Hayes leads Wildcats with two provisional marks at 2011 Distance Carnival
Dan Parker, running like a veteran, notches two big PRs

Friday-Saturday, April 8-9, 2010
Comments by Matt Schubert/Assistant Chico State Distance Coach & Tom Cushman
photos by Tom Cushman, Gary Towne & Michael Nevens

Given the brief post-Twilight/pre-Mt Sac window (3 days) Wildcat Assistant Matt Schubert offered to help me out with writing this week’s update. While a good number of our top athletes took the weekend off from racing or helped out with pace-work at the meet to maintain freshness for big attempts at the upcoming Mt Sac meet this Thurs/Friday, many solid performances came out of this final local seasonal look at the Cats.

Greetings Chico State Family, Alumni, and Fans! We have finally hit spring here in Chico! This past weekend marked our Twilight meet (which, incidentally, had nothing to do with vampires), and we had a number of solid performances. While it would be impossible to do each race justice, I will provide a quick run-down of each event as I’m able and give a glimpse into what’s been happening in Wildcat-Land.

Day I recap:
Women's 800m: The women’s 800 meters was set-up to try and tow Anna Eicholtz and Kelly Clancey to an NCAA provisional time (2:14.0). Kara Lubieniecki took up rabbitting duties and came through 400 meters a little quick, just under 64 seconds, with Anna leading the chase pack through 400 meters in around 64.5. Kara peeled off after leading the ladies through 600m in 1:37-ish, with Anna and Kelly Clancey back around 1:39. Anna held on strongly down the home stretch to hold off a challenge by Clancey and notch her 2nd fastest 800 ever. Clancey and Coach Trevino’s Morgan Cavannaugh, placed second and third to give the ‘Cats a sweep in the 2 lapper with both notching PRs!

Men's 800m: The men’s 800 was set up with a similar goal to the ladies. Current assistant coach Michael Wickman (3:43/1:49.5 PR’s) pulled the field through 400 meters in right around 54 seconds with Clinton Hayes and Cal State Stanislaus’s Terrance Ellis close behind. Clinton held a sizeable gap on the rest of the field after Wickman pulled out after 500m. He successfully maintained this gap coming down the back straight and into the home stretch to finish with a seasonal best 1:51.79 clocking. The race for second held more suspense as Stanislaus’s Terrance Ellis held a small lead over Manny Mejia, Santa Clara's Guadalupe Gonzales, Oregon Tech's Keven Jorgensen with 200m to go with Chico freshman Daniel Parker trailing a little further back in seventh place. Parker closed the gap on his Wildcat teammate coming off the turn then hung with Mejia, Jorgensen as they surged away from Gonzales, and a fading Ellis. A final push over the closing meters got Parker to the line next with Mejia a very close third and Jorgensen (Parker's North Section rival from last year) fourth. All clocked times under 1:53 with Parker lopping off nearly 4 seconds off this high school PR!

Women’s Steeplechase: In the ladies steeple, Brooke Bergesen and Hayley Swanson rode the shirttails of Humboldt’s Tess Dahlgren for about 6 laps before Brooke whipped around her teammate and then Dahlgren to take the lead early in the final lap and didn’t look back. Brooke clocked a nice PR en route to the win, while Hayley ran out of track in her late bid to catch Dahlgren over the final meters. Redshirt frosh Natalie Galvan and true frosh Emily Stickney both enjoyed solid outings in their steeple debuts.

Men's 5000m:The next event of the evening was two sections of the men’s 5000 meters. A number of athletes penciled in to run at Mt. SAC this weekend were asked to perform pacing duties and did so admirably. Redshirt freshmen Johnny Sanchez and Alan Cuevas both notched solid PRs and improved their USATF Junior qualifying times. Also of note, Alfonso Cisneros and Donald Truesdell both broke the 15 minute mark for the first time.

Women's 5000m: The women’s 5000 saw Humboldt's Briget Berg pull away from a large group of ‘Cats being paced by Kara Lubieniecki and Alia Gray setting a 17:55 5k pace, with hopes of towing these ladies to sub-18 minute clocking. It turned out to be relatively successful, as red-shirt Jonah Weeks running a solid solo mile took second in 17:52.75. Paige Henker, worked her way through the main chase pack, that included teammates Mikesell and Schnittger, over the latter stages of the race. A nice closing lap enabled her to take third and also her first foray under 18 minutes this year. Mikesell came up a scant .08 short of this goal in placing fifth. Amy Schnittger, the team's top steepler, finished eigth with a 18:19 PR. Michelle Johnson, improved her seasonal best by over 30 seconds in taking tenth. Steady performances netted freshman Oliva Guardian and junior Nicole Reed seasonal bests as the distance carnival portion of the Twilight meet came to a close.

The second night of the Twilight meet brought B heats of the 8’s and 15’s, along with the seeded 1500 races that concluded the evening. Red-shirt frosh Emily Stickney continued her development by coming back from her steeple debut the night before to win the open women’s 1500 with a big kick from 250 out and a solid sub-5 clocking.

In the men's B heat, Redshirt Alan Cuevas completed a superb double with a 4:03 1500. Josh Linen, Dayne Gradone, and Jeremy Brummitt also notched personal bests.

Women's Invitational 1500m: Kara Lubieniecki (who will run the 1500 at Mt. SAC this weekend, along with teammate Anna Eicholtz) was back in action for the third time this weekend as a “wabbit” (Elmer Fudd reference?), tasked with taking the field out at about 4:40ish pace. Kara, as usual, did a great job bringing the leaders through 400 meters in 74 seconds and 800 meters in 2:29 before pulling off 1000 meters in and leaving the race in the capable hands of Tori Tyler. Tori, who will run the 5k at Mt. SAC this weekend, went head to head with Stanislaus runner Rubye Elhard over the final 500 meters but didn’t have the final gear to hold off the hard charging Warrior over the final 200. Alia Gray lowered her PR by about 3 seconds, and a number of other Lady ‘Cats notched PRs in here as well.

Men's Invitational 1500m: In the event that’s become the premier event of sorts for the Chico Twilight, there were some stellar performances. Michael Wickman was back rabbitting again, looking to take the leaders through 1200 around 3:05 (~3:50 pace). Michael brought the leaders through in 3:06 or so, and Trevor Palmer of the Bowerman AC (3:48 PR) was moving into the lead. The Wildcat trio of Manny Mejia, Dan Parker, and Clinton Hayes all gave chase and had great finishing kicks as all three ran under the NCAA provisional qualifying time of 3:52.5. Distance specialist Brent Handa showed some speed in running a solid 3:54, and teammates Isaac Chavez and Anthony Costales also broke 4 for the first time.