Chico State men claim 6th straight CCAA title, women nab third as distance corps excels
Team Scores:
Men - Team Rankings - 21 Events Scored
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1) Chico State 257 2) UC San Diego 164
3) Cal Poly Pomona 130 4) Cal State Stanislaus 115
5) Humboldt State 84 6) Cal St LA 63
Women - Team Rankings - 21 Events Scored
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1) UC San Diego 247.50 2) Cal St LA 164
3) Chico State 142.50 4) Humboldt State 62
5) Cal Poly Pomona 61.50 6) San Francisco State 57.5
7) Cal State Stanislaus 49 8) CSU Dominguez Hills 34
Womens 800m Prelims
Name Year School Seed Time heat
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1 April Montgomery SR CSU Stanislaus 2:12.30 2:17.78Q 3
2 Kyle Wolff FR Cal Poly Pom 2:14.80 2:20.76Q 2
3 Johntay Cokley SR Chico State 2:14.64 2:22.04Q 1
4 Rubye Foldager FR CSU Stanislaus 2:17.74 2:19.50Q 3
5 Vivien Wadeck JR Cal St LA 2:14.19 2:22.05Q 2
6 Breanna Schofield SO UC San Diego 2:14.73 2:22.61Q 1
7 Ashleigh Montgomery SR UC San Diego 2:15.30 2:20.61q 3
8 Karla Alburez SR Cal St LA 2:20.37 2:21.57q 3
9 Marissa Hager SR CSU Stanislaus 2:19.61 2:23.89 1
10 Kelsey Feeley FR SF State 2:19.99 2:24.00 3
11 Skylar Young FR Chico State 2:19.34 2:24.99 2
12 Alyssa Flores JR Chico State 2:19.64 2:25.78 1
13 Valerie Sanchez FR Cal St LA 2:21.31 2:27.22 2
14 Eileen Cafferty SR SF State 2:28.59 2:33.26 1
15 Liliana Yera SR CSU Dom. Hills 2:48.94 2:50.27 2
16 Nidia Padilla JR CSU Dom. Hills 2:48.63 2:55.66 1
17 Ines Mendoza JR CSU Dom. Hills 2:57.96 3:04.90 3
18 Dora Baldwin FR CSU Dom. Hills 2:19.86 3:11.92 2
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Women’s 800m Prelims: No surprises here as Jontay Cokley advances with an automatic spot to the final, while teammates Young and Flores are victims of tactical heats that didn’t produce time qualifiers. Flores who ran in heat I sat through a first 400m of 73 before taking the lead into the windy backstretch in lap II. With two 2:14 runners on her heels and having done some tough work at the front, there was little chance for Flores to claim one of the 2 spots that would make the final. A 2:19 runner needed some luck to advance on Friday, and neither Flores or Young were dealt |
Womens 1500m Prelims
Name Year School Seed Time heat
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1 Breanna Schofield SO UC San Diego 4:29.67 4:45.68Q 2
2 Vivien Wadeck JR Cal St LA 4:30.33 4:52.14Q 1
3 Karla Alburez SR Cal St LA 4:37.61 4:45.79Q 2
4 Valerie Sanchez FR Cal St LA 4:44.25 4:52.34Q 1
5 Ashleigh Montgomery SR UC San Diego 4:40.42 4:46.29Q 2
6 Stephanie Consiglio FR Chico State 4:45.10 4:53.10Q 1
7 Liliana Hernandez SR Cal St LA 4:46.13 4:46.51Q 2
8 Kara Lubieniecki SO Chico State 4:36.10 4:53.52Q 1
9 Anna Eicholtz SO Chico State 4:46.13 4:47.26q 2
10 Denali Foldager FR CSU Stanislaus 4:53.33 4:47.92q 2
11 Irene Graham SO Humboldt State 4:58.91 4:53.78q 1
12 Amber Hebb JR Cal Poly Pom 4:47.30 4:57.27q 1
13 Brittany Garrett JR SF State 4:52.37 5:02.46
14 Elizabeth Soria SO Cal Poly Pom 5:00.14 5:05.32
15 Eileen Cafferty SR SF State 5:09.58 5:10.06
16 Denise Salceda JR Cal Poly Pom 4:59.69 5:10.60
17 Caitlyn Buske JR SF State 5:08.58 5:15.85
18 Kaitlyn Traver FR Cal Poly Pom 5:17.04 5:16.02
19 Catherine Jaureguy SR CSU Stanislaus 5:18.55 5:22.19
20 Chelsea Deerinck FR CSU Stanislaus 5:11.82 5:23.79
21 Liliana Yera SR CSU Dom. Hills 5:37.66 5:42.41
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Women’s 1500m Prelims: Teammates Kara Lubieniecki and Stephanie Consiglio ran comfortably from mid pack to claim two auto spots in their heat. 4/8 runner Anna Eicholtz advanced on time out of Heat II as well. |
Mens 800m Prelims
Name Year School Seed Time heat
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1 David Wellman SR Chico State 1:51.76 1:56.21Q 2
2 Michael Wickman JR Chico State 1:49.90 1:59.50Q 1
3 Clinton Hayes SO Chico State 1:51.55 1:56.25Q 2
4 Joaquin Ortiz SR Cal Poly Pom 1:53.76 1:59.78Q 1
5 Vijay Tidwell FR Cal St LA 1:54.19 1:56.36q 2
6 Kyle Robinson JR Chico State 1:53.84 1:57.16q 2
7 Brian Nelson SR Chico State 1:52.68 1:59.99q 1
8 Alberto Diaz SO Cal Poly Pom 1:54.43 2:00.12q 1
9 Dustin Harris FR UC San Diego 1:56.18 2:01.25 2
10 Nico Sawaya SO UC San Diego 1:56.13 2:01.82 1
11 C.J. Brewer SR Cal St LA 2:02.02 2:06.88 2
12 Cesar Arevalos FR Cal St LA 2:09.24 2:11.60 1
13 Terrance Kirby SR Cal Poly Pom 2:06.74 2:13.55 1
14 Edgar Walton SO Cal St LA 2:13.89 2:16.59 2
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Men’s 800m Prelims: Conditions were windy and rainy and no one wanted to lead into the wind. The product was a 62 second opening lap in heat 1. Brian Nelson was outkicked to the line by Pomona’s Joaquin Ortiz for the final auto spot. This caused some anxious moments after heat II because it was a much faster heat up front. Thankfully all 5 ‘Cats advanced, giving Chico 5 of the 8 finalists in this race for the second time in three years. |
Event 30 Women 10000 Meter Run
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CCSA Meet: 35:45.80 2001 Kathy Lenno, Sonoma
Name Year School Seed Finals Points
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1 Tori Tyler SO Chico State 36:06.89 10
2 Maria Castaneda SR Cal St LA 36:20.00 37:21.22 8
3 Julie Shaw JR Chico State 37:49.48 6
4 Jonah Weeks FR Chico State 38:49.48 37:50.21 5
5 Shannon Rich SO Chico State 38:35.83 38:16.38 4
6 Colleen Joyce JR Chico State 38:49.32 38:46.31 3
7 Sam Racine FR Chico State 38:53.86 2
8 Brianna Alban SO UC San Diego 39:03.03 1
9 Claire Weinan SR Cal St LA 40:31.31
10 Erica Thomas JR Cal St LA 41:40.36 40:48.52
11 Tanya Ferreira SO SF State 40:52.99
12 Karen Marchan FR SF State 41:23.15
13 Andrea Johnson FR CSU Stanislaus 41:55.04
14 Clarissa Rivera SR CSU Stanislaus 42:05.09
15 Lindsay Garcia FR CSU Stanislaus 43:04.63
-- Jenna Lee SR Humboldt State DNF
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| Chico State coaches mug for the camera after a successful but soggy conference meet concludes |
Wow, what a race this was for the Chico State women. Despite awful conditions that included constant rain and steady South winds, we came out of the race with many PR’s and 6 of the top 7 places! Leading the way was Sophomore Tori Tyler who ran a gutsy solo effort from the front. The plan for Tori was to run as close to 36 minute pace as possible in hopes of nabbing a spot in the NCAA championships. We had hoped that CSLA’s Maria Castaneda (36:20 PR) would be able to provide some pacing company for Tyler in the initial laps, but after two 88 second revolutions with Casteneda, Tyler decided to depart for the 86/87 splits that would be needed to run 36:00. Tori’s initial lap after taking off from Casteneda was an 83, which was verbalized by yours truly in hopes she would relax a bit. Relax she did, but the next 400m was an 87, Tyler then dropped the pace back to 83, before being told to relax once again. This yo-yoing of the pace was probably caused in part by the severe head wind on the backstretch, and the tailwind on the homestraight. In any event, Tyler locked into mid 80’s rhythm during the second mile and sailed through 5k in a swift 17:53 at least 200m ahead of Casteneda who still ran in second.
Behind Tyler was an amazing piece of team running tactics. Julie Shaw (only 5 weeks removed from an emergency appendectomy which cost her 2 weeks of running), Jonah Weeks, Colleen Joyce, Shannon Rich, and Samantha Racine ran in a large pack joined by athletes from several teams. By the 5k this group had dropped all others with the exception of UCSD’s 18:06 5k gal Brianna Alban. During the 4th mile of the race Shaw, Weeks and Rich separated from teammates Joyce and Racine. Thankfully both groups still ran strong as Joyce and Racine still managed to drop Alban. The ‘Cats were now running in 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th places. With 8 scoring per event, things were looking very good. Lap by lap the pace remained honest for all the ‘Cats and the finish grew closer. Tyler’s splits, which had hovered in the 85 range for much of the initial 5k, started to inch closer to the 90 second mark in the second half. Thankfully no 90’s were run, but a few 89’s put her above the 36 minute pace. Tori closed out the race with a solid 83 final revolution, which almost lapped Castaneda as she approached the bell lap. Tori’s time 36:06 is the #4 time ever for a Chico State runner and places her at #15 on the NCAA list just behind teammate Alia Gray.
Using a slew of lifetime miles and a wealth of experience to back her, Julie Shaw rolled to a very impressive 3rd place finish, despite her surgery last month. Less than a second behind was true frosh Jonah Weeks who chopped nearly a minute off her debut performance earlier in the season. Not to be left behind in the PR department Shannon Rich held on well over the final 3200m (running solo) to record a lifetime best of her own, while placing 5th overall. Colleen Joyce and Samantha Racine also closed well, to solidify the 30 point Wildcat scoring binge. A great start to the ’09 CCAA meet.
Event 8 Men 10000 Meter Run
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CCSA Meet: 29:24.50 1980 Steve Alvarez, UCR
Name Year School Seed Finals Points
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1 Jersain Torres JR Cal Poly Pom 30:54.02 31:53.49 10
2 Jeff Wilson SR Chico State 31:35.98 31:55.42 8
3 Andrew Sylvester FR Humboldt State 31:36.12 31:59.06 6
4 Alex Sharp JR Chico State 32:28.24 5
5 Joey Kochlacs FR Chico State 32:28.26 4
6 Kevin Klein SR UC San Diego 33:08.47 32:29.80 3
7 Jeremy Riley FR UC San Diego 32:33.80 2
8 Gabe LaMothe JR UC San Diego 32:36.23 1
9 Danny Gonzalez JR Cal St LA 33:28.45
10 Steve Kilroy SR Humboldt State 33:42.41
11 Shane Brookshire JR CSU Stanislaus 33:49.66
12 Abel Gutierrez FR Humboldt State 34:07.00
13 Humberto Gonzalez Humboldt State 34:19.19
-- Thomas Whitcomb JR Chico State 32:17.76 DNF
It was tough to follow up the performance that the women had just put up but the Chico guys took to the track in search of solid results of their own. Led by Senior Jeff Wilson who has been a fixture for the ‘Cats among the Top 3-4 in previous CCAA 10k finals, the guys prepared for a tough test from Pomona’s 30:50’s guy Jersain Torres and Humboldt’s Andrew Sylvester (31:36-frosh). Given the difficult windy and rainy conditions the early pace was very slow, with some 80 laps being recorded. With no one wanting to do a lot of the work (for good reason) different athletes would venture to the fore to tackle the windy backstretch. By the second mile the last of the 80 second laps had been reached and now the pace settled into the 76-78 range. Given the relatively pedestrian pace, the lead pack remained 12 strong (roughly) at 3200m (10:29). Not much changed during the third mile with the exception of several of the slower seeds finally falling from the pack. With 5k reached in the 16:20’s, the second half of the race would certainly be quite a bit quicker for the lead pack.
Just after the metric 4 mile was reached (6400m) Humboldt’s Sylvester took the front and dropped the pace to 75/lap. Only Wilson and Torres responded and now the race was on for the title. The lead pack ran the next 800m in 2:25 to further gap itself from the rest of the field. Left to fight for the 4-5 spots were Kochlacs and Sharp along with a trio of UCSD Tritons who refused to let the Chico duo get away from them. Up front Pomona’s Torres ratcheted the pace down to the low 70s from about 2k out, which separated himself from Wilson and Sylvester. Wilson made a gallant attempt to close the gap, but it proved to be a bit too much from too far out for Jeff who would be caught by Sylvester a little over a lap later. While Torres kept what appeared to be a comfortable margin between himself and his chasers Wilson and Sylvester each tried valiantly to break one another, trading surges and harder laps. Apparently unable to bridge up to Torres, Wilson fell back into what appeared to be a race for second with Sylvester over the last two laps.
Those who have followed Jeff’s racing through the years know that he ALWAYS has a big kick in his back pocket and he was surely going to put this on display, especially since he was running at home in front of a hometown crowd. Not that it would have helped Sylvester to know this ahead of time, Jeff went to the arms from 300m out and started increasing his stride rate dramatically. I’m not sure what the final 300m split would have been but it was definitely in the 46-47 second range. In fact it was so quick that it almost brought him back into the picture for the win as he was zeroing in on Torres down the final stretch. Jeff’s final time of 31:55.42 brought him to within 2 seconds of Torres who claimed the victory. Sylvester crossed the line safely in third place. Finishing in 4th and 5th were Alex Sharp and Joey Kochlacs who were able to rebuff all surge attempts from the UCSD trio (Klein, Riley and LaMothe).
Event 28 Women 3000 Meter Steeplechase
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CCSA Meet: 10:46.59 2006 Pilar Delgado, CSLA
Name Year School Seed Finals Points
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1 Megan Rolland JR Humboldt State 10:46.91 10:42.03 10 Auto NCAA
2 Karla Alburez SR Cal St LA 10:44.50 10:43.62 8 Auto NCAA
3 Liliana Hernandez SR Cal St LA 11:04.07 10:51.78 6 Auto NCAA
4 Tiffany Turner SR Cal Poly Pom 11:01.80 10:52.91 5 Auto NCAA
5 Shannon McVannel SO Chico State 10:56.18 11:01.91 4 NCAA provisional
6 Catherine Strouse SR UC San Diego 11:21.93 11:36.22 3
7 Jessica Brieno SO Chico State 11:18.85 11:38.59 2
8 Brooke Bergeson SO Chico State 11:40.44 11:43.68 1
9 Erica Thomas JR Cal St LA 11:53.32 11:44.79
10 Nina Su SO UC San Diego 11:46.84 12:02.08
11 Tess Dahlgren FR Humboldt State 12:03.53 12:10.33
12 Aaryn Kobayashi FR UC San Diego 11:47.35 12:16.52
13 Clare Fleming JR SF State 12:17.24 12:19.52
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| Jordan Fairley (look for the yellow spikes) en route to a 71 final lap (swim included) -Skip Reager Photo
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On paper I felt that this was the most competitive field in the entire meet perhaps. No less than 6 women in the field had reached at least the NCAA provisional mark previous to the race, with two having reached the Auto mark. The two Auto qualifiers were Megan Rolland (’08 CCAA Champ) and Karla Alburez (’07 CCAA Champ). Chico’s Shannon McVannel was seeded third with a PR that’s only 1 second off the NCAA auto (10:55) and Pomona’s Tiffany Turner and LA’s Lili Hernandez both appeared ready to take aim at the Auto mark as well. Knowing what we were getting into the Chico women were made aware that they would need their A games to at least finish as they were seeded, and hopefully better. Unfortunately this form chart of sorts wasn’t exactly reached, as Rolland, Alburez and Turner took off at a predictably fast pace and never looked back. Early on McVannel played her cards well, keeping close enough to hopefully take advantage of the gradual slowing that would certainly occur ahead of her by Rolland and Co. Shannon tucked in behind Hernandez who led the pair to laps that kept them within reason of the trio ahead. The short 4 lap split for Shannon was 5:38, which is well under her PR pace, but unfortunately she wasn’t reacting to the slowing pace ahead. Jessica Brieno who’s struggled with consistency of training late in the season ran an evenly measured pace and intensity, slowly moving her way through the field. Not far behind was teammate Brooke Bergesen who’s goal was to at least gain the final scoring spot, as her seed time was nearly 20 seconds behind the next seeded competitor going into the event. At the front Rolland’s and Alburez’ duel made a victim of Tiffany Turner as the Pomona senior slid off the leading pace and toward the chasing field with each lap. Unfortunately Shannon McVannel allowed Hernandez to gap and pull away from her over the final 800m, which turned into the difference between a podium finish and an Automatic NCAA mark and an eventual fifth place finish. Brieno and Bergesen held on well over the final 400m and managed to each provide some scoring for the Wildcat effort. As I had anticipated the final results reflected the quality of the field at the front. Each of the top 4 finishers dipped under the NCAA Auto mark as Turner broke the Pomona school record while finishing 4th overall! Given the incredible depth of the steeple this year for women, it appears that an Auto mark may be needed to qualify for the NCAA championships. Already 16 women nationwide have hit the auto mark and Shannon is the odd person out at this point. A final attempt will be made at the OXY meet this Saturday and hopefully that will go well.
Event 6 Men 3000 Meter Steeplechase
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CCSA Meet: 8:55.30 1998 Jacques Sallberg, CSLA
Name Year School Seed Finals Points
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1 Jose Garcia SR Chico State 9:13.28 9:22.57 10
2 Beau Rogers JR Chico State 9:02.81 9:22.66 8
3 Jordan Fairley Chico State 9:26.36 6
4 Jesse Morrill SO UC San Diego 9:49.58 9:26.67 5
5 Martin Ramos SR CSU Stanislaus 9:32.46 9:33.15 4
6 Mike Wright JR UC San Diego 10:11.75 9:50.21 3
7 Kevin Urak SR Cal Poly Pom 10:00.64 10:18.10 2
8 Palmer Thiel FR CSU Stanislaus 10:36.60 10:25.08 1
9 Michael Cortes SR Cal St LA 10:48.56
10 Robert Gustas Humboldt State 11:08.09
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| Three CCAA Champs Jose Garcia (09-Steeple), Beau Rogers (09-5000m), Jordan Fairley (08-Steeple) pose in the rain after claiming the top three spots in the Steeple.
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Whew, this is going to be a tough one to describe as everything about it was intriguing, from the background stories of the Chico guys, to the amazing drama involved with the race itself. I’ll go all out on this one and if you care to follow along you may, or if not, feel free to skip to the 1,2,3 happy ending below. First the background of the top runners: Beau Rogers-Chico State. After missing almost all of the ’08 track season and having run only one steeple the entire year (9:30’s effort) Beau has enjoyed an amazing ’08-’09 that has been well documented.. His All American NCAA XC race helped the guys to a 3rd place team finish etc… Track came and he picked up where he left off in the fall, lowering pr’s at every distance including 3:51-1500, 9:02 steeple, and 14:38-5k. Beau was the clear favorite coming into this CCAA championship race. Jose Garcia-Chico State. Jose was Beau’s teammate at Hartnell JC for a year as the two ran for Chico Alum Chris Zepeda. After initially transferring to Sac State Jose came to Chico to run his final year of eligibility with Rogers as a Wildcat. Jose came into the XC season on fire from a great summer of training, but broke his foot in the early fall before he could even run our team time trial. Missing all of the Fall, Jose was left with the current season to prove his fitness and make his mark on the Wildcat program. Jose has done just that as he broke through in a big way at the SF Invite earlier in April while logging a 9:13 NCAA qualifying steeple PR. Going into CCAA’s Jose looked like a lock for a top finish, but last week he came down with Strep Throat, which left his exact fitness/health as a bit of an unknown. Jordan Fairley-Chico State. Last year Jordan enjoyed an amazing year in the steeplechase event running a big 9:11 PR and finishing the season with a CCAA title and qualifying for the NCAA meet. This school year has gone well with him earning All Region in XC and finishing the Fall season at the NCAA’s in PA. Unfortunately a tricky Achilles tendon that’s caused problems in the past, flared up over the winter break and Jordan missed A LOT of training. Jordan returned to run training at about mid season but was unable to do a whole lot of volume per week and every time speed training was attempted, the Achilles flared up again. Two weeks ago I made the decision that we would just train him for a post CCAA all comers meet just so he could garner his year of competing for the team. That was until he e mailed me splits from a workout that he had done on his own (over hurdles) as a last ditch attempt to see where his fitness was. The workout was really quite impressive and it was decided to run him in the CCAA meet. He was declared for the meet last week and toed the line Saturday for his first track meet in nearly a year. Martin Ramos-Stanislaus: With a 9:32 PR coming into Saturday and having been ranked among the top 3 in the CCAA all year, it was expected that Ramos would chase our guys in search of a podium finish. Jesse Morrill-UCSD: Morrill a tall runner with a natural steeple make-up had only run one Steeple in his life, and that was two weeks previous to CCAA’s. His time was a modest 9:49, but given that he was All West Region as a true frosh in XC several years ago and also his 9:13 HS 3200m credentials he had to be considered as a threat for a Top-3 finish as well.
With the stage set the runners toed the line with the rain Pouring down. The plan for the Chico guys was for Beau to do all the leading around the windy track, making sure the pace was somewhat honest, but not too quick (75.0 was the desired intensity for the initial 2k) as Jose was coming off sickness and Jordan off the injury. Jose would mark Beau and let him do the work into the wind, while Jordan would mark Ramos and Morrill (assuming he was up there as well). For the most part the initial 2k went exactly as planned with Beau doing the work at the front and Jose just behind. Ramos was in the mix for the better part of 1600m before falling back some, along with Morrill. Morrill was the first to crack out of the trio of Fairley, He and Ramos. During the last kilometer Beau squeezed the pace down a bit to keep he and Jose well enough ahead of a potential Ramos kick. With 800m remaining Rogers and Garcia looked pretty solid at the front and Jordan looked controlled running behind Ramos who was running about 4-5 seconds off the leaders. Rogers and Garcia hit the bell together and I was fairly confident that minus a minor disaster (fall) we were set for a 1-2 finish. Looking at Jordan’s body language with 400m to go I was also confident that the hoped 1,2,3 finish was in the cards. Jordan is a great closer and Ramos looked somewhat wiped out. Just as I’d thought, Jordan swung around Ramos with 300m remaining and the Stanislaus runner had no answer. Jordan quickly began to make up some of the distance that separated him from his teammates ahead. Heading into the final water jump in a complete downpour Beau safely sailed over, then Garcia pulled one of his patented “hurdle the pit” final water jumps. It’s a crowd pleaser and saves perhaps a fraction of a second, but isn’t advised for most, and to be honest Jose is the first Chico State steepler to do this in a race in the past 20 years. In any event, next around the turn to the water jump was Fairley who was now running within just a few seconds of Beau/Jose. Having watched Jose hurdle the last water jump, Jordan made a very costly mistake and attempted the hurdle himself. The lead leg successfully cleared the barrier, but the trail toe caught the barrier solid and sent him head first into the water below. With Jordan recovering from the belly flop, Ramos caught a new gear and accelerated into the water jump himself. In what was a completely unbelievable turn of events, Ramos struck the barrier with his lead leg and also landed head first in the water. Now Fairley and Ramos were in the water together and out of nowhere came a surging Morrill who was kicking hard and zeroing in on the final water jump. Just as Morrill was approaching his final steps before the barrier Jordan had regained his feet and was en route toward the finish, although a bit groggy from the unplanned swim. I’m not even sure if Jordan knew how fast Morrill was closing in on him as he approached the final barrier that separates the athletes from the 100m to go mark to the finish, but there was no doubt that the UCSD runner could smell blood in the water (no pun intended), and he was closing fast. Jordan barely made it over the final barrier and lost a good amount of momentum while doing so but managed to stay on his feet and now seemed to sense the hard charging Morrill who flew over the final barrier. Thankfully the 3k steeple is only a 3k and not a meter farther because Jordan beat the UCSD runner by no more than a third of a second! Ramos, having spent some extra time in the water than he’d expected struggled in 7 seconds back. Unbelievably Jordan missed the NCAA provisional standard by .34 seconds, and still managed a 71 last lap despite the dip. Almost lost in this incredible battle for third place, was the title itself. After leading every step of the race into the wind and keeping his teammate close enough to ensure a good placing, Beau moved aside at the finish and swept his senior teammate Garcia through the line first. The gesture offers a glimpse into the friendship that is enjoyed by these two teammates and also the unselfishness of Beau who is a true class act.
It should be noted that Jordan later learned that he had broken his big toe of the trail foot that caught the final water jump barrier... For drama and a crazy ending, it would be tough to beat this race.
Event 26 Women 1500 Meter Run
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CCSA Meet: 4:16.64 1988 Darcy Arreola, CSUN
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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Finals
1 Vivien Wadeck JR Cal St LA 4:52.14 4:41.25 10
2 Breanna Schofield SO UC San Diego 4:45.68 4:41.73 8
3 Kara Lubieniecki SO Chico State 4:53.52 4:43.10 6
4 Anna Eicholtz SO Chico State 4:47.26 4:46.02 5
5 Valerie Sanchez FR Cal St LA 4:52.34 4:47.63 4
6 Karla Alburez SR Cal St LA 4:45.79 4:48.92 3
7 Ashleigh Montgomery SR UC San Diego 4:46.29 4:51.06 2
8 Amber Hebb JR Cal Poly Pom 4:57.27 4:51.68 1
9 Stephanie Consiglio FR Chico State 4:53.10 4:52.51
10 Denali Foldager FR CSU Stanislaus 4:47.92 4:56.15
11 Irene Graham SO Humboldt State 4:53.78 4:57.20
12 Liliana Hernandez SR Cal St LA 4:46.51 4:58.21
Chico would send three to the line in the women’s 1500m final. Kara Lubieniecki was third seeded and Stephanie Consiglio and Anna Eicholtz would join her at the line with PR’s of 4:45 and 4:46 respectively. With UCSD’s Schofield and CSLA’s Wadeck ranked high on the NCAA list at 4:29-4:30 it was hoped that the pace would be honest enough for Kara to go for a ride and perhaps gain an NCAA improvement (on her 4:36 current PR) while competing for a top spot. Kara kept herself among the leaders for the entire race but a second lap of 80 seconds took any chance of running really fast out of the equation. Given the windy, rainy conditions no one appeared excited about leading at a really hard pace. Also positioned well early were Eicholtz and Consiglio who ran among the lead pack for around 1,000m before the pace started to quicken. Heading into the final lap Lubieniecki knew she was in for a quick final 400, which was indeed the case. A 68 final lap was good enough to seal a spot on the podium for Lubieniecki, but as she strained down the final straight Wadeck and Schofield scorched the final 100m (not surprising given their matching 2:14 800m pr’s) and pulled away for a 1-2 finish. Kara would finish third less than 2 seconds off the win. Eicholtz closed quite well also, finishing 4th overall. For one reason or another Consiglio had her worst outing in some time, fading over the final 400m to an eventual 9th place finish. It was a disappointing day for her but I’m quite confident that the coming years will offer much more for the frosh from Oceanside, CA.
Event 5 Men 1500 Meter Run
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CCSA Meet: 3:43.80 1979 Dan Aldridge, CPSLO
Name Year School Seed Finals Points
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1 Michael Wickman JR Chico State 3:46.52 3:53.88 10
2 David Wellman SR Chico State 3:51.32 3:56.29 8
3 Eric Malain SO Humboldt State 3:53.60 3:57.49 6
4 Tim Cannon SO Chico State 3:58.56 3:58.73 5
5 Joey Nunes JR CSU Stanislaus 4:01.08 4:00.06 4
6 Manny Mejia SO Chico State 3:52.84 4:00.80 3
7 Josh Linen FR Chico State 3:58.09 4:01.07 2
8 Dawson Vorderbruegge FR CSU Stanislaus 4:02.93 4:01.41 1
9 Eric Gutierrez FR CSU Stanislaus 3:59.92 4:06.27
10 Jake LeVieux SR UC San Diego 3:55.35 4:07.60
11 Michael Radenbaugh FR Humboldt State 4:02.60 4:08.87
12 Victor Cuccia SO Cal Poly Pom 4:04.82 4:09.39
13 C.J. Brewer SR Cal St LA 4:10.98 4:25.82
14 Cesar Arevalos FR Cal St LA 4:25.05 4:30.45
The goal in the men’s 1500m was to pour our 5 guys as high into the scoring spots as humanly possible. A 1-5 sweep would have been nice, but Humboldt’s 3:53 soph Eric Malain would be a tough obstacle for some of the 3:58 types like Tim Cannon and Josh Linen. Manny Mejia had been sick the week before CCAA’s as well, so his sharpness was still questionable going into the race on Saturday. Up front the plan was to send 3:51 guy David Wellman out into the lead at a steady somewhat honest 63 second tempo. 3:46 guy Michael Wickman would then take the reigns of the front keeping the semi-honest tempo in tact, hoping to drop anyone who wasn’t prepared to run under 4:00. Wickman was to keep this pace through 1200m before kicking to victory, hopefully with a train of Chico guys to follow.
The plan took a bit of a twist from the gun when Wellman hit 200m in 29-30. Standing at the 250 mark the Senior team leader received an earful from yours truly that included something like “Slow down!” . Wellman hit 300 in 45 and relinquished the front to Wickman at 400m (roughly 61 split). Given the fast early pace (given the conditions) the pack was somewhat fragmented. Wickman eased into the lead and looked effortless while keeping the pace in the low 60’s range. As was the case much of the meet the Stanislaus guys were game for going out an honest pace, as was Humboldt’s Malain who followed closely behind Wickman and Wellman. Somewhere at mid race Malain pulled into second ahead of Wellman and gave chase toward Wickman who had gapped the field by several meters. With 400m remaining the picture wasn’t exactly going as we’d hoped with Wickman leading comfortably but Malain running in second and Stanislaus’ Joey Nunes not far behind in third. Wellman followed Nunes close enough to where with 300m remained in the race Wellman’s 800m background took hold and he started notching the pace down. As Wickman ratcheted the pace at the front Wellman did the same and with 150 remaining the ‘Cats looked good running 1-2. A hard charging Tim Cannon caught and passed Nunes, but couldn’t quite catch a struggling Malain who held on for the final podium position. Mejia and Linen struggled to some degree but still held on to give the ‘Cats 5 of the top 7 finishers and another nice point boost toward the eventual team title.
Event 25 Women 800 Meter Run
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CCSA Meet: 2:04.66 1990 Teena Colebrook, CPSLO
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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Finals
1 April Montgomery SR CSU Stanislaus 2:17.78 2:15.33 10
2 Johntay Cokley SR Chico State 2:22.04 2:15.37 8
3 Vivien Wadeck JR Cal St LA 2:22.05 2:16.74 6
4 Kyle Wolff FR Cal Poly Pom 2:20.76 2:17.38 5
5 Breanna Schofield SO UC San Diego 2:22.61 2:17.70 4
6 Rubye Foldager FR CSU Stanislaus 2:19.50 2:21.81 3
7 Ashleigh Montgomery SR UC San Diego 2:20.61 2:23.70 2
8 Karla Alburez SR Cal St LA 2:21.57 2:24.78 1
Coach Trevino’s 4/8 charge Johntay Cokley made a bold move from 300m out to gap the field and with 100m remaining it appeared as if she might steal the race from 2:12 runner April Montgomery. Montgomery gave chase from 150m out and ran a very swift final 100m, tracking the Wildcat senior down at the line for the .04 second victory. A very exciting race to watch but excruciatingly difficult for the Wildcat fans who pulled for the hard working senior from Sac City College.
Event 4 Men 800 Meter Run
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CCSA Meet: 1:48.30 1966 Rick Herman, SDSU
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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Finals
1 Michael Wickman JR Chico State 1:59.50 1:52.21 10
2 Clinton Hayes SO Chico State 1:56.25 1:54.04 8
3 Brian Nelson SR Chico State 1:59.99 1:54.47 6
4 David Wellman SR Chico State 1:56.21 1:54.95 5
5 Kyle Robinson JR Chico State 1:57.16 1:55.43 4
6 Alberto Diaz SO Cal Poly Pom 2:00.12 1:56.21 3
7 Vijay Tidwell FR Cal St LA 1:56.36 1:57.52 2
8 Joaquin Ortiz SR Cal Poly Pom 1:59.78 1:58.64 1
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| 1-5 800m Sweep Crew (L-R) Brian Nelson (3rd), Clinton Hayes (2nd), Michael Wickman (1st), David Wellman (4th), Kyle Robinson (5th) |
Two years ago the ‘Cats took the top 5 places of the men’s 800m in an improbable sweep finish that saw Chico Soph Michael Wickman take the title with very quick final 100m stretch. A year later 4 of the 5 from this sweep would red shirt and the CCAA 800m was a completely different event. Pomona’s Joaquin Ortiz enjoyed a great season and earned a podium finish in ’08 with his 1:54 final time. Ortiz was back and had since lowered his PR to 1:53 and then there was CSLA’s 1:54 frosh TJ Tidwell who looked good in Friday’s prelim race. The plan for the ‘Cats, given that they could somewhat control the race with 5 of the 8 finalist, was to keep the pace honest. Clinton Hayes who was fresh would take out the initial 300m at a solid 1:50-1:51 clip. Michael Wickman would then take the fore and keep the pace even from the front, much like he had done earlier in the 1500m. If it worked out correctly the few Pomona guys who had sub 50 open 400m credentials would be put on their heels and the race might sort out favorably for the ‘Cats.
From the gun Hayes grabbed the lead rounding the turn and pressing into the windy backstretch with Wickman hot on his heels. LA’s Tidwell followed closely as did Pomona’s Diaz and Ortiz and Chico’s Brian Nelson. Wellman opened with a conservative first lap due to the hard 15 before but looked full of fire as he rounded the turn for lap two. Wickman looked very smooth as he hit the bell at 54-55 and the junior sailed around the turn with Hayes, Nelson and Co. just off his shoulder. As Wickman kept the pace honest, the Pomona guys and Tidwell started to show signs of fatigue. Wellman forged through the tiring trio with 275 remaining with teammate Kyle Robinson following closely in his wake. By 200m remaining it was de-ja-vu all over again as the ‘Cats ran 1-5 and were clearing from the rest of the field nicely. The crowd roared in approval as the five, who had huddled together in the seconds before the start of the race, now crossed the line in succession. Wickman looked machine-like with his 1:52 win giving him his second title of the day and Hayes, Nelson, Wellman and Robinson followed with smiles on their faces. Mission accomplished!
Event 29 Women 5000 Meter Run
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CCSA Meet: 16:31.98 1985 Robyn Root, CPSLO
Name Year School Seed Finals Points
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1 Vivien Wadeck JR Cal St LA 16:39.75 17:34.85 10
2 Kara Lubieniecki SO Chico State 17:23.60 17:35.90 8 (post 1500)
3 Alia Gray FR Chico State 17:25.03 17:37.97 6
4 Megan Rolland JR Humboldt State 17:33.92 17:41.06 5
5 Tiffany Turner SR Cal Poly Pom 17:28.61 18:03.14 4
6 Maria Castaneda SR Cal St LA 17:52.11 18:07.69 3
7 Shannon McVannel SO Chico State 17:59.39 18:11.28 2 (post stple)
8 Karla Alburez SR Cal St LA 17:36.14 18:13.52 1
9 Jonah Weeks FR Chico State 17:54.15 18:25.86 (post 10K)
10 Amber Hebb JR Cal Poly Pom 18:21.64 18:29.04
11 Elena Inouye FR UC San Diego 18:10.01 18:30.25
12 Colleen Joyce JR Chico State 18:13.30 18:39.23 (post 10K)
13 Brittany Garrett JR SF State 18:30.22 18:44.44
14 Valerie Sanchez FR Cal St LA 18:46.50
15 Sam Racine FR Chico State 18:19.40 18:51.78 (post 10K)
16 Liliana Hernandez SR Cal St LA 18:03.66 18:53.93
17 Brianna Alban SO UC San Diego 18:06.40 18:54.09
18 Irene Graham SO Humboldt State 18:47.93 19:02.15
19 Silvia Manzo SR Humboldt State 19:14.23 19:35.06
20 Claire Weinan SR Cal St LA 19:00.59 19:47.08
21 Lindsey Viltrakis SR CSU Stanislaus 19:44.98 19:49.61
22 Sarah Garcia SO Cal Poly Pom 21:03.05 19:56.97
23 Jordana Henderson JR UC San Diego 18:16.55 20:07.23
24 Rachel Ochs SR CSU Stanislaus 21:48.75 21:27.71
-- Julie Shaw JR Chico State 17:23.20 DNF
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| Women’s 5K lead pack with 300m remaining. Wadeck, Kara Lubieniecki, Alia Gray and Humboldt’s Rolland in close pursuit.
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We have been very fortunate to have some very savy racers on our women’s teams in the recent history of the program and today’s 5,000m was a good example of our younger athletes employing the same tactics and toughness as the many All Americans that came before them have. Knowing that almost everyone in the race was doubling or tripling (in same cases) back from other events, the Chico ladies set out at reasonable early paces and worked on picking off tiring runners ahead. Pomona’s NCAA Auto steepler Tiffany Turner (17:28 5K PR) led the charge almost as if she had something to prove after being nipped earlier for a podium spot in the steeplechase. CSLA’s 16:40 gal Vivian Wadeck followed close enough to keep Turner in reach. Karla Alburez (CSLA) running in her fourth event of the meet also ran at the front with teammate Castaneda. Chico’s Alia Gray (17:25 PR) was one of the few non doubled runners and she knew she belonged among the leaders as the race progressed. However early on she and teammate Kara Lubieniecki were content to let others lead, hovering well back waiting for things to settle ahead of them.
A few 82-83 second laps placed Gray and Lubieniecki and Humboldt’s steeple champ Megan Rolland on the heels of the lead pack. 1600m was reached in 5:38 and it was about this time that Pomona’s Turner was reeled in by the lead pack which now included most of the heavy hitters among the field, including the Chico pair. Laps in the 85-86 range were honest enough to dispatch Turner and Casteneda and now the lead pack was down to just 4 and it looked as though the steeple was taking it’s toll on Rolland. As the four approached the final kilometer I felt confident in Kara’s ability to kick with Rolland and perhaps even Wadeck, but Alia’s situation with Rolland in the mix was precarious. Gray was running with 3 women with PR’s in the 4:30-4:38 range and Alia’s 15 speed hasn’t been measured yet this season. In any event my concerns were put to rest as the gap with Rolland continued to slowly expand during the penultimate lap (a lap run in 81!). Kara was able to stick with Wadeck as they surged past Alia heading into the final turn but unfortunately the race played out with same scenario that occurred earlier in the 1500m final. Wadeck(who was later voted CCAA Newcomer of the Year) found a gear that Kara is still developing, and pulled away for the 1 second win. Lubieniecki closed well for second, and good friend and teammate Alia Gray’s even paced final circuit (70 sec) solidied her first spot on the podium.
Although not mentioned previously Shannon McVannel ran a very strong second race of the day to gather 2 more points for the women’s effort while true frosh Jonah Weeks also finished an impressive double of her own (10/5) with a 9th place effort. Colleen Joyce=similar performance after a tough 10k the previous night. A great effort for the Wildcat women!
Event 7 Men 5000 Meter Run
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CCSA Meet: 14:13.63 1979 Jim Shankel, CPSLO
Name Year School Seed Finals Points
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1 Beau Rogers JR Chico State 14:38.64 14:57.48 10
2 Joey Nunes JR CSU Stanislaus 15:06.45 14:59.35 8
3 Jimmy Elam JR Chico State 14:35.12 15:00.78 6
4 Tim Cannon SO Chico State 14:35.77 15:06.03 5
5 Eric Malain SO Humboldt State 15:02.07 15:07.05 4
6 Angel Marquez SR Chico State 14:14.86 15:08.05 3
7 Eric Gutierrez FR CSU Stanislaus 15:32.74 15:20.75 2
8 Manny Mejia SO Chico State 14:59.15 15:21.48 1
9 Dawson Vorderbruegge FR CSU Stanislaus 15:17.08 15:21.84
10 Alex Sharp JR Chico State 15:02.65 15:22.93
11 Josh Linen FR Chico State 14:57.75 15:29.62
12 Jose Garcia SR Chico State 15:19.77 15:31.03
13 Brendan Scanlon SO Chico State 14:46.06 15:33.25
14 Austin Huff FR Humboldt State 15:07.82 15:43.15
15 Jeff Wilson SR Chico State 15:07.29 15:45.03
16 Shane Brookshire JR CSU Stanislaus 15:43.78 15:50.63
17 Jeremy Riley FR UC San Diego 15:16.48 15:56.92
18 Danny Gonzalez JR Cal St LA 15:55.69 16:10.51
19 Clark Selters FR Cal Poly Pom 15:52.05 16:35.74
20 C.J. Brewer SR Cal St LA 16:53.95
21 Rene Vidal FR Cal Poly Pom 17:19.74
22 Michael Cortes SR Cal St LA 18:11.35
With the team title virtually in hand the Wildcat men eyed the 5k more as a “bragging rights” type of race than anything.. The goal here, much like in the races before was to create a somewhat honest pace that would hopefully shake the low 15 minute guys from other teams, and hopefully allow for another possible Wildcat sweep up front. A few kinks developed in the plan unfortunately. . First, planned rabbit Joey Kochlacs (who’d run the 10k the evening before) was only able to complete two laps of work due to breathing issues. This left 10.5 laps of leading to his teammates to share. One by one the Chico guys took the fore with Brendan Scanlon taking a pull, followed by Jimmy Elam and Angel Marquez who toughed out several laps in a row. Among the lead group the entire time was Stanislaus’ Joey Nunes who was the CCAA newcomer of the year this cross country season. Nunes ran a scrappy effort, covering each surge that was made from the front, and using the ‘Cats work into the wind for all he could.
While “fresh” (non doubled) runners Elam, Marquez and Scanlon pushed the pace from the front Steeple standout Beau Rogers moved his way through the pecking order to the heels of the leaders by 3200m. During the final kilometer Chico’s Elam made a move to increase the pace and Nunes and Rogers followed. This caused separation between the front trio and the remainder of the field, many of whom were just holding on at this point. Elam kept pressing the pace but Nunes covered each of the moves as did Rogers who looked very smooth despite the hard steeplechase earlier in the day. In the final 400m Beau seized the lead and Jimmy moved into second, and Nunes clung to Elam who was trying hard to separate himself from the Stanislaus runner who has much better leg-speed. Unfortunately for Elam, Nunes’ sub 4 1500m speed did come into play and the Stanislaus runner made a big move from 200m out to pass Jimmy. As Rogers came off the final turn he realized that the athlete coming onto his shoulder wasn’t his teammate, but was wearing the Stanislaus Yellow. Any thoughts that Nunes had of taking home the title was extinguished over the next 30 meters as Rogers (3:51-1500 speed) shifted into another gear and ran a sub 15 final 100m to take home the victory.
The win for Rogers was fitting as he’d done much of the work for teammate Garcia earlier in the day as Jose gathered the Steeple title. Now the two could both claim CCAA Champion titles. Nunes finished a solid second, and Elam earned his first Podium spot with a rugged 15:00 effort in some less than ideal conditions. Tim Cannon notched his second 4th place finish of the day and Marquez and Mejia would give the ‘Cats a solid 5 in the top 8. Not exactly as well as we’d hoped, but that’s why they run the races.