Although the NCAA Championships have been held in better conditions and cities, the Wildcat men and women made the most of Pueblo, Colorado, it's thin air (4,800ft) and relentless winds. Alia Gray and Amy Schnittger earned All American honors while competing in the toughest NCAA fields ever assembled (in their respective events). Joseph Rivera made the 1500m final, and barely missed All American honors with his 10th place finish. 2011 third place finisher (10k) Isaac Chavez had struggled in the weeks leading up to the championships with an ankle/calf issue that eventually forced him to abandon his 2012 run during the 3rd mile of the race. Anthony Costales the only remaining distance 'Cat to compete, became a victim of the altitude (and altitude trained runners), as the lead pack (mostly Adams/Western and Kenyan runners) surged their way to the finish of the men's 10k leaving him with a 13th place finish respectively. Overall with everything taken into consideration it was another solid showing for the 'Cats distance crew. Add an NCAA title by Coach Hanf's undersized (5'9-170lb) decathlete J.P. Smith, and a fourth place dec. finish by teammate John Brunk, and spirits were high as we flew home on Sunday.

Right off the top I want to publically thank Gene, Sharon and Kara Lubieniecki who graciously opened their home (in Lakewood, CO) to our distance crew (and coach) for the week leading up to competition. Thanks to the Lubieniecki's the 9 days leading up to competition were an experience that each of the competing athletes will never forget. Whether it was dining on Gene's authentic Colorado elk meet, or intervals on Kara's old Bear Creek HS track, or the day trips to Denver, Boulder, Golden, Evergreen. the athletes were treated to a first class Colorado experience. Of course the 7-10 days of acclimating to the thinner air was also very helpful. Thank you Gene, Sharon and Kara!! Also, we were able to enjoy a meal and some quality time with Wildcat Track/XC alum and Denver residents Juan Sanchez and Grace Gilmore. Thanks for dinner Juan and Grace, it was great catching up!

Thursday-Day 1 NCAA Championships

Men's 1500m Prelim: Having recorded an improbable last chance qualifying 1500m run in Salem, OR only days before flying to Denver, Joseph Rivera approached his prelim with a "nothing to lose" attitude. Just as luck had been on his side in qualifying into the meet, Joseph received another piece of good news in being placed in Heat II in Pueblo. Having watched a slowish 4:05 first heat Rivera knew that all he needed to do to make the final would be to record a sub 4:05 effort in the second. From the gun Joseph placed himself among the top 3-4 while riding the rail. Initial splits weren't blistering, but they were substantially ahead of Heat One's pedestrian numbers. A 60ish closing circuit carried Joseph ahead of a few, but most importantly gave him a 4:00 finish time, which earned him a spot on the line in Saturday's final.

Women's Steeplechase Prelim: The women's steeplechase might have been the most loaded field of this year's championships. Having looked back at the seed times going into the meet I found that no less than 8 of the 18 entrants are ranked among the Top-20 All Time in DII steeple history. In fact 4 of the top 6 best marks in DII history were run by athletes in this year's steeple field. Chico's Amy Schnittger would go into Championship weekend having broken our school record at the CCAA Championships, but ranked only 17th of the 18 entrants. The week of altitude training leading up to the race, and good late season momentum would hopefully give the tough competitor a shot at making Friday's final.

Running in the second of two heats Amy was able to take in the results of a rough Heat 1, that saw the field take off at a blistering pace, only to fall apart badly over the final 1200m. Knowing that she only needed to finish among the top 7-8 overall while recording an 11:15ish mark to advance, Amy settled toward the back of the pack from the gun. It was obvious that the second heat participants had watched the first heat as the early pace was a methodical 87-90 second per lap clip, that respected the 4,800 feet of elevation, while also keeping the times within the realm of qualifying for the following day's final.

As Amy negotiated her way through the initial 1600m she ran side by side with CCAA foe Courtney Anderson (fastest PR in CCAA this season) and Abilene Christian's French standout Chloe Susset (16th all time in DII). As the race neared the 2k point, the pack spread out and 4 athletes had separated themselves from the front. Amy passed Susset to move into 5th, which wouldn't carry an auto spot into the final like a Top-4 would, but the pace was well under that needed to gain a time qualifier. With a lap to go, Western State's Sarah Lyle clipped a barrier and fell to the track. Making a quick return to her feet, she and a quick closing Schnittger now ran stride for stride as the pair took the backstretch for the final time. The barrier mishap appeared to take the wind out of Lyle's sails, and Schnittger would cruise to an eventual 4th place finish, and auto spot into Friday's final. Lyle would still make the final with her 5th place 11:11 clocking. The 12 qualifiers would now focus on their second steeple in consecutive days, as the final would be run in just over 24 hours.

 

Women's 10,000m: The 10k has always been the perfect fit for Alia Gray. As a RS frosh in 2009 Alia recorded a surprising 6th place finish at the NCAA meet while earning her first All America award. The following year brought an Auto qualifying mark for the 10k distance, but was followed by a season ending injury that prevented her from running at the NCAA meet. In 2011 Gray hit another Auto qualifier into the 10k, but ran into a buz-saw of sorts at NCAA's, finishing 9th overall with a school record 34:31 mark. Despite having run the fastest 10k in the history of Chico State Athletics, Alia had missed All America honors by less than 1 second, losing a sprint to the line with Alaska's Ruth Keino. Eight of the top Nine had broken school records in the 2011 run.... DII was getting MUCH faster!

The 2012 field was the best ever for DII. No less than 5 women carried the Olympic Trials B Standard to the line, and six have recorded All Time Top-25 marks (For DII). Even with a wealth of experience and training behind her, Alia Gray stepped to the line on Thursday knowing that she would need a very good race just to grab her second track A.A. honor.

Given that the winds had actually picked up as the evening wore on, the 20+ mile an hour gusts made an already challenging race even more difficult. Just as it looked as though the race just might slip into a complete tactical affair, Western State's Lauren Kleppin (32:49-DII Record) seized the front and clipped off a 75 second fourth lap. This 15 second surge in per-lap-pace turned an orderly pack of 18 into a scattered field, as everyone searched for what their smartest move would be. Only Lenoir-Rhyne's Katie Griewisch (33:40's PR and altitude trained) covered the wicked surge fully as she grabbed the heels of Kleppin who split another sub 80 to the 2k point. Knowing what she was up against and respecting the field and altitude Alia decided to play her hand with the largest pack left on the track. By 2k Alia ran toward the front of a 7 woman pack that held places 8-14. This large pack trailed a smaller pack of 6th and 7th places, by 30-40m.

While Kleppin worked hard to stretch the field (and Griewisch) Gray looked within herself operating with the large chase pack, that would eventually absorb 6th and 7th places. Just as Alia's group caught this small group, Ferris State's Anna Rudd rolled away from the group, taking aim at the leaders ahead. Alia stuck toward the front of the chase pack, running between 7th and 10th places, depending on the lap. By mid race Alia decided to give chase after Rudd who, by now was running in 6th place roughly 50meters ahead. Alia successfully put distance on the dwindling chase pack that she was once a part of, but had a tough time making up much time on Rudd, who appeared locked into cruise control at an 85-86 pace per lap rhythm. After nearly 2k of solo running into the wind Alia's splits were slowing, and Shippensburg's Katrina Spratford (running in 8th) was catching back up. With last year's 4th placer Elicia Anderson (34:18 PR) running in 9th place just strides behind Spratford, all of the Chico fans took a deep breath as Alia approached the final 5-6 laps.

In what would add an interesting twist for the final All American spots Shippensburg's Lara Crofford would grab the heels of race leader Lauren Kleppin (who was lapping Crofford) with a mile remaining. Kleppin, who was tiring just enough, served as a rabbit of sorts to Crofford, who now closed the gap between herself and teammate Spratford, and Alia Gray (who now ran together in 7th and 8th). As one of the most exciting NCAA 10k finishes materialized between a quick closing Rachel Patterson (Grand Valley) and Lauren Kleppin, Chico's Alia Gray was involved in quite a battle for the final All American spot. Patterson used a 74 second final revolution to catch and pass an unresponsive Kleppin in the final 100m. Meanwhile Shippensburg's Spratford hit the bell just a fraction of a second ahead of Alia, who took the same bell only .5 seconds ahead of Crofford who ran in 9th. After 24 laps of racing, Alia sat in 8th position half a stride out of seventh and half a stride from not making the podium. The biggest improvement in Alia's racing arsenal has been her closing speed, and thankfully this made all of the difference on Thursday night. Gray slowly shifted gears over the final 400m, putting valuable strides between herself and Crofford. Although she wasn't gaining on Spratford (10th at NCAA XC this Fall), she wasn't losing much either. Alia sped around the final turn looking strong, and her final 78 second revolution carried her to a fourth All American honor (2 X XC, 2 X Track). Alia had played her cards brilliantly running a smart and tough final 10k and was very excited to add to her trophy collection.

Men's 10,000m: We knew going into the men's 10k final that our odds weren't the greatest this year. Sophomore Isaac Chavez 3rd a year ago in the NCAA 10k, had inflamed a tendon in his ankle 6 or so weeks ago. For a number of weeks the pain and symptoms were manageable, but as NCAA weekend grew closer, the pain and swelling traveled into his lower calf area. The final week leading into the race was a patchwork of running that included far too much limping into training runs, and not much of substance. Teammate Anthony Costales had looked solid in the weeks leading up to NCAA's, but his 29:46 qualifying time ranked him near the bottom of a VERY talented field. To make Anthony's challenge worse, most of the top seeds either go to altitude schools (Adams/Western/Mines) or they were Kenyan (Most Kenyans grow up at 7,000ft elevation in the Rift Valley). The one exception that was also ranked ahead of him was Southern Indiana's Dustin Emerick a 28:33 guy (who sleeps in an altitude tent...) Anthony still went to the line determined to give All American a run for it's money.

With the winds still howling from the Northeast, the men's pack was content to in essence jog through the first few miles of the race. Isaac tucked into a spot near the front, but there was a noticeable hitch to his stride as he tried to make the most of an opportunity. Costales looked relaxed as well, as he had secured a spot among the top 10-12 on the rail, just waiting for the pace change to kick in. Not a lot changed for the first half of the race except for Isaac's taking the lead for 400+ meters during the second mile. The first real defining surge came as the pack entered the fourth mile of the race. Kenyan Laban Sialo hit the front and notched a 68 second revolution and fellow Africans Pardon Ndhlovu and Isaiah Samoei followed suite. The big lap completely obliterated the 17 runner pack, and one of the quick victims was Isaac Chavez who couldn't accelerate without the power needed from the bum calf. After 3-4 laps of suffering Isaac took his coaches' advise and stepped off the track, as to not cause any further damage to his leg.

Teammate Anthony Costales matched the surge well, not jumping on the heels of the leaders, but smoothing out a good 600m of harder running, which gave him a spot on the heels of an 8 man lead pack that had formed when the Kenyans were reeled back in by the Adams/Western guys. Anthony ran among this 9 man lead pack for another 800m, before the initial surge appeared to take it's toll on him. In a matter of 800m Costales lost contact with the lead pack, and was absorbed by a 4 man chase pack, that eventually moved by the taxed Wildcat. The final 5-6 laps weren't pretty, but Anthony fought hard and closed well enough to catch and pass Humboldt's 29:37 guy Austin Huff. Although it wasn't the finish that Anthony had wanted he had made all the moves that he could, but just couldn't handle the surges of the lead pack given the elevation.

 

Friday-Day 2 NCAA Championships

Women's Steeplechase Finals: Friday was the ONLY day of the 3 day meet that resembled a relatively nice day weather-wise. In other words, it was just breezy outside and the flags weren't at risk of blowing off the poles. Amy Schnittger was shuttled to the track knowing that her PR was the slowest of the 12 competitors, but also knowing that some of the higher seeds struggled in Thurday's prelim race. A top-8 finish wasn't out of the question, but Amy would have to race with the same toughness that she had to win her second CCAA title, and of course the same grit that it took to make the final the day before.

Given the fact that there were 4 women with PR's between 9:53 and 10:18, and not wanting to go into oxygen debt from a possible fast early pace, Amy dropped straight to the back of the 12 woman final. Thankfully the pace at the front was reasonable, which allowed the entire field of 12 to run together until the fourth lap. At this point Adams' 10:11 runner Alicia Nelson realizing that her altitude advantage would be lost if the pace continued strayed too far from PR territory made a concerted move from the front. This surge split the field immediately and by 1600m there was a pack of 4 at the front, and a chase pack of 7, and one that had slipped out of contention all together.

With the pace hovering in the 85 range in the middle laps (a bit quick given the elevation), Amy started to lose contact with the chase pack. By the completion of 6 laps Amy ran in 11th overall and was 25 meters behind 10th. Thankfully Amy has experience rallying late in championship races, and keeping her cool under pressure (remember CCAA Champs?) and this would come in handy in Pueblo. As I'd reminded her before the race there would be some struggling bodies in the final kilometer, and if she could manage her energy well and maintain an even pace, she would surely have some folks to pass in the later stages. Approaching the bell and despite having only run a 91 for the penultimate lap, Amy was catching 9th and 10th places. In fact Amy flew by the 10th place runner at the 400m-to-go mark. Catching and passing the runner seemed to provide the spark that Amy needed as she had caught and passed the 9th place runner before hitting the backstretch. Next up was the most important pass of the day.. the one into 8th place (All American). Not to be denied at least of the opportunity to try, Amy drew a bead to the back of Abilene Christian's Chloe Susset (10:26 PR). Amy made the pass just as the pair started the turn to the water jump, and given her momentum, there was no response from the French standout. Leaving nothing to chance Amy hammered through the final water jump and sailed over the final barrier and sprinted to the line putting an exclamation point on what was an amazing effort. Her final 400m split (80 seconds flat) had carried her to the NCAA podium, thus making a dream come true.

Saturday-Day 3 NCAA Championships

Men's 1500m Final: Given the weather conditions that were present, I didn't like the chances for Joseph Rivera in the men's 1500m. It was doubtful that anyone would want to do any work at the front until the last possible moment. This would most likely create a 400-500m dash, and Joseph had been trained more specifically for the 1500/5k distances this season. Of course there was no turning back the clock, so Joseph buckled up and readied himself for what would surely be a big time kickers race.

As the gun sounded Joseph put himself among the front and almost by accident ended up leading the pack of 12 through the 200m split. Leaning forward just to cut through the headwind on the homestretch, Joseph knew Not to sacrifice himself by trying to carry a fast pace. 400m was reached somewhere around 72 seconds but no one was willing to pass the Chico senior, so Joseph led the tightly bunched group through a 75 second lap to 800m. There was still no response from the group behind. The pack continued to dawdle around the track until Adams' Keegan Calmes, Matt Daniels and Andrew Graham sprinted around the field and to the front heading into the bell.

The explosive move blew the pack into pieces and just as expected, this would be a 400m dash with an 1100m warm up. Joseph launched his kick as well, but quickly fell into the 12th position, as the fast moving pack ran down the backstretch. With 175 to go Rivera passed a stumbling Jeremy Antivo of American International. Not giving up Joseph now looked ahead at Truman's Joey Walls, who he caught and passed with 100m remaining. Ground was made between himself and the 8th and 9th spots in the final 100m, but Rivera would run out of real estate in his quest to become an All American.

Having missed All American honors in XC by just a few seconds as well, Joseph was quite disappointed with the initial result. Thankfully after more thought and introspection, Joseph realized what an amazing season it had been, and the realization of having made the NCAA 1500m final after not having been on the 1500 list all season, was quite an accomplishment.

Women's 5,000m: Alia Gray went into the 5k final with a 16:40 PR that only ranked her 14th out of the 19 competing athletes (5 had seed times between 15:54-16:10!). Given the conditions and the talented field, a top-8 finish would be a long shot, but Alia approached the race with a positive attitude hoping to make a run at a 5th All American award.

Unfortunately (and predictably) for Alia, the race was Very tactical from the gun. All 18 athletes ran together through a 6:09 1600m split, and 3200m was reached in 12:01 (18:47 pace!). During the 9th lap, the pace dropped to a sub 80 clip and now the NCAA 5k final had in essence become a 1600m race. This wasn't great news for the strength oriented Gray who covered the surge to the best of her abilities grabbing the heels of a sub group of women that ran within reach of the final All American spot. After several 82 second revolutions with this group, Alia slipped off the back and was passed by a few who had responded to the initial surge a bit more conservatively. An 81 second final revolution left the spent senior less than a second from her pre-race ranking. There was no doubt that all had been done that could have been asked, it was just a very difficult field to contend with, especially following a tough 10k two nights before.

        
In Conclusion: As mentioned previously, the 'Cats enjoyed a very solid NCAA meet. Despite competing in the strongest DII NCAA Championship to date (at elevation) we managed to bring home a few more All Americans, and record some solid finishes. As this year comes to an end we'd like to thank all of our supporters. We know that the success that we've enjoyed wouldn't be possible without all of those who have helped us along the way. We are extremely grateful for the opportunities that have been presented to us, and look forward to carrying the tradition on into the 2012-2013 school year. Stay tuned for a yearly wrap up in the coming week that will highlight some of the accomplishments from the past year.

Head Women's (& Multi) Coach Oliver Hanf says...
It is done...the 2012 track season is officially over. The Chico State Wildcats treated themselves to some "desert" after an already tasty "main course" of a season. The 3-day NCAA championships were held in Pueblo, Colorado, which is at 4,692 elevation and has a tendency to show off it's talent for blowing wind...not a good recipe for distance running, but can help in the sprints and horizontal jumps. The Wildcats returned back to Chico with 4 All-Americans and a new school record. J Patrick Smith was our top Cat...winning the decathlon title while breaking Trevor Papp's record of 7284 (set in the year 2,000).

JP set 7 personal records on his way to his score of 7366. His best previous score was 7,026. He accumulated 3,928 points on day one by running 10.84 in the 100, long jumping 23'2", threw 38'7" in the shot put, jumping over 6'4 3/4" in the HJ and blasting a 49.08 in the 400. He trailed Darius Walker (Central Missouri Mules) by a mere 18 points to be in 2nd place. His second day score of 3428 was earned by hurdling 15.10, heaving the discus 127'9", clearing a 14'5" cross bar in the vault, tossing the javelin 158'9" (his only real dip in performance) and finishing with a 4:44 in the 1500. Walker had a 33 point lead going into the final event, so JP essentially needed to beat him by 5 seconds.

Despite having the pressure to overcome the point deficit, a conservative start to the race was devised as to not run the risk of going into O2 debt. JP ran a 1:17/1:18 average for three laps but had the Mule from CM right on his tail the entire time. With about 150 to go you could see some strain on Walker but he kept right on pace with JP. Coming off the turn into the home stretch JP pushed on the turbo button and sprinted to the best of his ability. What he couldn't see was a devastating physical breakdown behind him from the 2010 NCAA champion as his body began to seize up. He later described it to me as massive cramps up and down his back, which caused him to suddenly stumble and slow to a walk/ jog the last 50 plus meters. It was really a difficult thing to see having enjoyed watching Darius over the years and being close friends with the CM Mule coaching staff. Walker is a senior. Meanwhile JP (a sophomore) crossed the finish line with a new 1500 PR, a new school record in the decathlon AND the NCAA crown!

John Brunk placed 4th in the same competition with a score of 7,049. Brunk got off to a fantastic start, hitting PRs in the 100 (11.03) and the long jump (22'5"). The shot put was a set back (33'6") but a season-best HJ clearance of 6'3 1/2" set him up for his best event. The Brunkster dominated the 400 with a dec PR of 48.12, earning him 903 points! Johnny ran 16.43 in the hurdles, hit a Dec PR of 123'9" in the discus, cleared 14'5" in the PV, hit 154'3" in the javelin and won the 1500 with 4:32. He is 7th on our all-time list, trailing All-American Erik King by only 7 points. John is a junior.

JP becomes the 3rd Chico State decathlete to win a national title. Dave Burton (our school record holder in the 110 hurdles) was the first in 1993. JJ Noble won the title 2001. It was the first time we had two decathlon All-Americans in the same competition since 2001 when Noble's teammate Erik Knight placed 6th. Robert Nooney was a decathlon All-American in 2008 and Talor Fulfer earned the same honor the past two seasons.

Thursday was the busiest day for the Cats: we had athletes running in both preliminaries and finals on that day. Amy Schnittger, the 17th qualifier into the championship in the steeplechase advanced to the finals on Friday. Joseph Rivera also qualified for the 1500m finals on Sat. "Papa Joe" was our lone qualifier to nationals from the last chance meet. School record holder Aimee Rodgers finished her amazing season trying to chase down the number one seed on the back stretch of her 400m hurdle prelim and perhaps spent too much energy too early. While she had ambitions to qualify to the finals and make it to the podium she handled the disappointment rather well and is using the experience as fuel towards her upcoming senior season, in which she hopes to qualify in both hurdle races! Her time of 62.31 would have been a school record had it not been for her own fast times that she ran at conference. She came in ranked 17th but finished in 13th.

Later in the evening, Alia Gray toed the line in her 3rd 10K final in 4 seasons (she qualified her sophomore year but was unable to compete due to a season-ending injury). As a frosh Alia placed 6th, and as a junior she placed 9th, missing AA honors by less than a second despite breaking our school record by 16 seconds. Alia finished her career the way she started it, getting an All-American award. She finished in 8th. Sophomore Isaac Chavez and Junior Anthony Costales had a difficult end to an otherwise successful season. An Achilles/calf injury hit Isaac late in the season and prevented him from completing several of the tune-up workouts for the NCAAs. Unfortunately he had to pull out early in the event and did not finish the race. It was the first real set back for Isaac in his college career, having earned 2 XC All-American awards and placing 3rd at the track nationals in the 10K his frosh year. Anthony Costales finished 13th in the same race after staying with the lead pack for much of the early race. Once the pace surged to a much quicker tempo he tried to respond but it took it's toll as he fell off the pack shortly after. It was his first track nationals and has another year of eligibility left.

On Friday Amy Schnittger became the 3rd female Chico State steeplechaser to earn an All-American trophy. Lindsey (Kuehn) Noble was the first when she placed 4th in 2003. Previous school record holder Jen James placed 8th in '04, 3rd in '05 and then made it 3 straight for her (and 4 for Chico) when she placed 5th in '06. Schnittger ended the 6 year dry-spell by placing 8th, despite her 17th place incoming ranking. The two-time CCAA champion is now an All-American! Things did not go as well for high jumper Michael Souza. He was unable to clear the opening height of 2.05 (6'8 3/4") on all three attempts. It was a frustrating and disappointing end to a very productive and exciting season, which saw him break the 7' barrier for the first time in his life. He was also the CCAA champion.

We had 3 competitors compete on Saturday. Junior Bridget McClarrinon was the first. The All-CCAA javelin thrower is ranked 4th on our all-time top 10 list with a best mark of 140'5". In Pueblo she got in a toss of 135'2" placing her 15th overall. Joseph Rivera found himself leading an ultra-conservative 1500m final, one in which the pack all held back like a bunch of cyclists waiting for the peloton to take off. Once the surge hit the race Joseph quickly fell to the back but then held on and tried to climb back into the top 8. He finished two places out in 10th. Like most of the distance races at these championships, it was a "kicker's" race. The winning time was the slowest winning time ever. Alia Gray finished our meet (and her career) with the 5,000. It was another windy race and a field mostly filled with athletes who were doubling from the 10K or the Steeple...lots of tired legs! Miss Gray "Wolf" showed a lot of courage in her final race, doubling back from the 10 race two days earlier, but was unable to garner a 5th All-America award for her trophy case (two in XC). An thus the season came to an end. Our men's team finished in 16th place overall with the 15 points accumulated by our two decathletes. Alia and Amy added a point each to the women's team scoring. It's now officially off-season but the track office won't rest much. Preparations for the 2013 are well under way :-)