Despite weather forecasts that included 100% chance of rain throughout the day on Saturday, we somehow managed to host a meet (The Wildcat Invitational) with little more than cloudy skies and some blustery winds. Thankfully mother nature was kind to the fans and athletes keeping rains west of the Sacramento River, and the Chico Distance crew reacted accordingly by taking advantage of a meet that was supposed to be a wash out.

Racing Humboldt, Southern Oregon, Oregon Tech and several of the local JC's the Wildcat distance crew for the most part dropped down in distance running some 15/8 doubles. With the sheer volume of athletes in each of these distances, numerous heats were run, and everyone was able to practice racing tactics, while being competitive among their respective heats. The overall product was a nice day of racing, and a good number of PR's as well.

Because the results formatting is such that it's nearly impossible to cut and paste them below, I'll just paste a link that has the results for each heat individually.

1500m Race Summaries:
Men's Heat I: A loaded field for a smallish meet in Northern California. In the early going CA State Champions Eric Avila (3200m Champion-2007) and Humboldt's Jantzen Oshier (1600m (4:00.83) Champion from Trabucco Hills '11) led the field through splits of 61/63 hitting 800m just under 2:05. Hot on their heels was Dan Parker a Chico HS alum who's red shirting this spring in an attempt to work on his aerobic strength. A slew of other talented athletes followed at well below a 4:00 clip. As Oshier fell off Avila's pace Parker swung around and followed within striking distance of Avila who'd won the Hornet Invite 5K last weekend in 14:33.14. With 300m to go Parker made his signature push for the line running what had to have been close to a 28 second 200m stretch to the 1400m mark. Running down the final stretch Dan tied up a bit and a few seconds were lost. Thankfully though enough of a gap had been formed during the big push for Parker to claim the title in front of the screaming Chico crowd. Avila followed closely and Chico's Joseph Rivera and Phil Graber each notched 3:55 PR's while placing 3rd/4th respectively. Isaac Chavez, Miles Dunbar and Anthony Costales all came through before 3 minutes and 59 seconds had been reached.

Men's Heat II: 5k/10k specialist Jeremy Brummitt (Fr. Yucaipa HS) had the lead in this one with 200m remaining, but lacked the requisite final gear to make it stick. Brummitt recorded a nice PR while placing third, and was followed by fellow frosh Kevin Svahn who also ran a PR. Stopping the clock at 4:04 as well was 5k/10k guy Johnny Sanchez. Men's 1500m Heat III. Despite having dealt with an assortment of injuries this spring Zach Zadrozna has been determined to make a the most of his season. Thankfully Zach has been just healthy enough to employ his entertaining mid race surge tactic on Saturday. After running through 800m in a slowish 2:15 the sophomore from Rocklin hit the jets and went from 4th place to having a 3-4 meter lead 150m later. The pack quickened the pace in an attempt to keep the bouncy stride of Zadrozna close. Zach's move ended with the victory, but a final 300 in the 45 range by red shirting Chico frosh Brett Douville made things interesting down the stretch.

Women's Heat I 1500m: 13 runners toed the line in the women's seeded 1500m, 12 of which were from Chico State. Despite running what was in essence an intersquad time trial, the women made the most of their race on Saturday. Amy Schnittger (4:55 pr) helped the early pace with a 76 opening revolution. Alia Gray took over for good from there hitting a 77ish second 400m. Recognizing that the pace had slipped too much Gray notched a 74 third lap and closed in 53 for the final 300 to hit the tape in a new 4:43 Pr. Schnittger finished strong to record an 8 second PR, and Katie Spencer managed to crack 4:50 in her first attempt at the distance.

Women's 1500m Heat II: The 'Cats would take the top 4 places in heat 2 as well, with red shirting frosh Xiang Tak taking the victory in a 4:57 debut respectively. Following closely but just missing sub 5's were Sara Mikesell, Hilary LaBelle and Jackie Mansoor respectively.

800's: Most of the above rolled back for 800's less than 2 hours later with some solid doubles recorded. Next Up: The Chico State Track squad will participate in the ARC Invitational this weekend in Sacramento. The distance crew will enjoy a bye week before taking big cracks at their respective distances at the SF State Distance Carnival and Stanford Invitationals the following Friday (April 6th) Info on the SF State meet in two weeks: http://www.sfstategators.com/sports/2011/1/13/WTRK_0113114243.aspx?path=wtrack

Women's Heat I 1500m: Our Wildcats finally enjoyed some home cookin' this weekend as Chico State hosted the inaugural Wildcat Invitational. The weather forecast for the day was 100% RAIN for the entire schedule, but yours truly sent out a first ever TWEET on Friday night stating that the rain dance was on...it worked! No Rain! Instead, our athletes benefited from not having to travel and competing on the facility that they train on each day. Even though it was cold and gray all day we turned in several outstanding performances. Bridget McClarrinon passed Brandi Dressel (2002) on the All-Time list in the javelin. Her toss of 133'2" moves her into the 5th best spot and also earned an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Her mark is 2nd best in the conference. Our ladies team earned 3 individual first place finishes and won both of the relays, while our gentlemen took 6 first place finishes. Amilia Santos, Erika Kalmar, Melissa Rene` and Nicole Cooper started the meet off by winning the 4 x 100 relay in a time of 47.66. Only one team in school history has run faster: Slaughter-Harris-McGuigan-McLaughlin ran 47.26 in 1993 and have held the school record ever since. Cooper ran only her second 400 meter race this year and 3rd ever, but recorded a 57.34, tying her with Loran Lewis (1989) for 6th on the All-Time list. Aimee Rodgers, fresh off a 21st birthday, won the 100H in 14.84 into a headwind. She also placed 2nd in the 400H-64.32. She teamed up with Kalmar, Cooper and Rene` in the 4 x 4, to win in a time of 3:56.54. Alia Gray was the first of 4 Wildcats in the 1500, winning in a time of 4:43. Amy Schnittger, Katie Spencer and Paige Henker completed the sweep. Kelly Gundert equaled her 11'1 3/4" PR for the 3rd week to win the pole vault. Clearing the NCAA qualifying mark of 11'7.75" has been elusive but it's only a matter of time...hopefully this weekend at American River College! Frosh Heptathlete Jessica Mixon reached a season best in the high jump (5'2 1/4") to place 2nd. Alumna Julianne Conrad, who hasn't jumped since the NCAAs in May won the competition with a clearance 5'6". Brooke Shepard hit a PR in the hammer at 131'3" and a season best in the discus (126'6"). She was 3rd in both events. Breezy Wallace PR'd in the shot put (39'3") to place 3rd also. Michael Souza's quest to clear 7'0" in the high jump will last another week. He cleared 6'10 1/4" to win in an otherwise uncompetitive field; he is signed up for the Stanford meet in two weeks and looking forward to some heated competition. Eric "Bobo" Wright celebrated his birthday by throwing the hammer 181'3" to win the competition. Clayton "Brother" Francis was the victor in the Triple Jump at 46'3". Ryan Utnehmer was the top Cat in the vault, winning with a clearance of 14'5". Frosh Hakeem Dyson was first place in the 110 HH (14.98) while Andrew Kokinakes held on to win the 400H (54.34). RS Daniel Parker (Chico HS) won the 1500 in and impressive 3:52. Joseph Rivera (3:55.10), Phil Graber (3:55.55) and Isaac Chaves (3:56.22) were 3-6 while Miles Dunbar was 8th in 3:56.76. Decathlete JP Smith was a last minute placement in the 3rd heat of the 400 but ended up finishing 2nd overall with a PR 50.06! Converted decathlete Zachary Orion Wales set a personal record in the discus by launching the sphere 151'4". Both our men and women were clear cut winners in the team competition. The lads earning to 183.5 points to best second place Sacramento (147) and Humboldt (93). The ladies scored 268 points. Humboldt was second at 89 followed by Sac at 87. Southern Oregon, Oregon Tech, Butte College, Clackamas and Siskyous were among the other competing teams. Next week the majority of the team will head to American River College. The distance team will be off this weekend as they prepare for the Stanford Invitational and San Francisco Distance Carnival on April 6-7. A special thank you to our sprints coach Manny Trevino, who has been doubling as my photographer. The attached photos were taken by him.