tried to press the pace at the front from time to time in an effort to try to rid herself of the competition.

Megan Malloy began the run in the 30-40 range of the field, but by 3k ran at the front of a chase group that followed some 15 meters behind the leaders. Paulina Martins ran several strides behind, and Olivia Beschorner, Kira Forsberg, and Sienna Bianchi followed closely as well. With just less than 3k remaining the 'Cats had the lead, and 6 of the 7 were now operating among the top 25 overall.

With 1k to go the lead pack was down to 5, and two of the women had some hefty 1500m Pr's to their credit, in Biola's Bethany Mapes (4:25), and Pomona's Vivien Martinez (4:21). Simon Fraser's Rachel Watkins is a 4:51 miler as well, so Iresh would have some work to do as things developed into a kickers race for the win. Mapes (also a sub 16:30 5k gal) made a hard move inside the final 600m and separated from the pack. Iresh gave chase but with 400m remaining trailed Mapes by several strides, and had the other 3 hot on her heels. Although Iresh didn't have the speed to overhaul the Biola star, she did outkick the remaining women while hitting the line 2nd overall. Also doing some amazing work over the final stretch was Megan Malloy who caught and passed several women who'd fallen from the lead group. The magical season of true frosh Paulina Martins continued as she hammered home in 9th! Sienna Bianchi (previous best regional finish was 53rd) would cross in 11th with roommate Beschorner just a fraction of a second behind in 12th! Five in the top 12 easily sealed the team scoring for the now defending champs. Kira Forsberg hit a bit of a wall over the final 500ish meters and lost 10+ places in the final stretch, but thankfully crossed the line in 21st, giving the 'Cats 6 All West Region runners on the day! Jasmine Fletcher, who's been dealing with an ankle injury all season struggled a bit on the uneven terrain, but still managed a very respectable 33rd place.

The women's team score (40) was one of the lowest in some time for a west region team and well below the 104 the '24 'Cats scored to win the race a year ago. Pomona would hold on for second, and Western Washington claimed the final auto spot to NCAA's with their 3rd place effort. Biola should make the NCAA field with their 4th place finish given their run at Lewis (3rd) earlier in the season. In a potentially shocking development, Stanislaus finished 5th, and now has to hope to be granted an at large bid to NCAA's, despite not having travelled out of the region during the regular season.

The Chico women now turn their sights on the upcoming NCAA Championships in Parkside, Wisconsin, and they'll be bringing an incredible amount of momentum with them to the line. A good benchmark of success for these women has been their decreasing 1-5 spread. At Lewis our 1-5 gap was 1:06. CCAA's narrowed it down to :36 seconds. This weekend the margin was down to :28 seconds! IF we can keep a 30ish second margin through the very challenging Parkside race, this women's team is capable of challenging for a Top 5-10 spot for sure.



Men's 10k Championship: The Chico men went into the 2025 regional championships as the top ranked team, but knowing that they would have their hands full in backing up that ranking. Second seeded Western Washington had defeated the 'Cats at the Lewis Crossover meet (by 30+ points), and had just won their conference (GNAC) convincingly. Of course Cal Poly Pomona would also be quite motivated having come off the narrow defeat to the 'Cats at the recent CCAA championships. Thankfully 3 teams qualify on to NCAA's and the fourth ranked team (on paper) was ranked well behind these three squads.

Predictably, a very large and fast moving pack flew through the 1k mark well under 3 minutes. All 7 'Cats were positioned nicely among the leaders, with Damian Garcia leading the way, literally spearheading the entire group.

During the second mile the pace eased a bit as athletes buckled in for their first 10k of the season, but Damian Garcia looked antsy and almost without trying, had pulled a group of 10 away from the rest of the field. Defending regional champ Mario Giannini didn't quite make the break, and led the chase group mid-way through the second mile.

As the pack approached the 2 mile mark they seemed to give up on running Damian's pace, and the Junior from Chico drifted off the front with 4 laps of racing yet to go. Since this wasn't a scripted move, yours truly took a deep breath and hoped that Damian could forge a large enough lead to hold off a group of 10, that would spend the coming kilometers trying to catch him. Some good news for the 'Cats came in the form of Giannini who had bridged up to join the lead group as they settled once Damian had departed off the front. The remainder of the 'Cats were scattered among a long line of chasers who had been dropped by the lead group.

At the 5k point Garcia enjoyed a 30-40 meter margin over the lead group, but Giannini had been dropped by said group and now ran solo in no-man's-land just outside the top 10. Matthew Gordon looked strong near the front of the next chase group, as did Jesus Villarreal. True frosh Jackson Stream was running among the top-30 as the 'Cats 5 with teammate Sergio Cuartas just a stride back. Travis Selby was the 'Cats #7 but was a bit farther back than we'd hoped for this stage of the run. Team scores at half-way had Chico and WWU in a near dead-heat with Pomona running a few points back in 3rd. All three squads were a bit more scattered than most had expected for this point in the race.

The second half of the race brought more drama with respect to the battle for the team victory. Garcia maintained a lead over the front pack, but his once 30-35 meter lead was shrinking over laps four and five of the 6 loop layout. WWU initially had 3 men in the lead group, but the GNAC runner-up Sten Brakstad had fallen back to the main pack before 5k and #2 runner Jared Alderfer had also fallen victim to the pace and drifted from the shrinking lead group. Through it all, Mario Giannini fought hard mostly by himself, while visibly showing strain that I've not seen on his face in any race this season. Mario certainly wasn't at 100 percent, but he was battling. Matthew Gordon ran consistently among a small chase pack inside the top 20 through the entire second half of the race. Jesus Villarreal battled hard to bridge up to Matthew's group, but unfortunately lost contact late. The remaining 'Cats ran some distance behind our front 4, and our fifth was a true frosh competing in his first 10k ever.

As Damian ran by yours truly with 1k remaining I yelled to him to tuck in and stay engaged, as the leaders of the chase literally ran within a few strides of Garcia with 3 minutes of running left. Mario came by in 12th position with 2 athletes just 10-15 meters ahead of him. I let Mario know that he had 3 minutes to get those two (note: he did!). Matthew came by next and looked strong running a few strides ahead of Pac West Individual champ Melt Von Mollendorff. Jesus was next just a few places back. Jackson Stream, running in the 30's overall showed the pain of the 10k but looked composed heading into the final kilometer.

As the leaders came back to view from the finish stretch I was honestly surprised to see Garcia running alone at the front. Apparently after getting to the point of hearing the breathing of his pursuers Damian kicked into a final gear and held it to the line recording a very impressive 29:26 finish time. Pomona's Ricardo Vargas would close well to take second. Western Washington's top runner took 8th, while starting the scoring for the Vikings. Mario would finish next between the three top teams taking 10th. WWU's #2 would finish 13th while Matthew Gordon would become the first #3 to hit the line while taking 15th. WWU's Brakstad would take 17th as their #3. Jesus Villarreal would cross just 1 second behind Brakstad in 18th giving the 'Cats four across the line. George Fernandez would finish 23rd for WWU as their number 4. WWU would complete their scoring totals with the 27th place finish of Logan Werner. Jackson Stream would follow 10 seconds back in 31st insuring the 'Cats 9th straight regional victory. Pomona had a tough day with several of their usual top runners, but held on for a 3rd place finish and NCAA berth.

It wasn't pretty, but the Chico men ran with poise and toughness and got the job done. They now head to the NCAA Championships for the 26th straight season, dating back to 1999!

Random Stats Post Regional:

There have only been 2 programs in DII who have qualified both men's and women's squads to NCAA's each season since 2000.... Western Colorado, and Chico State.
The 'Wildcat men have won 20 of the past 23 regionals, dating back to 2002. Their only 3 losses were second place finishes to Alaska Anchorage.
The Wildcat women have now won 11 regional titles in the past 22 seasons. The Chico men have won the past 9 editions.
10 of the 'Cats 14 competing athlets earned All West Region honors in '25.
This will be a return to Kenosha for the 'Cats, as the 1997 women's team (our first to ever qualify for nationals) competed on the same layout (though the '97 crew raced a 5k).
Both Squads head into NCAA's ranked among the top-10 teams nationally. The men's mean finish @ NCAA's since 1999 is 6.5. The women's average finish is 8.5 since 2000.

Next up: NCAA D2 XC Championships on Saturday 11/23 @ Kenosha, WI Women's race begins at 10:00am CST, Men follow at 11:15am CST.