Our first official meet of the season was held last Saturday at University Stadium here in Chico, CA. The ‘Cats enjoyed another version of the Wildcat Relays where about half of our expected distance roster competed in a variety of events. I had wanted to send a summary out sooner, but it’s been a very hectic week with quite a few prospective student athletes visiting our campus. I figured I’d take advantage of a few free moments to quickly summarize last week’s Wildcat Relays and update everyone on what’s coming up this season and down the road a bit. The ‘Cats were victorious in pretty much all distance related events last Saturday including win’s in both open 3k’s, DMR’s and 4 X 800’s. Both track teams (M/W) also won team titles in this scored meet!

Men’s 3,000m: Mixed results in this one.. Senior All American Beau Rogers led a ‘Cat sweep in the 3k, closing an 8:35 effort with a smooth 63 final revolution. Joey Kochlacs who’s looked great in early season workouts was second just a few tick’s behind. (Sorry for confusing seed times in the results as well)

Women’s 3,000m: The biggest threat to our winning ways on Saturday came in the form of 5’10 Humboldt steeple school record holder Megan Rolland. Rolland is twice an NCAA qualifier and is the two time defending CCAA champ in the steeple event. Chico’s main hope against Humboldt’s standout steepler came in the form of 5’? Kara Lubieniecki a (4:34/17:00) PR’s, and XC All American for the ‘Cats.

This match-up wouldn’t disappoint as Kara clung to the heels of the much taller Rolland as the Humboldt runner sailed through early laps at an 80 second clip. Wildcats Alia Gray, Paige Henker and Shannon Rich followed through 1200m, but by 1600m (reached in 5:24ish) it was a 2 person race.

For those who witnessed last year’s Chico Twilight women’s 1500m final you know what’s coming next. With 350m remaining Lubieniecki moved by the gritty Humboldt runner, only to have Rolland fight back for the lead. With 150m to go it was a dead heat but those who know Kara knew this would not last long. Taking twice as many steps as her long levered rival, the Colorado native motored off the final turn, covering the final 100m in what had to have been 15-16 seconds. Kara’s winning margin of 3 seconds, all accomplished over the final 150m shows just how quickly she covered the final meters to the line.

Her 10:05 PR earns her a Top-10 All Time CSUC mark, knocking off Wisconsin native Lisa Nowak. Kara’s final 400m split of 69 is also evidence of just how dangerous her finishing speed can be. Alia Gray notched an impressive early season 10:19 time while RS Frosh Paige Henker picked up where she’s left off this XC season while posting an impressive 10:26 mark

Women’s 4X 800m: Tori Tyler, usually searching to find speed in her 10k legs, has looked wonderful this Spring in her efforts to become faster at the shorter distances. Chico squads took 1-2 in the women’s 4 X8. The Distance team of Sam Racine (2:30ish), Julie Platero (2:30ish), Tori Tyler (2:23) and Anna Eicholtz (2:21) looked solid in collecting the win.

Men’s 4 X800m: The Chico men ran to win in the 4 X 800m this year. With only 1 hour to recover before what would be a competitive DMR it was decided to cruise 2:00 type splits while collecting the win and saving the legs for the DMR.

Women’s Distance Medley: Racing the clock the ladies recorded some pretty solid splits, led by Tyler’s 76 pace for the 1600 (5:04). The other splits were 1200: (3:49) Anna Eicholtz, 400: (65) Julie Platero, 800: (2:34) Sam Racine.

Men’s Distance Medley: In the day’s leading up to the race it was rumored that Humboldt’s guys had plans of winning the DMR race in Chico. Given Michael Wickman (3:43/1:49), Clinton Hayes (1:50-800m), Kyle Robinson (1:52-800m), and Manny Mejia (3:53-1500) The Chico guys were a bit offended.

The day before the big “showdown” Chico’s Wickman reported to yours truly that his toe had flared up after the Thurs workout the day before. It was decided to pull Michael to play things safe.. And plug Soph Josh Linen into the 1200m leg. With Humboldt’s 3:53 guy Eric Malain running the 1200m leg for Humboldt, the race was fun to watch from the gun.

Linen sat in a group of three for the first kilometer before moving around the second place team and onto Malain’s heels. Malain gained a second over Linen in the final 100m, but the ‘Cats were well within range of Humboldt going into the 400m leg. Kyle Robinson recorded a 50.1 400m split and handed the baton off to Clinton Hayes with a small lead. Humboldt’s 800m guy caught and passed Hayes, who fought back to re-pass the Lumberjack. With superior strength over the final 300m Hayes handed the baton to teammate Mejia with a 2-3 second lead (1:53.7 split for Hayes!), and now the Junior from Pico Rivera sailed around the first turn with a motivated Lumberjack Luis Galicia hot on his heels.

Manny played his cards well in this leg, getting out hard enough to keep an honest pace, but not too hard to keep Galacia from chasing. The Humboldt runner took the bait and recorded a 57-58 split while chasing down Mejia who ran a 61. Galacia held the lead for the next 400-600m before Manny moved by for good and recorded the win for the ‘Cats. Splits: 1200: Linen- 3:06.8 400: Robinson-50.1 800m: Hayes-1:53.7 1600: Mejia-4:18

Upcoming Schedule:

March 6: Kim Duyst Invit-Turlock, CA
Next Week: Bye
March 20: Davis Invit-UC Davis
March 26-27 SF Distance Carnival and Stanford Invites
April 9/10 Chico Distance Carnival (Fri/Sat)
May 6-8: CCAA Championships- UC San Diego