The Chico State Track and Field teams enjoyed quite a weekend in San Diego, as the men’s team pulled together to win their seventh straight CCAA title, and the women dethroned pre-meet favorite and five time defending champion UCSD by a narrow 2.5 point margin. Chico athletes (men and women) in almost EVERY event enjoyed incredible success that helped make these titles possible. I’m pleased to announce that the distance crew did a wonderful job of helping the cause as well. On the men’s side Chico distance runners captured titles in all five distance events (8,15,St, 5K, 10K), and Chico women won 3 of the 5 distance races. One of the most telling statistics, was that of All-CCAA honors in the distance races. (All-CCAA awards are granted to the Top-3 in each race/event, and with 5 distance events contested at the championships, there are 15 possible All-CCAA awards to be had.) On the women’s side Chico runners gobbled up 11 of the 15 All CCAA awards. On the men’s side, Chico athletes were even more stingy taking 12 of the 15 possible podium spots. It was definitely a great weekend and I’ll do my best to portray the action in event-by-event style below.

Friday Day I-Running Events (All Distance ‘Cats qualified for finals in their respective events and thus I’ll go straight reviewing the first day finals, with the womens 10K.)

Women’s 10K: The Chico women went into the 10k without returning All American and 35:29 performer Alia Gray, who appears to be out for the season unfortunately with a nagging calf issue. The ladies still toed the line with the top 4 seed times, and a major goal of backing up those rankings. A team plan of attack was hatched that had each of the Chico runners in charge of keeping the pace somewhat honest at the front with a 90 second per-lap clip that would hopefully squeeze the competition off the pace as the race wore on. Senior Colleen Joyce was in charge of the first 1600, with teammate Jonah Weeks to roll in the second mile. Junior Shannon Rich would take laps 9-12 and Julie Shaw-#’s 13-16. After that we’d evaluate the situation at hand and work together to reach the line before the rest of the field.

The pacing plan worked perfectly as UCSD’s 18:00 5k gal Elena Inouye actually took the first 1600 as the Chico quartet sat patiently on her heels through an initial 4 lap split in the 5:55 range. As Inouye slowed and the pace strayed going into the fifth lap, Weeks took the fore and ran a series of 90 second laps. By Lap 7 the Chico crew had separated from the tiring UCSD runner and the sweep was now in effect. During the fourth mile a split happened between Shaw/Rich and Joyce/Weeks. Thankfully the two pairs worked well together ensuring that Inouye and the remainder of the field couldn’t catch them. Senior Julie Shaw pulled away from her teammate over the final circuit to record her first ever CCAA title, while Rich finished on the podium for the first time. Joining her on the stand (also for the first time) was senior Colleen Joyce, a walk-on athlete who has worked her way into becoming one of the conference’s best distance athletes. Weeks’ fourth place finish (2nd year in a row) capped the Chico sweep and gave the women’s team title chase more hope, with a 29 point team scoring effort.

Men’s 10K: Brent Handa and Joey Kochlacs, with matching seed times of 30:28 were ranked 1-2 on the pre-race entry list. Humboldt’s Andrew Sylvester and Austin Huff were next up with 30:42 and 30:55 times. The ‘Cats sent 31:29 guy Alex Sharp and San Diego native/team captain Thomas Whitcomb (2010 debut 25 lapper) to do battle for scoring spots as well. With the stage set for what promised to be an entertaining race, the ‘Cats tucked into the lead pack for what would be one of the slowest 1600m segments that I’ve ever witnessed during a championship distance event. With no one wanting to take the front, the leaders reached 1600m in 5:54 having just run a 91 second lap.

Just as folks started to wonder if the field would dip under the 36 minute mark, UCSD’s John Svet offered up some help at the front. The fearless young soph started what could later be described as a sacrificial stint at the front, pulling the pack through a second 1600m segment in around 5:02. Content to ride Svet for all he could give, the pack sat on the youngster for another mile, while the pace slowed from 76 to 77 and 78 second revolutions. Just when those outside the race thought we might see more 80+ second laps, Humboldt’s 30:42 guy Andrew Sylvester took the lead and injected a decent surge that immediately sent Svet out the back door of a dwindling lead pack.

Sylvester took 3-4 laps with teammate Huff on his heels and Chico’s Handa and Kochlacs there as well. With just over 2 miles remaining in the race Handa made his move for the win. The Junior transfer from Cal State Fullerton and Fall River Mills HS, dropped a 70 second lap that signaled the start of the race within the race. Neither Sylvester nor Huff were willing to cover this move, and just as you might see in a Tour de France Stage, teammate Joey Kochlacs was content marking the two Humboldt guys without trying to pull the Lumberjacks up to Handa. As Handa sailed away for what would eventually be a pretty easy win, Kochlacs continued to trail the Humboldt pair. Whitcomb and Sharp had been dropped from the pack around the Handa surge and fought hard in an attempt to catch a tiring Matt Prentice of Pomona. Handa’s 67 final 400m ensured the win at the front, while Kochlacs threw in a 64 final revolution that sent the Humboldt pair scrambling for the final podium spot. Prentice did manage to hold on to the fifth spot, leaving Whitcomb sixth and Sharp seventh to give the ‘Cats four of the eight scoring placers. With 4 of the top 7 finishers the 25 lap crew tallied a nice 24 point swing toward the team score (almost a point per lap!).

 
Day II-Saturday Finals

Women’s Steeplechase: One of the better fields in the Championships with no less than 5 women boasting PR’s that have them on the NCAA list, the women’s steeple would be a fun race to watch. Humboldt’s Megan Rolland is currently ranked in the top 3 nationally (10:29 PR) and was the 2 time defending CCAA champ. Stanislaus’ Denali Foldager was a strong #2 seed given her 10:51 PR. The Chico trio of Amy Schnittger (11:08 PR) Jessica Brieno (11:12 PR) and Katie Spencer (11:18 PR) were solid 3-4-5 ranked athletes coming into the meet. The underdog of the group was Brooke Bergesen who’s seed time was about 15 seconds shy of UCSD’s Caprice Thompson and Aaryn Kobayashi. If Brooke could beat at least one of the two UCSD runners ranked ahead of her, and if Schnittger, Brieno and Spencer could hit their pre-race rankings, our women’s team would receive a BIG shot in the arm as they worked toward their goal of a conference title.

The women ran perfectly, with the Chico top three running together some distance behind the hard charging Rolland and Foldager who were waging a battle for the individual title. Bergesen who seems to race with an internal clock, circled the track in metronomic fashion behind the UCSD pair that she hoped to eventually catch and defeat. As the race developed over the final 3 laps, all was going according to plan. Rolland had a solid lead at the front, with Foldager fading from chasing the Humboldt school record holder. Schnittger looked good as she set sail from her teammates toward the Stanislaus runner ahead. Brieno and Spencer worked together well, and Bergesen passed the tiring Kobayashi with 1200m remaining. With two laps to go everything looked pretty set for a nice team finish if everyone stayed on their feet, but the battle that was still being fought was that between Bergesen and a now struggling Thompson. At the bell Brooke finally caught Thompson, and as all runners are taught to do, she went hard. Thankfully Thompson had nothing left in the tank to respond and the ‘Cats now ran in 3,4,5,6 places with 400m remaining. All four ‘Cats closed well over the final lap and a very important 18 points were scored by the “barrier-harrier” crew.

Men’s Steeplechase: If I had to pick a most exciting race of the meet it would have to be either the Men’s steeple or the women’s 1500m (description to come). To do this one justice I have to quickly describe the scenario for the Chico crew coming into the barrier race as there are many story-lines going into the race.

Beau Rogers - a two time All American and pre race favorite having run 8:56 at the Stanford Invite earlier this season. A year ago Beau was also the pre-race favorite and led the entire race pulling his good friend and teammate Jose Garcia through the windy and rainy laps to the finish stretch. Instead of claiming the victory that he’d worked Very had for, Beau whisked his good friend and former JC teammate Garcia through the finish so that the senior could enjoy a CCAA title in his final conference race. The gesture says a lot about the quality of person that Beau is. Beau was now the deserving senior and pre race favorite and hoped to keep Chico’s steeple win streak (7 years running) intact.

Jordan Fairley - as a sophomore two seasons ago Jordan notched an NCAA qualifying 9:11 mark and appeared poised to become Chico’s first sub 9 guy since the 1980’s. Unfortunately all kinds of injuries have hampered his progress in the intervening time with Jordan running only 1 race in the 2009 season (breaking his toe over the final water barrier during that one, yet still coming away with a NCAA provisional mark!). After a lot of cross-training, Jordan was finally ready enough to run his first race of the year at the Mt Sac meet three weeks ago, and the result was a promising 9:28 seasonal debut. Since the Mt Sac run, training has gone well, but Jordan would only have 3 weeks to develop the fitness to chase a sub 9:10 mark that it appears it will take to make it to this year’s NCAA meet. The CCAA race on Saturday was Jordan’s second this season, and only his third in the past 2 seasons!

Miles Dunbar - a year ago Miles wasn’t fast enough to make the ‘Cats CCAA roster. In fact the same weekend a year ago, Miles was running his first sub 15:20 5k while winning the “B heat” of the Oxy Invite. A lot has happened since the ’09 season and during the ’10 version. Dunbar has posted PR’s at every distance running 3:55, 9:24, and 14:51 marks. The big news this year was the addition of the steeplechase to his list of events as the Kodiak, AK native ran his first barrier race at the Stanislaus Invite in 9:55, then dropped an impressive 30 seconds off that mark with his Chico Invite win several weeks later. Now Miles eyed his third attempt at the discipline with an outside goal of running sub 9:10 if all went well.

Thomas Whitcomb - Thomas has been the heart and sole of the Chico State distance team, and everyone was pulling for Thomas’ inclusion on the CCAA 32-man roster. A native of San Diego (remember UCSD was the host school this year) Whitcomb was plugged into the 10k field as a last shot at trying to score some points in the 25 lapper. Being one of the toughest competitors that I’ve ever worked with, Thomas scored the points that were hoped in the 10k and had already asked to be placed on the steeple start list, despite only having a seasonal best of 9:52 (fresh). His 2010 mark ranked him 9th in the 12 man field going in but of course this was just the challenge that he’d hoped for. Also it should be noted that there were no other runners in the field who had endured the 10k the evening before.

With the stage set, the plan of attack for the ‘Cats was for Beau Rogers to run an even 9:10 tempo at the front in hopes that Fairley and Dunbar could follow and gain top spots and NCAA marks. Whitcomb would mark the 8th spot from the outside looking in, with an eye toward trying to beat some people in the final laps and hopefully nail down a scoring spot. Pomona’s Jose Marquez the #2 seed coming in (9:24 PR) jumped on the heels of Rogers in the early going, apparently with a goal of trying to qualify for NCAA’s as well. For four laps Rogers towed the Pomona Bronco around the track with Fairley and Dunbar always a stride or two in arrears.

Finally, just after 2k the Poly runner cracked and fell off the leading pace. Sensing this opportunity Fairley and Dunbar both swung around their tiring opponent and tucked in behind Rogers. Despite fairly windy conditions, the guys continued on at PR pace at the front. Not to be lost in the unfolding drama, Whitcomb was running in 7th position at 2k and was zeroing in on UCSD’s Max Mullender, another of those ranked ahead of him on the seasonal form chart. The final laps went as well as they possibly could for the ‘Cats as Rogers pulled teammates Dunbar and Fairley well clear of Marquez and closer to their time goal. A quick final lap saw Rogers win his first CCAA steeple title (to go with his ’09 5k version) and Fairley and Dunbar hit the tape only 3 seconds behind with matching 9:09 Pr’s. This marked our second straight 1,2,3 CCAA steeple sweep, and was the first time the ‘Cats have enjoyed 3 sub 9:10 performances on the same day (or the same season for that matter!) Not one to disappoint or to leave anything other than his best on the track, Thomas Whitcomb hammered home well ahead of a host of 9:30’s guys to take sixth and score another 3 points toward the eventual team win. A VERY nice race to witness and be a part of!

Women’s 1500m: With pre-race seeds of 1, 5, and 8 the Chico women may have appeared to be long shots for a possible 1,2,3 sweep, but I know one coach who felt pretty strongly that this was a possibility. A plan was hatched to help our best chances of accomplishing this goal. This plan included keeping the pace somewhat honest if no one else did at around 4:40 pace. Anna Eicholtz was to take lap 1 at 75 pace, with Kara Lubieniecki taking the second and Tori Tyler the third. Anna and Kara lucked out as Stanislaus’ Rubye Foldager took the early pace and the field went through 400m in a 75ish split. Foldager kept the lead during lap 2 although the pace slowed to 78. Not wanting a kickers race to form Chico’s Tori Tyler seized the lead after hearing the 2:33 split at 800m and upped the ante for the field. This move spread things out well, and thankfully Eicholtz and Lubieniecki were up to the challenge. Tyler’s 72ish lap whittled the lead pack down to 4 with SF State’s 4:38/16:59 gal Brittany Garrett still in tow. With 150m to go Kara Lubieniecki took the lead and kept the peddle down with Eicholtz and Tyler in tow. Garrett wasn’t able to kick with the Chico trio and the final 100m brought the Chico women the sweep that they had hoped for.

Men’s 1500m: In the men’s 1500m the ‘Cat’s hoped to keep the pace from dawdling too much at the front, so Soph. Josh Linen was assigned to keep the first lap at around a 64 second rhythm, while teammate Manny Mejia was to keep things rolling in lap 2. Michael Wickman, the heavy race favorite, was assigned the most difficult third lap. The hope was that Linen and teammate Adrian Sherrod might follow UCSD 3:57 guy Alex Corliss and try to out-kick him over the final circuit. Things went pretty much according to plan from the gun with Linen doing a superb job of leading the pack through a 64 second first lap. As planned Mejia took the second, keeping the pace honest and with each 100m stretch the pack stretched a bit trying to keep up. Wickman took the third lap and gently brought the pace down into the low 60’s pace. Unfortunately Corliss was up to the task of staying close to Mejia and pulled away from Sherrod and Linen during the third lap. Wickman and Mejia upped the ante just a bit more over the final 300m to ensure the 1-2 finish while the youngsters Linen and Sherrod fought hard to close well. Linen lost the battle for third place, but held off UCSD’s Heredia who cracked the 4 min. barrier for the first time. Sherrod also cracked the 4 min mark for the first time and gave the ‘Cats 4 of the top 6 finishers. Not quite as spectacular as the women’s version, but a fun race to watch, nonetheless.

Women’s 800m: The ‘Cats qualified all three entrants into the Saturday final of the women’s 800m including CCAA list leading Anna Eicholtz. The Junior from Red Bluff had just PR’d over the 1500m distance less than 90 minutes before, but eyed the 800m as a chance to hopefully win her first CCAA title. The plan for Anna was to work off the pace of the leaders through 500m and then make the determination as to when and how to take the lead. Sensing a slowing of the pace off the third turn, Eicholtz pressed the pace down the backstretch taking the lead briefly from Pomona’s 2:14 performer Kyle Wolff. The gritty Pomona runner did a wonderful job of re-claiming the lead going into the final turn and Chico’s 4/8 gal Ana Marquez now joined the fold at the front. Eitcholtz and Wolff battled down the home-straight, but Eicholtz’ 1500m final seemed to catch up with her a bit as she couldn’t quite catch the Pomona standout. Wolff would claim the title and the two Anna’s would take the next two spots for the ‘Cats. Teammate Skylar Young also ran strong for a 6th place finish.

Men’s 800m: The ‘Cats sent no less than 5 men to the line in the men’s 800m final including defending champ Michael Wickman. Despite sending a 1:49 guy to the line who had placed in the top 3 nationally in both the 1500m and 800 last year, this was probably UCSD’s best opportunity at capturing an individual CCAA crown in the 2010 meet (in the distances of course). Senior Daniel Anderson has posted PR’s of 48.5, 1:50.5 and 3:54 this year, but sat waiting for the 800m final fresh, as his coaches decided against doubling him in another event. Despite Anderson’s “freshness” and 48 second open 400m speed Wickman appeared quite confident in his chances for victory going into the 800m final.

The plan for the Chico guys was for Kyle Robinson and Clinton Hayes (both fresh) to make sure the early pace was somewhat honest (55-56 pace hopefully) in hopes of keeping it a bit difficult for everyone wanting to vie for top spots. From the gun 1:52 guy Kyle Robinson took the front and eased to a several stride lead going into the second turn. Robinson hit 400m at 55 flat, still holding a several stride lead over the nearest competitor. As the athletes asserted themselves down the backstretch, the chase pack caught and passed Robinson and with 150m to go Daniel Anderson took the front of the pack for what he had hoped was a final race-winning surge. Knowing his competition well and measuring what was left in his legs with 100m remaining Wickman sailed off the final turn hitting a final gear of his own. Unfortunately for Anderson, Wickman’s final gear was definitely a bit bigger, and the Chico runner raced home to a fifth CCAA title of his illustrious career. Teammate Clinton Hayes also closed well, passing Stanislaus’ Terrance Ellis but falling just short of Anderson. Robinson held on for fifth, with teammates Manny Mejia and Carlos Suarez giving the ‘Cats 5 of the top 7 placers in this one. Chalk up 25 more team points!

Men’s 5,000m With the team title firmly en grasp well before the start of the men’s 5k, the guys knew that this was more of a statement race than anything. A plan was still formed to try our best to capture as many of the top spots that we could while of course keeping the men’s 5k title (9 years running now!!) in the Chico family. Jordan Fairley was solicited for some pace work at the front from the start in order to keep the race somewhat honest. Jordan did a wonderful job of towing a long line of talented distance runners through most of 2k at an even 72 pace rhythm. CCAA XC champ Jimmy Elam now took the fore, and as was planned pre-race, kept the pace at around 72’s for the next 1600m. As was hoped, the lead pack at 3k was composed of 7 Chico guys and the Humboldt 10k Pair (Sylvester and Huff). As Elam, Handa (10k champ) and Rogers (Steeple champ) pulled clear of the rest of the pack in the final mile, Kochlacs, Linen and Dunbar held on tight to Sylvester and Huff. Just as the Chico guys did on the same track in 2002 when Tyler Graff, Chris Eggers and Juan Sanchez swept the top 3 spots in the men’s 5k, Elam, Rogers and Handa would do the same on Saturday. Linen, Dunbar and Kochlacs sealed the deal with solid final 400’s as well, giving the ‘Cats a very impressive 1-6 finish and 36 team points toward the title.

Women’s 5,000m: Years from now when I think back about the amazing women’s team battle that transpired on the San Diego track I’ll remember the race that really set the stage for what our women’s 4 X 4 was able to finish off with their 3:53 CCAA-clenching run. The race that set the stage was the second to last running event, the women’s 5,000m. Going into the weekend I sent an e mail to all of our distance athletes, letting them know that everyone who had run only 1 event previous to the 5k would be entered in the 12.5 lapper, because a team title could very well hinge on our success in this race. Legs would be tired and emotions would be spent, but it was important that everyone was ready to rally and do their best to get into the scoring mix. We had the top 2 seeds in Tori Tyler (16:29) and Kara Lubieniecki (16:45) but SF State would send 16:59 runner Brittany Garrett to the line, and Humboldt countered with Steeple standout Megan Rolland (Low 17’s PR). A large pre-race meeting was had by the Chico 5k contingent, and a plan of keeping the pace at the front at a manageable but somewhat quick 85 second pace tempo was planned. This would be quick enough to shake some of the competition, but would hopefully be manageable for the Wildcat crew, keeping them together as far into the race as possible.

The actual race couldn’t have gone much better with respect to how it played out. Tori Tyler controlled much of the early tempo, keeping things quick, but in-check, which helped pull her teammates clear of all chasers, with the exception of Garrett and Rolland who ran among the lead pack for the first 6 laps. Somewhere at around the ½ way mark, SF State’s Garrett fell from the track (literally) and never returned to action. Now the ‘Cats ran with 9 in the top 10 overall, and the team title was suddenly looking more like a possibility than a dream. If the Chico ladies could hold on over the final 2k, we would have a HUGE tally of points to add to our chances.

Although it wasn’t pretty (Lots of tired legs out there) the Wildcat ladies responded amazingly well. Tyler joined Katie Lee, Sarah Montez and Mary Torres as a Chico CCAA 5k Champ. Kara lost a late-race battle with Rolland, but Julie Shaw and Kara managed solid third and fourth place finishes. Shannon Rich, Michelle Johnson, Colleen Joyce and Paige Henker horded all of the remaining scoring spots, and perhaps most importantly, blocked all UCSD runners from the scoring mix in this momentum changing run. When the dust had settled the ‘Cats took 7 of 8 scoring spots and tallied an impressive 31 point total. The women’s 4 X 4 now knew going into their run that they had to place at least 7th overall for the ‘Cats to claim the title. They would go on to place 5th (for good measure) and defeated UCSD by less than 3 points!

What an exciting three days of action this was. The team concept of track and field was alive and well in San Diego this weekend and the product was a thing of beauty. 64 athletes doing everything in their power to claim as many team points as possible for the overall whole, and the result being wins for both squads. I’m very proud of the athletes from our group, and all of the athletes on the team. There are plenty more stories to be told from other areas of team including Katie Prucha’s school record in the 400m hurdles and a 7 foot High Jump clearance that secured the men’s HJ title for Ryan Bertucci. Amazing stuff! As always, thanks so much for your support and if you’ve made it this far, Thank you for your patience with reading through this long-winded account of a great competition in San Diego. Next up for the ‘Cats is a last chance meet in Turlock this Friday and then a weekend off, before the NCAA championships the following week in Charlotte, NC. Stay tuned and think good thoughts for our kids who are on the NCAA bubble, as they have 1 more week to improve their chances or to hold on to their spots.

A few words from Coach Hanf:
TRACK AND FIELD SQUADS CAPTURE CCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS! For the seventh straight year, tour men's track team earned the title "CCAA Champions" as we dominated the action at the conference meet this past weekend. Meanwhile, the women's squad was nailing down our first conference championship since 2004. It was three days full of highlights and you can read about them on the following links:

Our men definitely flexed their muscles, and as a result we won by 150 points. The ladies on the other hand were in a toe-to -toe battle with one of the premier Division II women’s track teams over the past several years. Unlike the men, who essentially sewed up the victory early in the meet, the women’s final result wasn’t established until the 4 x 400 relay was completed! As it turned out, the ladies needed to finish in 7th out of 8th in that race, but the announcer gave an unofficial score prior to the race that suggested we needed a 6th place finish (that’s exactly where we were ranked going in).

The relay splits were as follows: Michelle Burley 58.4 Kelly Clancey 57.2 Lindsay Witteman 59.5 Aimee Rodgers 58.2. Rodgers, a frosh, took the baton in 5th place but was passed by both Stanislaus and San Francisco. We had not beaten either team all year, but our young freshman battled them to the wire and passed them both to give our team a 5th place finish and secured the team title. Our time of 3:53. 27 is 5th fastest in our school history!

Also making history was Katie Prucha, who broke Veronica Opazo’s 400m hurdle school record with a time of 62.63, earning an NCAA provisional mark along the way. Rodgers broke into that list as well, running the 4th best time ever at 63.84!!! Katrina Rodriguez won the pole vault at 12’6 1/4”, bettering her NCAA provisional mark (currently ranked 8th in the nation) and the second-best in school history. Ryan Bertucci finally reached the top of the podium at the CCAA meet, placing 3rd his first 2 years and 2nd his junior year. This time around he was the top jumper clearing a new PR of 7’ 1/4”...3rd best all-time.

Eric “Bobo” Wright won the hammer throw with a toss of 183’11”...4th best all-time. A final bit of news on the championship meet is that the UCSD women won 12 of the 21 events. We won 4: Rodriguez, Julie Shaw (10K), Tori Tyler (5K) and Kara Lubieniecki (1500). So the SD ladies received 120 points from their event-winners to our 40. We earned most of our points with lots of depth (our “bench). We scored at least one point in each event! SD scored zero points in the final two events leading up to the final relay while we scored 38 points in the 5K (31) and shot put (7).

It has been an amazing day here at the office today...so many well-wishers congratulating us on our team victories. Thanks to all who have been in touch via, text, facebook, email etc. In addition to our track team’s success, both our baseball team and softball teams advanced to the NCAA tournament this weekend. Our men’s golf team will move on to the NCAA tournament as well. It is a GREAT time to be a WILDCAT!