2004 NCAA DII XC Championships Race Summary (Coach Gary Towne) I'm proud to report that the men's and women's cross country squads of Chico State represented their school, the west region, and the CCAA very well at last week's NCAA championship event. The men's team lost a close battle with Abilene Christian for a top three spot, and the women narrowly missed their third straight top 5 finish while placing 6th in the 24 team field. The day brought mixed feelings from both squads as each had hoped for better overall marks, but we are all wary that two top 6 teams in the NCAA is something that most schools would die for. Both squads have much to be thankful for as their attention turns to the holidays and the upcoming track season. Our trip began with a Wednesday morning flight from Sacramento to Chicago, then another flight to Louisville, KY. Time zones were crossed numerous times during both the flights, and the eventual 2 hour drive from Louisville, to Evansville. The trip went smooth and we arrived at our hotel at midnight (central time). After a quick midnight jaunt (3 mile run) on the streets of Evansville the weary travelers hit the pillows and rested well, after a long day of flying and driving. The weather forcast for Thursday was 30 percent chance of showers. We left the hotel to do our first preview of the course on Thursday morning at 10am. The skies were grey but the air was surprisingly warm. The course was absolutely beautiful. The men's and women's course followed the same route for the initial 2.5 miles with the first 1.5 miles taking place on an upper field area that was mostly flat, but with some rolling hills. After this 1.5 mile (2 loop circuit) the trail dove very quickly down a steep hill to the lower and more hilly loop. The bottom loop was the better part of 2 miles in length and held several solid climbs. The footing was firm for the most part and the course was very beautiful. The bottom loop took runners through a wooded area where the surface switched between dirt and grass. The women's course covered 1 lower loop and would then hit the same hill they had come down initially with 700m remaining to the finish. This hill would be very difficult for the women, given it's placement on the course. Since we'd spent some quality time in the hills above Chico preparing just for this layout, none of the Chico crew seemed to mind the difficulty. The men's course would include an extra lower loop, then the climb to the upper field area where they then would circle the 1 mile upper loop one final time before finishing. The men's course was very difficult and would become even more difficult before raceday. Within an hour of our course preview the weather had turned for the worse and the 30 percent chance of rain became reality real quick. In fact once the rain started, it didn't stop for about 8 hours. The joke between Coach Ruiz and I was that perhaps they (meteorologists) had meant that it would rain for 30 percent of the day???... On Friday we toured what was the same course on paper as the one we'd been on the day previous, but in reality things had changed quite dramatically. The course was now VERY wet and muddy in places, especially in the lower loop areas. A course that 24 hours earlier could have been run on w/ road flats, now would require 1/2 inch spikes. Thankfully I'd purchased 150 of the mud gripping devices the week previous to our trip and we now had something to fill our time on Friday, being that a rainy Evansville doesn't offer much in the way of entertainment. Saturday Nov. 20 Raceday: The men's 10k started at Noon with a crack of the starter's pistol. For the sixth year in a row the Chico men's squad would take aim at yet another solid placing at the NCAA championship event. From the gun the men established themselves well among the field of 180+ runners. Having seen enough muddy championship races through the years, one thing that we've learned is that early placement is key on muddy days. It's just tough to play "catch-up" on muddy grass and trail surfaces. The plan was to get our entire group out among the top 50-60 initially and then get into a rhythm and go to work. The men did this almost to perfection from the gun although a few were a bit over-zelous in their approach to the early stages of the race. Frosh Scotty Bauhs who had his sights set on a top 10-20 finish had positioned himself among the top 4-5 runners overall by the 1/2 mile mark. Junior Pat Boivin, traditionally a fast starter, and the returning 15th placer in this event, ran next to his younger teammate. Sr. Steven Springhorn followed only 1-2 seconds behind in around 12th position. Settled nicely in the top 50-55 were Antonio Miramontes, Kyle Ivie, Chris Layman and Joel Martinez. Martinez who'd not even raced at the Regional race due to his status as an alternate at the time, went through the mile in around 60th place but would certainly prove his worth to the squad as the race would develop. The lead Chico runner would cross the mile marker at just under 4:40 with the Kenyan duo of Peter Koskei (Harding U) and Nicodemus Naimadu (Abilene Christian) leading the way. With Abilene and Harding being two of the four teams ranked ahead of the 'Cats, the team battle was definitely on! By the time the men entered the back woods area for their two loops in the hills, the top 5 ranked teams had a clear advantage over the rest of the field. Both Adams State and Western State had their entire scoring packs running inside the top 20 overall, while Abilene Christian, and Harding had a good number of top guys working in the top 25 as well. At mid race Kosgei of Harding had a comfortable lead as he'd dispatched the smaller Naaimadu. The Abilene standout now joined Western State's Kelly Christiansen (undefeated going into Sat's race) and Oliver Bodor (a former DI All American). This group of 3 would then work together to eventually catch the tiring Kosgei creating what would eventually result in a Very exciting battle for the individual crown. At mid race, Western State was very well positioned with all 5 of their top runners running in the top 20 overall. 4 Adams runners remained inside the top 20 and Chico's Boivin was slipping a bit now running in around 14th-17th position. Bauhs who was now paying a bit of a price for the 'frisky' early running had fallen to about 20th, while Springhorn was also sliding. Now running in the mid 30's overall was Joel Martinez who showed definite signs of life as he passed a hord of cheering Chico State fans who'd driven 2000+ miles to support their team. Still running in the top 60 overall were Miramontes and Ivie who would ensure at least a top 5 finish assuming they continued to hold their ground. Somewhere in the 5th mile Martinez moved past the struggling Springhorn as he continued ahead in search of his second straight Top 30 finish. Boivin, as he always seems to do, rebounded nicely after a tougher middle mile, moving into 11th place by mile 5. Bauhs held tight to a low 20's spot, and the 5-6 duo of Ivie and Miramontes also looked solid running now in the low 50's overall. The race for first place seemed to be Naimadu's as he'd broken the two Western athletes in the 5th mile and seemed quite comfortable running the final upper field circuit. With 100m of muddy grass remaining Bodor of Western looked as though he'd settled for second, but he caught another gear and actually screamed with about 50 meters remaining. The Kenyan seemed to pay little attention, and Bodor dove to the line, missing the win by a mere .10 seconds. Count this as 1 point for Abilene, and 2 for Western. Third place would be Kelly Christiansen, Western's #2. Harding's #1 Peter Kosgei would cross the line in 4th. Adams' #1 Josh Merrick would just out-lean Western's #3 Will Banks who was followed closely by Adams' #2 Jesus Solis. Kenyan Moses Tum of Colorado Springs would finish in 8th with Chico's Patrick Boivin following closely behind in 9th. Boivin becomes Chico's first top-10 finisher since the 1970's. Western's #5 Scott Swearingen would solidify the team title for the favored Mountaineers with his 16th place finish, and Adams State had nearly insured a second place finish while placing 4 inside the top 15 overall. The race for third was now the question and it seemed like a close one between the Wildcats of Abilene, and the Wildcats of Chico State. Abilene's Bernard Manirakiza (4th in '03) would finish 10th today giving the Kenyan dominated team an edge over their Californian rivals. Chico's #2 would be Scott Bauhs who held on well to finish 24th in his first NCAA competition (earning All American Honors). Chico would put their third across the line ahead of Abilene's as Joel Martinez had moved up to finish in 27th place (2nd All American finish) but the next person to cross the line was Abilene's Martin Okello. Edge: Abilene Placing 41st overall was Abilene's #4 Laurent Ngirakamaro who was followed in 42nd by Chico's Steven Springhorn. Chico would end it's scoring with the 49th place run of Antonio Miramontes and for insurance purposes RS Frosh Kyle Ivie would follow closely with his 55th place effort. Abilene still had a 5th runner on the course and Chico fans hoped for as many numbers as possible before their final scorer would reach the finish. Lucky Hadebe would close out Abilene's scoring with a 68th place finish, but 5 of those runners between Chico's #5 and Lucky were individual qualifiers, and thus didn't count in team scoring, giving the Texas squad a narrow 7 point margin of victory for 3rd place honors over the Chico crew. This was the bad news, but the good news was that the Wildcats of Chico had earned their second straight 4th place finish while earning the trophies that come with such a finish. Fourth ranked Harding University who had scored a miniscule 17 points in it's regional competition would finish a distant 5th, 50 points behind Chico. Placing 135th in what was unfortunately his final XC outing in the Chico uniform was Senior Chris Layman. The cause for his unfortunate placement is yet to be determined but the senior did enjoy a great season having earned All CCAA, and West Region honors along the way. The women's 6k race started at 1:15pm and the Chico contingent placed themselves well from the start as the entire 7 ran within the top 75 runners in the field. Jen James rolled through the mile in the mid 5:30's running inside the top 30 overall. Just behind her in the 40's-60's were Ciara Harvey, Kelly Ortlieb, Mary Biggs, Sarah Montez and Laura Cohen. Paige Osborn looked solid coming through the mile in the top 75 range. By midrace and the drop into the lower more hilly area, Cohen and Montez were moving nicely up into top 50-60 range. With much fewer areas to catch the action (due to the shorter course than the men) fans were treated to only one more look at the athletes at a point just before the 3 mile mark. Jennifer James appeared a bit broken down as she came into view at the 2.5 mile mark. She was running in the mid 30's overall and didn't appear to be moving all that well. Ciara Harvey came next looking solid and running somewhere among the top 60 ovearall, Kelly Ortlieb running with only 10 days of run training since CCAA's was hurting, but holding on nicely near Harvey. Looking Very sharp at 2.5 miles was Sarah Montez who was passing runners w/ each meter she covered. With 4 runners inside the top 60 with a mile to go things looked pretty solid for the ladies, but too many bodies were passing before a tired looking Mary Biggs finally entered the picture. Not far behind were Paige Osborn and Laura Cohen, but none looked as though they were moving well, meaning that our fifth and final scorer would probably end up well behind our 4th. Fans raced across a mud filled gully and up the steep and muddy incline that led to the upper area of the course, and the finish. Running away with the individual title for the second straight year was West Region champ Chelsea Smith of BYU Hawaii. Excited Chico fans were delighted to see the familiar stride of Jennifer James running inside the top 30 again. James had passed at least 10 runners since the 2.5 mile checkpoint and now strode towards the line in search of her first Cross Country All America Certificate. Also enjoying a great day for the 'Cats was Ciara Harvey who would cross the line in 48th position just ahead of former CA JC State Champ Trina Cox who now runs for Abilene Christian. It's worth noting that Ciara finished 67th in the State JC race that Cox had won in '02. Ciara has come a long way and enjoyed a great season. Having closed very well for the final 2 miles Sarah Montez recorded a solid 53rd place finish which was a 30 place improvement over her frosh outing in '03. Holding on nicely as our #4 was Kelly Ortlieb who would finish 62nd on this day. A year ago our #4 was 83rd place, and we had placed 4th, so things were in place for another shot at a trophy, but unfortunately today our 5-6-7 runners had their roughest outings of the season. Despite having a 5th runner finishing 105th overall, the ladies still managed to nail down 6th place in the overall standings which of course is nothing to be ashamed of. Perhaps the toughest part of Saturday's race for the women's squad was just the thoughts of what could have been. Edinboro University a team that we'd beaten handily at the Willamette Invit in October would place second. A usual 1-5 spread of :30-:45 seconds had more than doubled today. All in all, the 6th place finish was a bitter-sweet one for the 'Cats. As we look back at the NCAA experience and the 2004 season, both the men's and women's teams have much to be proud of. Both squads have won three consecutive CCAA titles. The men have won 3 regional crowns in a row, while the women have won the past two. Both men and women have finished their seasons together at the NCAA championships 5 straight years. The men have finished among the NCAA's top 10 each of the past 6 seasons, and have a three year streak of top 5 performances, while the women have finished among the nation's top 6 for three years straight. Both squads are making progress towards the top and the coming years should prove to be exciting ones. Next year both the West Region and NCAA championships will be hosted by Cal Poly Pomona so we'll be looking forward to many cheering fans on each of these days. Speaking of cheering fans, I want to thank all of the parents and friends of the competing kids who were able to make the trip out to Indiana to support the Wildcat crew this year. It helps so much to have your support. Also, I'd be crazy not to thank the 15+ kids from the team who drove from Chico to Indiana, painted their bodies and ran around half naked cheering for their teammates. Anyone who hasn't witnessed an NCAA XC championship and all the excitement involved in such, REALLY needs to check out the action next November in Pomona.