As I had mentioned in my weekend preview on Thursday the ‘Cats had some really big races to look forward to on Friday and Saturday at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival and the Stanford Invitational. Thankfully the good majority of those who competed enjoyed personal best performances and a whole host of Chico runners achieved NCAA qualifying marks. Having witnessed the weekend performances first-hand I have a hard time comparing this weekend’s results with any weekend that our program has enjoyed in the past. The sheer number of impressive marks that were recorded by this group of athletes was really quite mind-numbing and highlights the amazing depth that we are currently enjoying on both the men’s and women’s teams.
All told 15 Chico State athletes (red shirts included) reached at least an NCAA provisional qualifying mark this weekend. Four of these athletes, hit NCAA Auto marks, which guarantees them entry into the championships that will be held this May in Charlotte, NC. Before I start the journey that will be re-capping the highlights of the weekend I think I will start by placing all of names and marks that were posted this weekend by the ‘Cats, starting with the NCAA qualifiers and working down from there. It was a weekend of PR’s and impressive runs!
NCAA Auto Qualifiers: Tori Tyler (Jr) 10,000m 34:47.65 (New School Record) Beau Rogers (Sr) 3K Steeple 8:56.78 (#2 in CSUC History) Kara Lubieniecki (Jr) 5,000m 16:45.76 (#2 in CSUC History) Alia Gray (So) 10,000m 35:29.51 (#3 in CSUC History) NCAA Provisional Marks Jimmy Elam (Sr) 5,000 14:17.81 (#5 in CSUC History) Brent Handa (Jr) 5,000 14:26.27 (#9 in CSUC History) Joey Kochlacs (So) 5,000 14:43.96 Amy Schnittger (Fr) Steeple 11:08.48 (#7 in CSUC History) Jessica Brieno (So) Steeple 11:12.12 (#8 in CSUC History) Jonah Weeks (So) 10,000 36:56.53 (missed top 10 by 8 seconds) Manny Mejia (Jr) 1500 3:52.16 Michael Wickman (Sr) 800 1:51.74 *Red Shirts who posted Provisional Marks *Anthony Solis (Fr) 5,000 14:31.55 *Isaac Chavez (Fr) 5,000 14:38.19 *Shannon McVannel (So) 3K Steeple 10:58.88 The Rest (Which are still quite Good!) Women: Anna Eicholtz (Jr) 1500 4:41.18 (#10 in CSUC History) 800 2:16.64 Katie Spencer (So) Steeple 11:24.00 (#10 All Time CSUC) Shannon Rich (Jr) 5,000 17:38.13 (PR-First sub 18!) Paige Henker (Fr) 5,000 17:41.26 (PR-2nd sub 18!) Michelle Johnson (Fr) 5,000 17:46.82 (PR-First sub 18!) Stephanie Consiglio (So)5,000 18:03.24 Julie Shaw (Sr) 5,000 18:23.33 (17:23 PR,-Tough race) Hayley Swanson (Fr) 5,000 18:34.41 (PR-Awful side stitch-last 3 laps hurt time) Sam Racine (So) 5,000 18:40.76 Sara Mikesell (Fr) 5,000 18:52.84 (PR-first sub 19!) Colleen Joyce (Sr) 10,000 37:39.72 (PR) Jessica Nelson (Sr) Steeple 12:02.42 Julie Platero (Sr) 1500 5:02.30 (seasonal best) Natalie Galvan (Fr) 1500 5:08.86 (PR) Men: Clinton Hayes (Jr) 800 1:54.06 (SF State-Fri) 800 1:53.61 (Stanford-Sat) Kyle Robinson (Sr) 1500 4:03.24 (SF State-Fri) 800 1:53.89 (Stanford-Sat, Seasonal Best) Carlos Suarez (Jr) 1500 4:06.99 (SF State-Fri) 800 1:56.77 (SF State-Fri) Alex Sharp (Sr) 10,000 31:29.73 (PR) Joseph Rath (Sr) 10,000 32:08.36 Dayne Gradone (Fr) 10,000 32:45.65 (PR-First 10k ever on track) Brendan Scanlon (Jr) 5,000 14:49.93 (just off PR) Miles Dunbar (So) 5,000 14:51.36 (PR-First sub 15 ever) Adrian Sherrod (Fr) 5,000 14:53.50 (PR but not yet in official results) Josh Linen (So) 5,000 14:54.77 Donald Truesdell (Fr) 5,000 15:10.37 Thomas Whitcomb (Sr) 5,000 15:32.14 (missed 3 weeks w/ injury and just back) Rogan Meza (Fr) 5,000 15:46.08 (PR-true frosh) Julio Jimenez (Jr) 5,000 15:48.56 Steven Bradley (Fr) 800 1:58.71 Jon Ahman (Fr) 1500 4:06.31 Zach Zadrozna (Fr) Steeple 9:54.76 (First steeple ever) Notables, yet to return from injury, who didn’t race this weekend: Jordan Fairley (Sr) 9:11 steeple, 3:57-1500m Tim Cannon (Jr) 14:20-5k, 3:57 1500 Alan Campos (Jr) 31:30’s 10k, Top 7 XC in fall. Olivia Guadiana (Fr) 4:59/11:00 HS marks Brittany Balcom (Fr) 5:07-HS 1600m PR Brooke Bergesen (Jr) 11:40 Steeple PR
Men’s Steeplechase: A year ago, as a junior for the Wildcats Beau Rogers used the SF State invite to break out in the steeple event in a big way. He dropped his PR from 9:35 to 9:05 in a single race and would go on to lower that mark to 9:02 while earning his second All American honor. Beau celebrated this 1 year breakthrough anniversary with another breakthrough, smashing the 9 minute barrier and becoming Chico’s first sub 9 minute guy since Karl Schaecherly did it in 1976!
Running in the fastest heat of the day Beau knew that he had to hang tight near the back of the pack and withstand what would surely be a quick early pace. This was indeed the case as Beau rolled through sub 70 early splits on his way to a 4:42ish first 1600m split. Slowing to a few 72’s and a 74, Beau hit the lap to go in 7:50, meaning that he needed a sub 70 over the hurdles and water jump to break the 9 minute barrier. Relaying this information to him with 300m remaining, Beau surged over the final barriers, and kicked hard down the final straightaway. His 8:56.78 finish mark was well under the NCAA auto and places him only 1 second behind the Chico State school record which was set by Tom Brown back in 1974! I believe that Beau’s time is also the #1 time in the NCAA by a DII athlete this spring-to date.
Flotrack Video of Beau’s race: (Note the familiar Chiiiiiiccccoooo Chant in the background!!!)
http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236780/321556
Women's 5000m: Kara Lubieniecki ran a huge 17:00 personal best at last year’s OXY invite near the end of a very solid sophomore season, and viewed this year’s Stanford race as an opportunity to run somewhere in the 16’s. From the gun the pace of Kara’s Stanford race was honest and even. Sensing that the initial tempo was plenty quick, Kara tucked into the back of a very large field and went for a ride on the pace-train. Things couldn’t have played out any better for the XC All American, who strode through early splits of 5:20 and 10:42 for 1600 and 3200m. Her 3200m split was a substantial PR, but Kara looked full of run with a mile remaining in the race. Picking off slowing runners ahead of her over the final kilometer, Kara managed to move herself into the top 15 with a lap remaining. A final 400m split in the 76 range placed Kara 13th overall and made her the first Non DI finisher in the field. Kara’s final time of 16:45 is the second fastest 5k mark in school history and is an Automatic NCAA qualifier.
Women's 10,000m: Multi-time All Amerians Tori Tyler (35:57 pr) and Alia Gray (36:05 pr) toed the line at 10pm on Friday night, in search of big PR’s and hopeful NCAA marks. Thankfully both were achieved in a big way. Tori has enjoyed the best stretch of training since her arrival in Chico in the Fall of ’09 and started the race full of confidence.. In fact, she might have been a bit overly confident, if not overly-ambitious as the Junior who grew up in the Palo Alto area, had a 30meter lead by the 1600m mark (5:27 split). Tori’s lead over a very qualified field grew as she hit 3200m in 10:54 (very close to her coache’s HS 3200m PR!). While Tori was running close to 34:00 minute pace at the front of the pack, Alia Gray was making some moves of her own. Alia hit early splits of 5:42, 11:22 and 17:48 (5k) but found herself in between packs for many of the laps between 1200m and the 5k mark. Thankfully a pack caught Alia in the fourth mile and her 86’s dropped back to 85’s and 84’s with each revolution of the oval. With Alia in a nice pack of runners finally she seemed safely on her way to a mark that would get her in the door of NCAA’s and now attention focused on Tori who may have been a bit too motivated by the NCAA record run of Iowa State’s Lisa Koll in the heat before, where Koll solo’d an amazing 31:18 10k! Unfortunately Tori’s early 81-82 second lap splits started to slip to 83’s and 84’s and Syracuse’s Catherine DeSarle and Iowa State’s Semehar Tesfaye caught and passed the tiring Tyler. Tori hung strong and implemented damage control well, keeping the laps in the mid to low 80’s as small groups caught and passed her. Tori held on to finish 8th overall and despite her aggressive tactics, still managed to earn her first CSUC school record, while recording an NCAA automatic mark. Alia Gray has been well ahead of her years in ability to measure pace and intensity and on Friday she implemented this to perfection as the sophomore from Santa Rosa, CA (Maria Carillo HS) kept her composure well over the final laps of the race and closed with an impressive 78 second lap, to slip under the NCAA Automatic mark by .4 seconds! Her 35:29 time lands her in the #3 All Time spot just 6 seconds off Katie Lee’s former school record.
Men's 800m: (Saturday Afternoon)
Michael Wickman, Clinton Hayes and Kyle Robinson were placed in three different heats out of 5 on the day at Stanford. Wickman, who’s returning to form after missed training, due to an injury put an awful performance in the 1500m (4:00 on Friday) behind him and rolled to an NCAA provisional 1:51.74 mark.
Clinton Hayes doubled back from a 1:54 win at SF on Friday, to post a seasonal best 1:53.61 on Saturday, while teammate Kyle Robinson also posted a seasonal best of 1:53.89 in his heat respectively. The ‘Cats now have four 800m runners at 1:53.89 or better on the season.
San Francisco Distance Carnival results & commentary
