A mixed start for the Wildcats at Duyst Invitational
McGuirk shines in steeple while red shirting Graber takes 1500m

Saturday, March 2, 2013
Comments & photos by Oliver Hanf/Chico State Head Coach (interim) & Gary Towne/Chico State Distance Coach

The Wildcat Men tracksters put up some impressive results in their first showing of the 2013 season. Competing on the host site of the CCAA championships for this year our team used the opportunity to test drive the facility as we get ready for the May showdown with the rest of the conference: Cal State LA, UC San Diego, Cal Poly Pomona, Stanislaus State and Humboldt State. SF State and Dominguez Hills only have women's programs. Our men our aiming for it's 10th straight title! The mantra is to complete the decade of dominance!!

A few of our top sprinters were held out due to precautionary reasons as they are nursing some strains and pulls back into health, so we had some freshmen benefit and take full advantage of running on the 4 x 100 relay. Andrew Aguirre (Damian HS, Upland) and Chad Baur (Junipero Sera HS, San Mateo) teamed up with sophomore Brock Kraus and senior Josiah Damaris Greer. A post race picture of them has been attached. That pairing produced a 42.36. Senior Jordan Alford (10.70), JP Smith (10.84) and Nick Sloggy (10.92) are all chomping at the bit to get in some relay action soon. Senior Andrew Kokinakes pulled off an impressive 3 x 400...he placed 5th in the open 400 (50.59), won the 400 hurdles (54.29) and then ran a 50.6 anchor leg split.

Teammate Nick Sloggy won his heat in the 400 and placed second overall with a time of 49.86. The junior is new to the 400, converting up from the 100/200/LJ. He also ran a 49.8 split. Brock Kraus was 6th in the open 400 at 50.61. He ran the same time in his relay split. Look for good things with this trio later on in the season. Decathletes JP Smith (49.08) and Teddy Elsenbaumer (50.03) will both vie for a relay spot as well for conference. Now that they are both automatically qualified for nationals we can hold them out of the conference decathlon and run them wild in open events. That stategy worked rather well for Smith and John Brunk last season as the two combined for almost 30 team points.

Sophomore Alex McGuirk was Charles in Charge of the Steeplechase winning in a personal record time of 9:28. Fellow sophomore "barrier jumper" Hakeem Dyson won the 110 HH in a time of 15.14, giving Chico State a clean sweep of all three hurdling events. Freshman Geoffrey Bogan (Rancho Bernardo HS, San Diego) placed 3rd in the 5K and set a personal record 14:55. Out on the field Chris Kaiakapu was 2nd in the javelin with a mark of 175'1" however several of us were present when the official called out 186'. I have a call into the Stan State sports information to check on that. Those extra 11 feet make quite a difference! Sophomore Derek Taylor set a new PR in the Triple Jump entering the sand pit 45'1 inches from the takeoff board.

Women's Steeplechase: The 'Cats trio of Haylen Swanson, Natalie Galvan and Quetta Peinado ran a strong season opener over the barriers while placing 4th, 5th and 6th respectively. Swanson PR'd with a nice 11:23 mark, while Peinado also ran a new personal best with her 11:32. Galvan's 11:30 finish time was just a few seconds shy of her lifetime best set at the 2011 CCAA Championships. Having done no workouts over the barriers yet, expect times to drop substantially from this group as the season progresses.

Men's Steeplechase: 2012 All CCAA steepler Alex McGuirk locked horns with Humboldt's Brent Ritschel and the two gently pressed each other throughout the race before the smooth hurdling Chico runner eased away over the final 600m. Ritschel hammered the final stretch in an attempt to catch McGuirk, but came up a few tenths of a second short. This should be a fun rivalry to run as both ran 9:29 season openers and each is a sophomore. Chico's Kevin Svahn ran his first real race since injuring his foot badly during the 2012 CCAA Championship steeple. A bad fall in the water jump took the 9:18 performer out of summer and most of the fall training. Although it was far from his PR, Svahn clocked a 9:45 for 3rd overall, and had no barrier problems during the run.
 

Women's 1500m: RS Frosh Olivia Watt showed that we can expect big things from the hard working young athlete. Coming to Chico as a 400m/300 Hurdler from Morro Bay HS, a difficult transition was in store for Watt. A year ago PR's were logged in the 2:20/4:58 range for the 8/15 distances. On Saturday Watt crushed the 15 mark, with an impressive 4:48 run (Closing in 71!) which placed her 4th overall. Junior Brittany Balcom would win the second heat with a 5:01 season opening effort of her own.

Men's 1500m: Red Shirting JR Phil Graber a Chico HS product would win a tactical 1500 today with a 59 second final 400m split (3:58 overall time). Just a few seconds back and closing just as quickly was RS frosh Brett Douville who PR'd with a nice 4:02.2 effort.

Women's 5,000m: Bekah Bahra led a trio of 'Cats in the women's 5k, although it wasn't a strong outing for any of the three unfortunately. Bahra, who's coming off illness fell off an aggressive early pace, as did teammates Tiffany Heflin and Jackie Mansoor. Although none of the three achieved personal bests, they did get through a tough season opener and can now look forward to some better opportunities in April at the same distance.

Men's 5,000m: The men's 5,000m proved to be quite an entertaining event on Saturday. Stanislaus' 3:48/14:48 guy Dawson Vorderbruegge, Stanta Clara's 24:20's 8k XC guy Kevin Oliver, and SF State's Bruk Aseffa (XC All American) headlined the field. Thankfully Chico's RS Frosh Geoffrey Bogan who has finally achieved some consistent training without setback was up to the task of challenging the three previously mentioned standouts.

The early pace was fairly aggressive as a small group of leaders went through 1600 in around 4:42. Bogan and several other 'Cats crossed the 4 lap mark in the 4:48-4:50 range. As the pace of the lead pack slowed over the second 1600m stretch, Bogan bridged the gap and by 3200m (9:36) was on the heels of Vorderbruegge, Aseffa and Oliver. With 3 laps to go and understanding fully that Vorderbruegge's speed would easily win out if something wasn't to happen soon Bogan shot to the front clipping a sub 70 revolution. The three followed, but within 600m Aseffa had become a victim and fell off the pace.

With approximately 600m remaining Oliver injected a big surge of his own, and Bogan would now fall from the pace. In the end Vorderbruegge's 3:48 speed did win the race as the Senior from Stanislaus (an NCAA XC Ind. Qualifier as well) would close in nearly 60 seconds while recording a new 14:41 PR. Bogan would hang tough over the final meters while placing 3rd in a near PR 14:55. 2013 JC Transfer Germay Tesfai would also close well while recording a new 15:01 PR as well. Not to be left out in the PR Department was Geoff Hull who would hit a 15:15 mark. Teammate Rogan Meza would also finish off a 4:06/15:15 double respectively.

      

The UC Davis Aggie Invite awaits us next. We will travel with a 82 athletes and 8 coaches to that meet so we will be quite a sight. Hope to see some of you alumni and friends at our upcoming meets! Coach O.