Chico State men, women both win team titles at season opener
It’s been since the NCAA Cross Country Championships in PA that the ‘Cats have put on the spikes and worn the Chico State uniforms, so anticipation was high going into this past weekend’s Wildcat Relays here in Chico. As usual the ‘Cats spread their distance crew out between everything from the steeplechase to the DMR, 4 X 800’s and the open 3k. Although it was an early season meet and athletes were running on tired legs, the results were promising. Given that the meet was a scored affair the ‘Cats wins in every distance related event, including a 1-6 sweep in the women’s 3k, and a 1-12 sweep in the men’s 3k helped to propel the Chico teams to team victories.
Team Scores:
Men - Team Rankings - 18 Events Scored
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1) Chico State Men 159 2) Sacramento City College - 129
3) Cal State Stanislaus 115 4) Butte College 44
5) Shasta College 39 6) Oregon Institute of Techn 35
7) College of the Siskiyous 8 8) SJSU \Track & Field 2
Women - Team Rankings - 18 Events Scored
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1) Chico State-Women 218 2) Sacramento City-Women 81
3) Oregon Institute of Techno 68 4) Cal State Stanislaus 61
5) Butte College 31 6) Shasta College 20
7) PACIFIC UNITED 16 8) San Francisco State 8
Women 3000 Meter Steeplechase
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Name Year School Finals Points
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1 McVannel, Shannon Chico State- 11:24.18 10
2 Brieno, Jessica Chico State- 11:51.37 8
3 Nelson, Jessica Chico State- 11:58.67 6
4 Bergeson, Brooke Chico State- 12:04.08 4
5 Foldager, Denali Cal State St 12:17.27 2
6 Barkley, Jessica Sacramento C 13:59.21 1
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Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase: Sophomore Shannon McVanell led a 1-4 sweep in the barrier-event today. Although the 11:24 finish time was well of her PR (11:02) Shannon looked very controlled the entire race and led every step. Sophomore Brooke Bergesen looked great running to an early season PR with her 12:04 even split effort. Stanislaus’ Foldager ran in second place for the first half of the race, before the even-paced ‘Cats caught and passed the tiring Warrior. |
Men 3000 Meter Steeplechase
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Name Year School Finals Points
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1 Rogers, Beau Chico State 9:32.96 10
2 Ramos, Martin Cal State St 9:43.41 8
3 Campos, Alan Chico State 9:56.89 6
4 Vorderbruegge, Dawson Cal State St 10:16.59 4
5 Thiele, Palmer Cal State St 10:44.58 2
6 Nagel, Richard Sacramento C 10:49.06 1
7 O'Brien, Sean Oregon Insti 11:08.53
8 Crowther, Adam Butte Colleg 11:11.42
9 Waggoner, David Sacramento C 11:26.93
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Men’s 3,000m Steeplechase: Junior Beau Rogers hadn’t run the steeple event in 2 years since his days at Hartnell College, but he didn’t let the time away from the event hinder his approach on Saturday. Beau led every step and clocked a 9:32 PR looking fairly well while doing so. I think we can expect big marks from Beau who is coming off a breakthrough fall (All Region/All American-XC). I don’t think Sub 9 is out of the question. Teammate Alan Campos ran a bit “frisky” early and paid the price a bit in the final 1200 giving quite a few seconds back. I expect that Campos will also chop off a large chunk of time in this event as the season progresses. |
Men 4x800 Meter Relay
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School Finals Points
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1 Chico State Men 'A' 7:36.33 10
1) Hayes, Clinton 2) Nelson, Brian
3) Wellman, David 4) Wickman, Michael
2 Sacramento City College -men's 'A' 8:23.22 8
3 Butte College 'A' 8:23.85 6
1) Crowther, Adam 2) Johnstone, James
3) Kirk, Forest 4) Madrigal, Cain
4 Oregon Institute of Technology 'A' 8:30.87 4
5 Shasta College 'A' 9:27.83 2
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| The 4 X 800m Guys, (plus Angel Martinez and Kyle Robinson) after their 7:36 meet record |
With 4 men returning to this year’s squad who have each run 1:51.8 or faster, the only question on Saturday would be just how fast would Brain Nelson, Clinton Hayes, David Wellman and Michael Wickman run? The answer is 7:36.33 fast. Had Brian Nelson not ingested some sort of flying bug at the 350m mark of the first leg the time would most likely have been even faster. The splits went 1:56.1 (Nelson), 1:53.17 (Hayes), 1:53.88 (Wellman), 1:52.75 (Wickman). Their total was a full 45 seconds clear of eventual second place team Sacramento City College and broke the old Meet record by 2 seconds. Angel Marquez and Kyle Robinson each ran 2:00 legs on a Chico B squad that lacked 3 and 4 runners, but both earned a solid workout for their efforts. School record in the future? The 1981 men’s team of Eddie Teague, Marcos Silva, Mike Wright, and Kurt Vinyard ran 7:33.9 for a full 2 mile relay. Although the 2 mile relay isn’t run any longer, there are a few 3200m relay opportunities out there. We just might try to find a race for these 4 to take aim at a low 7:20’s mark later in the season.
Women 4x800 Meter Relay
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School Finals Points
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1 Chico State-Women 'A' 9:37.81 10
1) Cokley, Johntay 2) Donahue, Stephanie
3) Eicholtz, Anna 4) Young, Skylar
2 Chico State-Women 'B' 9:41.73 8
1) Consiglio, Stephanie 2) Flores, Alyssa
3) Racine, Samantha 4) Tyler, Tori
3 Oregon Institute of Technology 'A' 10:20.00 6
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Women’s 4 X 800: This year’s 4 X 8 turned into an intersquad battle of sorts between Coach Trevino’s 400/800 gals and the 8/10k women of the distance group. This year speed prevailed and the team of Johntay Coakley, Anna Eicholtz, Skyler Young and Stephanie Donohue cruised to victory with a 9:37 clocking. Samantha Racine, Tori Tyler, Alyssa Flores and Stephanie Consiglio finished in 9:41 with splits of 2:26, 2:27, 2:23, 2:23. |
Women Distance Medley
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School Finals Points
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1 Chico State-Women 'A' 12:46.34 10
1) Consiglio, Stephanie 2) Flores, Alyssa
3) Racine, Samantha 4) Tyler, Tori
2 Cal State Stanislaus 'B' 13:32.48 8
1) Foldager, Denali 2) Foldager, Rubye
3) Johnson, Andrea 4)
3 Cal State Stanislaus 'A' 13:37.93 6
1) Hager, Marissa 2) Jareguy, Catherine
3) Rivera, Clarissa 4)
4 Cal State Stanislaus 'C' 13:43.27 4
1) Deerinck, Chelsea 2) Garcia, Lindsay
3) Viltrakis, Lindsey 4)
5 Oregon Institute of Technology 'A' 13:57.38 2
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| Stephanie Consiglio hands off to Alyssa Flores with the Wildcats already well ahead of the field. (Hanf photo)
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The ‘Cats would take another title in the DMR with solid marks posted by Consiglio (1200), Flores (400), Racine (800) and Tyler (1600m). Although running only 1 hour after the 4 X 800 this crew ran to splits of 3:56, 63.0, 2:30, and 5:16 winning by nearly a minute.
Men Distance Medley
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School Finals Points
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1 Chico State Men 'A' 10:19.06 10
1) Hayes, Clinton 2) Marquez, Angel
3) Wellman, David 4) Wickman, Michael
2 Cal State Stanislaus 'A' 10:49.97 8
1) Brookshire, Shane 2) Nunes, Joey
3) Vorderbruegge, Dawson 4)
3 Oregon Institute of Technology 'A' 11:05.27 6
4 Sacramento City College -men's 'A' 11:12.02 4
5 College of the Siskiyous 'A' 11:21.03 2
1) Coppin, Cory 2) Embury, Josh
3) Jones, Deontae 4) Stoner, Zach
6 Butte College 'A' 11:28.45 1
1) Crowther, Adam 2) Johnstone, James
3) Kirk, Forest 4) Madrigal, Cain
7 Sacramento City College -men's 'B' 11:57.22
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Men’s Distance Medley: Angel Marquez (1200), Clinton Hayes (400), David Wellman (800) and Michael Wickman (1600) recorded a pretty convincing win in the men’s DMR on Saturday. NCAA 1500m runner-up Angel Marquez ran relaxed 66’s before dropping a 63 second closer to give teammate Clinton Hayes a slight lead into the 400m leg. Hayes recorded a 49.7 split to add to the ‘Cats lead, and Wellman’s second 800m in an hour (1:56.0 ) gave the ‘Cats all the lead that they would need. Wickman ran a fairly even splitted 4:14 anchor leg to seal the deal. |
Women 3000 Meter Run
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Name Year School Finals Points
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1 Shaw, Julie (Jr) Chico State- 10:16.83 10
2 Lubieniecki, Kara (So) Chico State- 10:18.26 8
3 Gray, Alia (Fr) Chico State- 10:21.97 6
4 Joyce, Colleen (Jr) Chico State- 10:39.99 4
5 Weeks, Jonah (Fr) Chico State- 10:41.47 2
6 Rich, Shannon (So) Chico State- 10:42.73 1
7 Kramer, Jordan Butte Colleg 11:11.28
8 Ross, Vera San Francisc 11:12.24
9 Fleming, Claire San Francisc 11:17.51
10 Herrera, Lisa San Francisc 11:21.43
11 Deerinck, Chelsea Cal State St 11:23.49
12 Viltrakis, Lindsey Cal State St 11:29.68
13 Eck, Megan San Francisc 11:35.25
14 Marchan, Karen San Francisc 11:39.07
15 Johnson, Andrea Cal State St 11:49.61
16 Garcia, Lindsay Cal State St 11:50.75
17 Jareguy, Catherine Cal State St 11:53.24
18 Lopez, Christina Sacramento C 12:00.26
19 Jackson, Kirsten San Francisc 12:03.40
20 Lambdin, Anna Oregon Insti 12:12.97
21 Foster, Ondi Chico State- 12:28.19
22 Dabney, Danielle Cal State St 12:36.32
23 Ochs, Rachel Cal State St 12:37.91
-- Tyler, Tori Chico State- DNF
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| The Chico 3k Women moving through the field on their way to a 1-6 sweep!.
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Historically the Chico women do a great job of running tactically sound and working well as a group. Saturday was a perfect example of the past coming together with the present. Tori Tyler would be assigned rabbit duties after her two relay carries and she would carry a group of 3 (Julie Shaw, Kara Lubieniecki, and Alia Gray) through early splits in the 84 second range. Another group of three ‘Cats pressed a bit too hard in the third lap, catching the quartet at the front creating a very formidable 7 person pack that contained only Wildcats. As instructed Tyler ratcheted the pace down slowly in the second half, recording splits of 82.1, 82.1 before dropping from the field with 600m remaining. Junior Julie Shaw seemed to have been held up by Tyler’s pacing as the Anderson HS product dropped a 78.3 from 600m out, and closed the final 200 in :37.3 seconds to claim the win. Following close behind were teammates Kara Lubieniecki-So (10:18) and Alia Gray-Fr (10:21). Junior Colleen Joyce led the next ‘Cat pack with her 10:39 run and frosh Jonah Weeks (10:41) and Soph Shannon Rich (10:42) closed out the 1-6 sweep. Having rolled through 1500 in 5:15 Shaw recorded a second 1500m split of 5:01, with Kara @ 5:03, and Alia @ 5:05! A nice negative split effort for the ladies.
Men 3000 Meter Run
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Name Year School Finals Points
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1 Cannon, Tim (So) Chico State 8:35.23 10
2 Elam, Jimmy (Jr) Chico State 8:36.46 8
3 Kochlacs, Joey (Fr) Chico State 8:39.48 6
4 Whitcomb, Thomas (Jr) Chico State 8:40.53 4
5 Mejia, Manny (So) Chico State 8:41.58 2
6 Scanlon, Brendan (So) Chico State 8:43.83 1
7 Sharp, Alex (Jr) Chico State 8:44.86
8 Wilson, Jeff (Sr) Chico State 8:50.39
9 Garcia, Jose (Sr) Chico State 8:52.30
10 LoForte, Matt (So) Chico State 8:53.38
11 Dunbar, Miles (Fr) Chico State 8:53.82
12 Jimenez, Julio (So) Chico State 8:55.76
13 Nunes, Joey Cal State St 9:01.90
14 Fernandez, Max San Francisc 9:13.26
15 Gutierrez, Eric Cal State St 9:14.48
16 Fujitsubo, Kyle San Francisc 9:21.96
17 Humberston, Korey Oregon Insti 9:25.57
18 Brookshire, Shane Cal State St 9:28.89
19 Natera, Anthony Sacramento C 9:45.53
20 DePasquale, Mark San Francisc 10:00.29
21 Miller, Jake San Francisc 10:02.29
22 Neff, Kyle Shasta College 10:06.53
23 Coppin, Cory College of t 10:08.63
24 Anguiano, Axexis Oregon Insti 10:39.40
25 Quinn, Joel College of t 11:40.17
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Men’s 3,000m: Going into the men’s 3k race we knew there was a chance that we might be able to take all of the top spots but some of our younger developing athletes would need to have solid outings to do so. Thankfully this was indeed the case as several of the younger guys really stepped up and enjoyed nice races, while also employing very savy tactics in doing so. With instructions of running no faster than 70 second laps early Chico soph Brendan Scanlon led a fairly large pack through splits of 71.6, 70.1, 69.3 and 69.1 (4:40 @ 1600). At 1600m the plan of sweeping the event wasn’t looking too great as SF State’s top guy Max Fernandez ran among the ‘Cats top pack, and Stanislaus’ Joey Nunes ran among the ‘Cats second pack. The second 1500m told the tale though as Fernandez fell back to the ‘Cats second group and Nunes slid from the pack as the laps grew closer to the finish. At the front with 3 laps to go Manny Mejia bolted to the lead and formed a quick stride cushion over teammates Scanlon, Whitcomb, Kochlacs and Co. My thoughts in seeing Manny’s move was that if they were playing poker on the track on Saturday Manny would have screamed “All In” with his bold move from 3 laps out. Unfortunately for Mejia, his mind was a bit ahead of his body and his hand wasn’t quite that of his teammates as they caught him with a modest 70 second 6th lap. Going into the seventh lap Jimmy Elam, running in the Chico uniform for the first time since his transfer from Humbodt State a year ago, seized the lead and injected some serious pace to the front. Unfortunately for Jimmy his roommate Tim Cannon (a transfer from Cal Poly SLO ironically) covered his move and the two recorded a 65 split from 600m out. Cannon’s “Ace in the hole” today was his :30 second final 200 which carried him to apartment bragging rights for the week. Elam followed just one tick of the clock behind and Joey Kochlacs (Frosh) dipped under the 8:40 mark as well. Junior Thomas Whitcomb recorded a huge PR with his 8:40 final time and Mejia held on well to finish in 8:41. Brendan Scanlon and Alex Sharp gave the ‘Cats a 1-7 finish with all averaging under 70 seconds per lap. Jeff Wilson led the next wave of Chico men with his 8:50 run as Jose Garcia, and Matt LoForte took the last of the Top-10 spots. The biggest breakout run of the afternoon had to be that of 11th placer Miles Dunbar who had PR’d the week before for 3200m with a 9:46 run. Today he ran 8:53 for 3k which converts to under 9:30 for 3200m. Dunbar spent much of last year recovering from a rare bone infection in his femur that required 2 separate surgeries. The RS Frosh from Kodiak, Alaska garnered much love and congratulatory remarks from his proud teammates and coaches. Sophomore Julio Jimenez held on tight over the final 800m to give the Chico men the 1-12 sweep that they had worked for. This was a very nice early season run for the guys! |
Next up will be the Gator Preview this Saturday at the San Francisco State Track Facility. For those in The SF Area, there isn’t a schedule posted yet on the SF State website but Running is rumored to start at 11am and will most likely go till 5pm. Most of the ‘Cats will be running 5k’s this Saturday to get an early season effort under their belts. We’ll hope for some sub 18’s and Sub 15’s come Saturday. SF State’s Track Website for more info as it becomes available: http://www.sfstategators.com/index.aspx?path=wtrack&tab=trackfield