Having returned from another long trip to the Mt Sac Relays, I’m happy to report that we enjoyed a productive trip South. After the dust had settled 11 of the 14 competing Wildcats had earned NCAA provisional marks in their respective events, and once again, our school’s All Time top-10 list was re-tooled a bit.

Because we’re all low on time, I’ll create a quick summary below so you can all see how your favorite ‘Cats did against the Nation’s best at Mt Sac. I’ll follow that up with some race descriptions for those with some time on their hands. 

 
Women:
 
Shannon Rich (Sr)         10k            36:23.14 PR #8 All Time CSUC, NCAA provis.
Amy Schnittger (So)       Steep.         11:09.98 NCAA Provisional
Alia Gray (Jr)            5k             17:16.26 PR,  #9 All Time CSUC, NCAA provis.
Kara Lubieniecki(Sr)      1500m           4:29.11 2nd fastest time-CSUC history, NCAA prov
Anna Eicholtz (Sr)        1500m           4:43.78  (not great race-4:37 PR)
Tori Tyler (Sr)           5,000m         16:51.04 (not PR but quite fast/NCAA provis)
 
Men:
 
Adrian Sherrod(So)        10k            29:58.01  Debut, 6th ‘Cat to break 30min in school history, NCAA provisional
Anthony Costales(So)      10k            29:58.40 Debut, #7 A.T. CSUC, NCAA provisional
Joey Kochlacs(Jr)         10k            30:28.32 PR.  NCAA provisional
Brent Handa (Sr)          10k            30:32.39  NCAA provisional
Julian Spence (Jr)        10k            31:47  (coming off injury and missed training)
Clinton Hayes (Sr)        800m            1:51.65 S.B., NCAA provisional
Isaac Chavez (Fr)         5,000m         14:26.86 PR, NCAA provisional (sick)
Manny Mejia Jr. (Sr)      1500m           3:53.31 (rough race)

Race Summaries:
Women's Collegiate & Open Steeplechase: Despite putting herself well back among a solid field, Amy Schnittger was drug through a quicker than hoped 81 second first revolution in the women’s steeple. The remainder of the race was a gradual slowing process for the field and Schnittger. Although she didn’t record a Pr, Amy held on for an 11:09 final time.

Men’s Collegiate & Open 10K: Five Chico State athletes story lines were intertwined in the men’s collegiate 10K on this night.
Anthony Costales - Broke the 15:00 mark for only the second time in his life while crossing the ½ way mark of this 10k in 14:53 with the lead pack. Costales looked great and was well on his way to a sub 29:50 (see 23:51-8k split) before unraveling over the final 800m. Thankfully damage control kept him safely under the 30min mark.

Adrian Sherrod - Missed most of January running, and was only running a fraction of February training due to a hamstring injury from XC. A solid March of training and a 14:35 5k at San Francisco gave Sherrod the confidence to go after a sub-30 mark, and now success! Hovering just above goal pace for most of the race (15:03-5k, 24:06-8k) Sherrod closed exceptionally well (62 final 400m) to also slip under the 30 minute barrier. Although they never ran a step of the race together, roommates Sherrod and Costales finished just .3 seconds from one another after 25 laps of racing.

Joey Kochlacs - Ran 30:28 a year ago with perfect training. This year the Feb flu took almost the entire month of training away from the gangly distance runner. In an attempt to make up for lost time Joey hit a 4 week block leading up to the race averaging nearly 100mpw. The week before Mt Sac a tired and frustrated Kochlacs ran a 14:52-5k...well off his 14:42 PR run the year previous. A taper week was just what the doctor had ordered as Kochlacs looked quite strong running relatively even splits on his way to a .15 second PR at Mt Sac… As they say, “a PR is a PR!” I suppose the sub 30 for Kochlacs will have to wait another year.

Brenta Handa - The 10k is run so infrequently that it’s sometimes difficult to evaluate someone’s performances, because you end up putting too much stock into just a few attempts. Brent Handa has run just enough of the 25 lappers for me to conclude that he’s a 10k runner that can’t run the distance on the track. As fit as anyone on our team (and we now have 3 sub 30min guys) Handa has struggled with the monotony of 25 laps. It showed on Thursday night as a perfect early pace of 4:50/9:35/14:53 (5k) unraveled soon after the ½ way mark, and the rest was a gradual slide backward. The good news is that Brent will bounce back and he’s healthy. We’ll look forward to the 5k distance (hopefully) at the Payton Jordan meet in a week.

Julian Spence - After a solid pr’s in the early season (3:54/8:21/14:30) Julian sustained a quad injury that’s been nagging him for some time. He took most of the week off after his 14:30 run at SF State, then returned to some light running in the week leading up to the 10k. Hoping for a miracle of sorts, Spence went through 5k in 15:03 but was obviously working well beyond himself to sustain the pace. The final 10 laps were pretty tough to watch, and of course even tougher for Julian to run.. but thankfully his quad is doing better and he’s somehow returning to a normal training load despite the 25 lapper.

Women’s Collegiate & Open 10k: Knowing that it would take at least 35:50 or better to make the NCAA field Shannon Rich went out in search of a big mark. Rolling through 5k in a seasonal best 17:53 Shannon was right on pace. Unfortunately the senior started to slow during the fourth mile, and by 8k was too far off 36:00 pace to get the qualifier. Hanging tough though Shannon finished strong, earned a PR and moved herself up the CSUC all time list-tucking in just behind Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier Lindsay Nelson with a solid 36:23.

Friday Morning Sections:
Women's Collegiate & Open 1500m (heat 5): Senior Anna Eicholtz had hoped to drop from the 4:37 PR that she set several weeks ago at the SF State meet, while trying to squeak into the NCAA picture as well (NCAA standard=4:36.00) Heat five's 70 second opening lap seemed to take the wind out of Anna’s sails, as she allowed a strong pack to ease away from her in the fifth-hundred of the race. There was no catching the group ahead and the 4:35 would have to wait for another day.

Women's Collegiate & Open 1500m (heat 7): Kara Lubieniecki broke through a year ago at the Mt Sac meet while posting a 4:31 PR and winning her heat in the process. She would go on to run a 4:28 at the NCAA Championships while placing fifth at the big meet. Now she returned to the metric mile for her first real crack at running a quick one since the 2010 NCAA’s. Hovering around 71-73 second pace rhythm and reading her body well, Lubieniecki covered the moves that could be covered and closed with a 2:21.2 final 800m split. The final time was less than a second off her own school record and was the second fastest 1500 that a Wildcat has ever run. The mark will also qualify her for a return trip to the NCAA meet of course.

Men’s Collegiate & Open 1500m: Senior Manny Mejia had a rough day at the office on Friday. With a slowish pace up front that included a 63 second revolution, Manny failed to cover the moves that would eventually lead a few to the sub 3:50 clocking that Mejia had hoped for. A 59 second final lap gave him a respectable 3:53 time.

Men’s Collegiate & Open 800m: Senior Clinton Hayes chipped a few more tenths of a second off his Chico Twilight mark, with an even split 55/55 1:51.6. Had Hayes tried to and been able to cover the break that was made at 600m, he’d have finished in the 1:50 range.

Women’s Collegiate & Open 5,000m-Section B: Senior Tori Tyler has run about half of the volume that she’d normally like to be doing, as she’s balanced her training around a variety of foot ailments over the past 4-6 weeks. Despite the missed training and continuity with her running, the senior went out well beyond her current fitness level, hoping that a certain alignment of the stars and the moon would help to produce a time that might eclipse Katie Lee’s 16:25 school record (patting myself on the back for this play on words). Despite warning Tyler of such an approach before the race Tori ran through early laps of 79 and 78 seconds (perfect!), but then tossed in consecutive laps of 76, 76, 77, and 78. As has been the case in the past, Tyler hit an invisible wall somewhere just before the 3k mark, going almost immediately from a 78 clip, to 81 and 82 second laps for #’s 7 and 8. Tori’s 3k (9:48 would stack quite well on the All Time CSUC list) and 3200m was reached in 10:30. The final mile was an exercise in toughness and grit as the under-trained Tyler held on to finish in a respectable 16:51. Hopefully the coming weeks will offer the consistency that Tori will need to battle with the NCAA’s best in late May.

Women’s Collegiate & Open 5,000m-Section C: Junior Alia Gray hadn’t run a 5k in two years due to the season ending injury last spring after the Stanford 10k. She stepped to the line on Friday with a PR of 17:25 but hoping to run sub 17 at least. Gray looked perfect for 2k, rolling through even early splits in the 80 second range (5:20-1600) but just after 2k the RS Junior detached from the group, and her race quickly became a solo venture as she chased the pack that was now pulling ahead. 3200m was reached in 10:55 and Alia just held on over the final 1600m, to finish in a disappointing 17:16.. although the silver lining here of course is that it was still a PR and an NCAA provisional mark and #9 on the All Time list.

Men’s Collegiate & Open 5,000m-Section B: Red Shirt frosh Isaac Chavez walked into the office door on the Monday before the race sounding horribly congested and asking if I thought he should race. Of course he was encouraged to get sleep and plan on racing, in hopes of some recovery from the allergy type symptoms that had been plaguing him since his Stanford 10k. Unfortunately nothing changed between Monday and Friday and Isaac stepped to the track hoping for a miracle. This wasn’t to be of course, but the tough frosh gave it his best shot. Running through early splits of 4:33 and 9:09 Chavez wasn’t too far off the goal pace, but the final mile was fairly predictable. With his form breaking down Isaac battled hard and closed in 65 taking 12 seconds off his former (14:38) PR. Chico Alum and NCAA 5k Champion Charlie Serrano won Isaac’s heat in 13:57 (PR)