Through the years the Mount Sac Relays has become one of the premier stages for fast times and great competitions in the sport of athletics. This tradition continued in 2009 with many national, and NCAA leading marks being posted. For a handful of Chico State athletes this level of competition coupled with favorable weather conditions (in most cases) led to a good number of PR’s and NCAA qualifying performances. In fact almost half of the Chico runners who participated in this year’s Mt Sac event notched CSUC Top-10/11 All time marks. (note: Tim Cannon missed Pat Stordahl’s 10th best mark by .11 seconds for 5k)

I’ll list all of these performances first, then will follow up with brief summaries of the races.

Shannon McVanell (So) 10:56 steeplechase #3 All Time CSUC, NCAA provisional mark- Only 1 second off NCAA Automatic Standard (10:55.0)
Beau Rogers (Jr.) 9:02 Steeplechase #6 All time CSUC, NCAA Automatic qualifier
Alia Gray (Fr) 36:05 10,000m #3 All Time CSUC, NCAA provisional qualifier
Jimmy Elam (Jr) 30:03 10,000m #4 All Time CSUC, NCAA provisional qualifier
Tori Tyler (So) 17:10 5,000m #3 All Time CSUC, NCAA provisional qualifier
Tim Cannon (So) 14:35.77 5,000m #11 All time CSUC, NCAA provisional qualifier

Thursday April 16, 2009 (Thursday evening events were 3k steeples and 10k’s only)
Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase: As seems to be the case more often than not, the entire field in this women’s steeple heat went out entirely too fast. Sensing that the pace was very swift from the front McVanell and teammate Jessica Brieno tucked into the back of the pack. Running at the very tail end of a 20+ woman field McVanell still reached 400m in 80 seconds (10:00 pace). Given the overzealous pace ahead Shannon would move through some tiring runners, but seemed to “settle” a bit too much, which cost her the sub 10:50 that her coach thinks is in the cards really soon. Brieno who landed on another athlete’s ankle a few weeks ago while water jumping, struggled in the pit as she dealt with an unsure landing foot. A few near falls appeared to take Brieno completely out of her game and she fell quite short of her 11:18 seed time. Both will return to the barrier event at the upcoming CCAA meet. It should be a great race as well, as no less than 6 CCAA women have NCAA provisional marks in the steeple this year.

Men’s Steeple-Univerisity/Open Division: In his last outing over the barriers Senior Jose Garcia dropped a huge PR of 9:13 while placing third overall at the SF Distance Carnival. In Walnut Garcia looked to drop into the 9:0’s and was well on his way through the first half of the race. Unfortunately 72 splits became 74’s and 76’s and any possibility of running under 9:10 faded in the later laps. Garcia still held on for his second fastest time ever (9:21) which is also under the provisional NCAA standard.

Olympic Development Steeple: Junior Beau Rogers gave the 9 minute barrier a good scare on Thursday with his 9:02 run. Always near the front of the field Beau locked in 70-72 second splits for much of the race, before losing a few valuable seconds and spots in the final kilometer. Still ironing out some hurdle issues Beau appears to be very capable of running well under 9 minutes for this event. Late in the race Beau was overtaken by Western State’s Loren Ahonen who will certainly be one of the athletes to beat at the upcoming NCAA championships. Speaking of the NCAA meet Beau’s time was his second Automatic qualifier of the season and moves him up the CSUC all time list to #6. Next up will be the CCAA championships where Beau will attempt to give the ‘Cats their 7th Conference Individual title in a row in the event.

Men’s 10,000m: The men’s 10k for the Chico crew was three races within the race. Wildcat Assistant coach Pat Boivin a 4 time XC All American while on the CSUC team was making his debut at the 25 lap distance and had poured in some very impressive miles over the past 6 weeks in preparation. Junior transfer Jimmy Elam had run a 31:00 pr a year ago at the Chico Twilight meet, but appeared capable of a much faster mark based partly off his shiny new 14:35 5k PR. Sophomore Brendan Scanlon was entered as well, but an assortment of recent setbacks that include nagging injuries and allergy related asthma have slowed his progress. Scanlon ran 30:44 a year ago at Mt Sac after a bout of Mono, so it was hoped that he could produce another surprising run this year as well. The race went quite well for Boivin and Elam, but not as well for Brendan who did struggle a lot after the initial 4k. Up front Boivin ran among the leaders for the first 5k and even held the lead for some time (5k split-14:40). Elam, wanting to take a crack at sub 30 pace, found a pack hovering in the 71-72 second range and locked into the rhythm. Jimmy would reach the ½ way point in 15:03 (his 5k PR a year ago was 14:58!) looking strong and ready for the second 5k. Scanlon ran among Jimmy’s pack for 4k before 72’s turned to 75’s and 76’s. From there Scanlon just focused on finishing the race, knowing a PR was not in the cards on this night.

The second half of the race saw a break-away from the front as Boivin slowed a bit and the leaders maintained their tempo. Still Pat ran among the Top-5 overall and reached 8k in an impressive 23:40ish PR. Jimmy continued to knock out the 72 second revolutions keeping himself in the hunt for a possible 29-something run. Jimmy’s 8k split (24:06) was also a big PR. Over the final kilometer Alaska’s Kenyan star Marko Cheseto (2nd behind Bauhs in West Regional XC this fall) asserted himself in a big way and ran away from the field, finishing in an impressive 29:08. Former Cal Poly Pomona star Mark Batres would finish second overall and Boivin would close well over the final 400m to seal a very impressive 29:32-5th place run. Elam hit the metric 6 mile (24 laps) in 28:56 which meant that he would need a 62-63 second closer to break 30 minutes. This wasn’t quite achieved, but he did notch an impressive 67.4 for the final revolution to stop the clock at 30:03. This run made Jimmy the #4 All Time CSUC 10k runner behind Bauhs, Charlie Serrano, and Tyler Graff who all cracked the 30 minute barrier while in the Wildcat uniform. Jimmy’s final time is an NCAA provisional qualifying mark and should easily see him to the championships in Texas next month.

Women’s 10,000m: Red Shirt Frosh Alia Gray is going to be a great runner for the ‘Cats in the coming years. In the fall Gray proved herself as a serious contender at the NCAA level when she earned All CCAA and All West Region honors during her first year in uniform. Stronger than she is fast, we knew the 10k might be a good fit physiologically for her, but the mental part of running 25 laps is something that can’t be taken for granted. On Thursday evening Gray departed on her maiden voyage over the 25 lap distance hoping to run in the low 36 minute range that would surely be needed to punch her ticket to the NCAA meet. Her 17:25 PR for the 5k set in San Francisco earlier in the month would equate roughly to a 36:00 10k, but Alia’s second best 5k ever was a 17:59, which left her a bit anxious about the thought of hitting the ½ way mark within seconds of her second best 5k ever.

Thankfully the race unfolded beautifully for Gray who found a small group of women to work with, around the 86-87 range per lap. Gray hit 1600 in 5:47 and 3200m 11:30ish, and 5k in 18:08. With a 5k to go she was locked in and competing well against those around and ahead of her. Gray’s splits the final ½ of the race explain just how strong and methodical she is with her pacing as her final 13 laps went: 85, 86, 86, 86, 86, 86, 87, 86, 86, 87, 86, 86, 80! The fast and even pace moved Alia up well among the field as she lost a close sprint finish for third place by less than a second while finishing with a very impressive 36:05 time. The significance of Alia’s time was much more than a nice debut performance and NCAA qualifier. In her first try at the distance Alia became the 3rd fastest Wildcat ever (behind All Americans Katie Lee and Missy Lendl). It should also be noted that Alia’s final 5,000m was covered in a swift 17:56! A most excellent run!!!

Friday Morning 4/19
Women’s 5,000m: Sophomores Kara Lubieniecki and Tori Tyler toed the line on Friday morning in the daytime section of the 5k. Unfortunately conditions were much warmer than everyone had hoped, making the race a bit more difficult for the involved athletes. Kara and Tori, both needing low 17 minute marks to improve their chances at making the NCAA meet, eyed low 80 second revolutions as the goal for the day.

As is usually the case in major invitationals, the entire pack went out Very aggressively which caused the ‘Cat pair to assume spots toward the back of the field. Gaps were formed in the field as runners slowed. Tori made a few successful leaps between packs, while Kara missed her chances and found herself with a slowing group well behind the next one ahead. Tori upward movement through the field allowed her to hit 3200m in 10:54 (17:03 pace roughly).

Unfortunately the final 1600m were bit of a struggle for both Lubieniecki and Tyler, although the two maintain form well enough to hold onto solid times. Tori would finish 9th overall stopping the clock with a seasonal best 17:10 while Kara followed 25 seconds back with a respectable 17:35 run. Tyler’s time is the #3 fastest mark in CSUC history and should qualify her for the NCAA championships next month. Kara, whose 4:36/17:23 seasonal marks appear to be on the outside looking in on the NCAA championships, will need to take aim at the CCAA and Oxy Last Chance meets in her attempt to make this year’s NCAA meet.

In a somewhat comical side-note Tyler’s 17:10 run places her firmly up the All Time CSUC depth chart (#3), and knocks off teammate Alia Gray (formerly #10 w/ 17:25) from the chart. After Tyler opened her season with a 17:25.8 run (#10 A.T.), Gray ran .3 seconds quicker than Tori at the SF Distance Carnival to bump her (Tori) from the All time list. Now Tyler returned the favor, of course with no knowledge of any of this. Something tells me that Gray will find herself back onto the 5k list in the coming years. This year’s lady-Cats now have the #3, 9, 10, and 11 fastest 5k runners in the school’s history.

Men’s 5000m: (Friday Morning) For those who are still reading and haven’t fallen asleep yet. I have an announcement to make. Tim Cannon is going to be an athlete to watch in the coming years. Despite operating off relatively low lifetime miles and workouts, Tim has proven himself to be a very good competitor and Friday’s race was a good example of this. Despite running in less than ideal conditions Cannon fought hard at around 70 seconds per revolution the entire race and recorded a slight, but well earned 2 second PR. Cannon’s run improved his NCAA provisional standing and left him just .2 seconds off the CSUC Top-10 list. Given that he has the rest of this season and two more to come it appears that it’s just a matter of time before Tim starts climbing up the ladder of All Time performers for CSUC.

Men’s 5,000m: (Friday Evening) After watching Angel Marquez run 14:14 for the 5k at the Stanford Invitational in late March I was certain that with some consistent training and solid workouts, that he’d be in the 14:00 range by the Mt Sac meet. I still believe this, but unfortunately things have been anything but consistent since the run in Palo Alto. The week after Stanford Angel started to feel a “pull” in his groin area that resembled what might be a hernia. With the pain persisting through the weeks between Stanford and Mt Sac, expectations weren’t exceedingly high but it was worth the try to go after a faster mark in a great field of competitors. Unfortunately for Angel things unfolded fairly quickly as he was off the back of the pack by 3k, and coasted home in a disappointing 14:59 mark. Thankfully the effort didn’t seem to flare up his groin any more than it already was, and we’ve since learned that it is not a hernia. Angel now sets his sights on CCAA’s and the conclusion of his collegiate running at the NCAA meet. It should be noted that CSUC Alum and 2007 NCAA 5k Champ Charlie Serrano made his return to the 5k distance a good one. Serrano who led much of the final 1600m before being overtaken by some fast closing collegians recorded his first Sub 14 minute 5k ever finishing 7th in the talented field.

Men’s 1500m: Sophomore Manny Mejia was listed in the results from Mt Sac as having run 3:52, which would have been a nice PR. Unfortunately Mejia didn’t hit this mark (timing mix up), but he was on pace for much of his race. Hitting perfect 62 second splits and running in 2nd-4th place much of the initial 1200m (reached in 3:07) Mejia faded in the final 300m and was hand timed somewhere in the 3:55 range. Not a horrible performance, but given his 3:53 in Chico the evening after breaking 15 for the first time for 5k, it was a bit disappointing. Hopefully the coming weeks will provide the 3:50 mark that will surely be needed to make the NCAA meet.

Next up for the ‘Cats: A few Md Distance guys who are on the NCAA bubble, or in some cases trying just to improve their Personal best marks will be competing at the Brutis Hamilton Meet in Berkeley, CA on Friday and Saturday. http://www.calbears.com/sports/c-otrack/spec-rel/09-brutus-hamilton-invitational.html Entrants and PR’s for the Brutis Hamilton crew:

800m: Michael Wickman-1:49.90 (Running in seeded section on Saturday afternoon) Clinton Hayes-1:50.8 (running Friday in B heats) David Wellman-1:51.6 (running Friday in B heats) Brian Nelson-1:51.9 (running Friday in B heats) Kyle Robinson-1:53.7 (running Friday in B heats)

1500m: Manny Mejia 3:53.7 (running Saturday 3:00pm)

5,000m: Scott Bauhs-CSUC Alum will compete in the Invitational 5,000m with a host of fast Professionals and Collegiates.

CCAA’s Next Week in Chico. Yes this is correct. The CCAA Championships will be held in Chico next weekend because Stanislaus new track facility will not be completed in time. The meet starts off with the Multi Event competition on Thursday. Friday will bring the conclusion of the Multi competition and trials for sprint and mid distance events as well as men’s and women’s 10k finals. Saturday will offer finals in all events with the exception of the multi and 10k events.