The Chico State distance runners enjoyed one of the best days in the history of the program on Friday while competing at the SF State Distance Carnival and the Stanford Invitationals. NCAA marks, All time CSUC, and many Personal Best performances were recorded between the two distance heavy meets. Before any race re-caps, I'll list all of our competitors and their times in each event respectively. It's quite a list. 

 
Times Posted per event over the weekend by Wildcat Distance Runners:

Men's 5K

Isaac Chavez (Jr) 5k 14:08, NCAA Mark, #3 All Time CSUC, PR
Adrian Sherrod (Sr): 5k            14:09  NCAA Mark, #4 All Time CSUC, PR
Dayne Gradone (Jr): 5k 14:14  NCAA Mark, ##6 All Time CSUC, PR
Anthony Costales (Sr): 5k 14:24  NCAA Mark, PR
Germay Tesfai: 5k (So) 14:38, PR (First time under 15!)
Johnny Sanchez (So): 5k 14:38, PR
Aaron Mora (Red Shirting True Fr): 5k: 14:38 (Fastest True fr 5k in Chico History)PR
Aaron Thomas (Red Shirting Jr.): 5k 14:40, PR
Geoff Bogan (Fr): 5k 14:57
Nick Grubiss (Tr. Fr): 5k  15:05, PR
Jon Deliva (Tr. Fr): 5k 15:21 (PR)
Ryan Rampoldi (Tr. Fr): 5k 15:28, PR
Andrew Cobourn (Tr. Fr) 5k  15:40, PR
 
Women's 5K:
 
Sara Mikesell (Jr) 5k 17:17, NCAA Mark, #10 All Time CSUC, PR
Jessica Varela (So) 5k 17:20, Misses NCAA mark by .25, PR
Hillary LaBelle (Sr) 5k  17:24, PR
Ayla Granados (Jr) 5k 17:29, PR
Jonah Weeks (Sr) 5k 17:40, PR
Paige Henker (Sr) 5k 17:44
Haley Kroll (Tr. Fr) 5k 17:44 (PR)
Michelle Johnson (Sr) 5k, 18:08 (won her heat) Seasonal Best
Vivien Cherrette (Tr. Fr) 18:14
Jackie Mansoor (Fr) 18:23, PR
Xiang Tak (Fr) 18:25
Ashley Simon (Fr) 18:51, PR
 
Men's Steeplechase

Alex McGuirk (So): 9:06.14, NCAA Mark, #8 AT CSUC., PR
Phil Graber (Red Shirting Jr): 9:17.1 , PR
 
Women's Steeple:

Amy Schnittger (Sr): 10:44, NCAA Mark, only 2 seconds off her own school record.
Natalie Galvan (Jr): 10:57, NCAA Mark, #6 All Time CSUC. PR
Hayley Swanson (Sr): 11:15, PR
 
Men's 10K:

Rogan Meza (Jr): 31:22, 10k Debut
Dillon Breen (So): 31:45, PR
Geoff Hull (So): 31:50, PR
Tyler Troxel (Tr. Frosh): 32:46
 
Women's 10K:

Rebekah Bahra (Fr): 37:28, PR
 
Men's 1500m:
 
Dan Parker (So): 3:53.08 , Seasonal Best, .58 off NCAA mark.
Tony Palermini (Sr): 3:58, Seasonal Best
Cesar Patino (Tr. Fr): 4:15
 
Women's 1500m:

Lora James (Fr): 4:50.59, Seasonal Best
Jordan Walsh (Fr): 4:50.99, PR
 
Men's 800m:

Dan Parker (So): 1:54.54 (Doubled from the 1500), Seasonal Best
Brett Douville (Fr) 1:54.63, PR
Tony Palermini (Sr) 1:57.89 (Doubled from 1500), Seasonal Best
Andrew Overton (Tr. Frosh) 1:57.93 (First sub 2min 800m)
 
Women's 800m:
 
Olivia Watt (Fr): 2:15.33 PR, misses top 10 list by .3 seconds!
Bailey Henshaw (Red Shirting Jr) 2:16.08, Seasonal Best
Jordan Walsh (Fr) 2:21.17, Doubled from 1500
Lora James (Fr) 2:22.15, Doubled from 1500
McCall Habermehl (Fr) 2:27.55 (PR)

Alumni Alert:

A good number of former Lady-Cats competed this weekend, with some promising 5k results.

SF State Alum Results

Julie Shaw: 17:43
Shannon Rich: 17:49
Katie Spencer: 17:59
Brooke Bergesen: 18:26

The final 3 races at the Stanford Invitational on Friday night were 10k's and the Wildcats would have a competitor in each of these 25 lappers. Of course each was looking for big marks to secure their spots on the line for the upcoming NCAA championships, and perhaps in Chico State history.

Stanford Alum Results: Both Alia Gray and Kara Lubienieckiare gearing up for a big 10k attempt at the upcoming Payton Jordan meet at Stanford on Sunday April 28. Each PR'd substantially on Friday night in Palo Alto, and knowing that Alia ran an 85 mile week leading up to Friday's race.. I think both have a legitimate shot at hitting at least the USATF Championship B standard of 33:50. The A Standard is 33:20 BTW. Stay tuned!

Heat II-Men's 5,000m: Isaac Chavez, the lone Chico male distance runner to compete at Stanford, recorded a hard earned 5k PR. With aggressive early splits of 4:27 and 9:01 Chavez held on over the final 4.5 laps, closing with a 64 second revolution to lock in his first sub 14:20 run.

Heat III-Women's Steeple: Senior Amy Schnittger enjoyed a nice season opener for the 3k steeple with her 10:44 run at Stanford. Running relatively even splits throughout Amy moved from last place to eventually finish 6th overall. The mark is just 2 seconds off her own school record and is an NCAA provisional qualifier. A year ago Schnittger ran 10:52 in this same race, which of course is a good sign for the season ahead.

Next up for the 'Cats will be the Chico Distance Carnival this weekend. Friday night will see the fast 800's, 5k's and steeplechases (7-9:30pm approximately). Saturday will see the full slate of events starting in the late afternoon and concluding with Fast 1500's and 4 X 4's under the lights (around 9pm). We hope to see some of you out at the track! Please see our website for schedule details.

SF State Distance Carnival:

Men's 5,000m: Going into the weekend anticipation built around the amazing 5k fields that were being assembled at SF State. With Stanford squeezing out some great runners, the SF meet had a host of guys with goals of running in the low 14's for the 5k. Adrian Sherrod (14:35 pr), Anthony Costales (14:27 PR) and Dayne Gradone (14:30 PR) were three of those hoping to run in the low 14 minute range. Knowing the pace at the front would be quite quick, Sherrod and Costales settled at the tail end of a defined lead pack that was about 15 strong. Gradone hung back several places to hopefully build into the run as he reached the mid race point. Adrian and Anthony hit early splits of 4:34 and 9:08 and looked great, going into the final 1600m of running.

Sensing a split in the field, Gradone made his way around a slowing group just in time to jump on the back of the main group heading into the final 4 laps of racing. Adrian and Anthony logged 68, 67, and 68 second laps after the 3200m and with a quick final 600m, each could run under 14:15. Sherrod would do just this while hitting a 65 lap from 600m out, and closing with a 30 second final 200m. Costales unfortunately started tightening up with 500m remaining. Gradone, en route to a final 300 in the 45 range flew by Costales inside the final revolution. Adrian's quick closer made him the third 'Cat to break the 14:10 mark, and Gradone joined a small handful of Chico runners to have run under 14:15 hitting the tape in 14:14 respectively. Costales would finish with a bitter sweet 14:24 PR, knowing that he was only 500m from running a 14:10 or faster. Either way, this was quite a race.

In the second heat the 'Cats would have no less than 4 guys finish between 14:38.0 and 14:40.5. Germay Tesfai would lead this charge with his previously mentioned first sub-15 ever. Fellow Fresno native Johnny Sanchez eclipsed his frosh pr finishing just a tenth of a second behind his teammate Tesfai. True frosh Aaron Mora recorded the fastest 5k by a first year Wildcat with his 14:38.16 finish. His new PR is just .03 faster than Isaac Chavez' mark recorded in 2010.

Women's 5,000m: Five 'Cats went into Friday's first heat of the SF invite, knowing that their seed times were substantially shy of those by the rest of the field. A plan was devised to have the five work together for as long as they could at a pace that would be more manageable than that which the lead pack would be running. As expected the lead pack ran 80-81 pace for the early laps, and by 1600 (5:30 for the Chico women) at least 5-6 seconds separated the Chico group from the final runner in the lead train of athletes.

Over the second mile the Chico group stretched, but so did the pack ahead. By the 7th lap the first athlete was passed by a Chico runner and now it was off to the races for the Chico group. XC All American Sara Mikesell survived the early pace the best as the strong junior powered through the third mile, putting one runner after another in her rear view mirror. Also running strong was Jessie Varella who followed Mikesell closely throughout. Ayla Granados looked strong until 600m remaining, when the wheels began to fall of the wagon a bit. Seniors Jonah Weeks and Paige Henker struggled over the final mile, having spent too much of the opening 7-8 laps a bit too close to their 3k pace.

Mikesell would hit the finish first with a huge 17:17 PR. Varella would finish next for the 'Cats (17:20-PR) just missing the NCAA provisional standard (17:20.00). Granados, who had a Costales-like final 400m still managed to run an 11 second PR (17:29), which is quite impressive given that she missed nearly a month of training in Jan/Feb.

In heat 2 Senior Hillary LaBelle continued her season of PR's while notching a HUGE lifetime best of 17:24. The fifth year senior's PR at the conclusion of the '12 season was 18:22, so the 17:24 time vaults her into the elite of the CCAA and on the cusp of an NCAA qualifier. True frosh Haley Kroll who missed several weeks of workouts in February due to a lower leg issue, is bouncing back nicely after posting a 17:44 in SF on Saturday. This mark stands as one of the top-5 all time for a Wilcat true frosh (note: Kroll is redshirting).

Men's Steeplechase: One day those who have followed the career of Alex McGuirk will look back at his race Friday, remembering a big time breakout performance. McGuirk, who's the best hurdler that this coach has worked with, has shown flashes of potential in a variety of events, but injuries and inconsistent racing has created a mixed bag of actual results. On Friday the RS Soph stepped to the line determined to break 9:10, and teammate Phil Graber (red shirting junior) had hoped to join him. The pair mixed it up among the lead pack the entire race hitting early splits in the 72-74 range.

With about 1k remaining McGuirk made a bold move to the front and seizing the lead and recording a 69 second revolution. No one from the pack was able to respond and with another revolution covered in 69 seconds, McGuirk was suddenly on the verge of breaking the meet record (9:05) set ironically by Wildcat school record holder Beau Rogers (during his breakout race). Perhaps if Alex hadn't smiled to his teammates screaming for him as he approached the final water jump, the record might be his, but Alex was content with his win and the 9:06.14 PR that went with it. Not to be left out in the PR department Phil Graber would finish in 3rd overall with his 9:17 season opener.

Women's Steeplechase: Alex's breakout race was mirrored by teammate Natalie Galvan in the women's barrier event. Galvan his shown potential for NCAA level running and on Friday she took the first real step toward this goal. The Junior from Pico Rivera ran a tough yet composed race while fending off challengers for the runner-up position in the talented women's steeple field. Galvan's final time (10:57) is an NCAA provisional qualifier, and makes her the 8th wildcat to have cracked the 11 minute mark. Also running an exceptional race was Hayley Swanson who several weeks ago notched an 11:22 PR at the Kim Duyst Invitational. On Friday the deserving senior ran a beautifully split 11:15, while placing 6th overall respectively.

Men's 10k All three Wildcat entrants Rogan Meza, Dillon Breen and Geoff Hull raced to PR's on Friday in the 25 lap affair. All three ran aggressively from the start, and all three would pay a bit of a price for doing so in the later stages of the run. Meza's 31:22 debut was impressive from the outside, but didn't really tell the tale of what his run was actually worth. Meza looked amazing for the first 16 laps, many times leading a large chase pack running 5 minute pace quite smoothly. Starting the 20th lap, Meza's luck changed dramatically as a chronic problem that seems to occur in all of his races started to hit with Rogan dry heaving as he ran down the backstretch. Fighting the stomach issues Rogan ran much of the 20th lap hunched over, at times approaching 90 degrees. Remarkably after a rough 80ish second revolution, Meza bounced back to a 75-76 pace clip. Still limiting his speed to some degree Rogan battled the final laps to eventually hit the tape in 31:22 respectively. Teammates Dillon Breen and Geoff Hull ran among Meza's group for much of the first 4 miles, before hitting the wall a bit. Both hung on well recording their first sub 32minute runs.

Women's 10k RS Frosh Bekah Bahra enjoyed her first PR of the year on Friday with a VERY evenly paced 37:28. Bahra locked in on 6 minute pace per 1600m and recorded splits of: 6:01, 12:00, 18:00, 23:58, 29:57, 36:03, 37:28. The tough even effort earned Bahra a Top-10 finish and ranks her among the top CCAA 10k runners to date.



Men's 1500's: Sophomore Dan Parker competed well among the top heat of the men's 1500 at the SF meet and would finish 5th overall with a seasonal best 3:53.08 mark. Parker is now just .6 seconds off the NCAA provisional mark, and probably 4 seconds from getting a spot on the line at the championships. Teammate Tony Palermini took a nice step forward with the metric mile as well, posting a near pr of 3:58.

Women's 1500's: Lora James put last week's 5:09 debacle behind her in a big way posting a well raced 4:50 near-PR. Teammate Jordan Walsh lowered her personal best to 4:50, shaving several seconds off her mark from the week before.

Men's 800m: Dan Parker doubles back for a 1:54 after his 3:53 1500m just a few hours before. Teammate Brett Douville would drop under the 1:55 mark for the first time in his career with his 1:54 PR.

Women's 800m: The season of breakthroughs continued for RS Frosh Olivia Watt, who started the season as a 2:20/4:58 runner and is now officially a 2:15/4:43 performer. Her 2:15.33 this weekend was run off even 67 second splits, and Watt was just a second off the win, in a race where she had the final seed time allowed into her race (she took 4th in the fastest heat of the day!). Red Shirting teammate Bailey Henshaw took a big step forward running a 2:16.08 while finishing 3rd in the second heat of the day. McCall Habermehl a red shirting frosh who is moving up to the 800/1500 after focusing on the 300h in high school posted her first sub 2:30 on Friday hitting the tape in 2:27 respectively.

Next Up: The Distance 'Cats will take the week off this weekend while a good portion of the remainder of the team will head to Klamath Falls for a meet there. We will pick up next weekend (Friday/Saturday) with the Chico Distance Carnival (Friday Night April 12), and the Chico Twilight Invite (Saturday afternoon/evening April 13) Friday night will see a good portion of the 'Cats competing in fast 800's, 5k's, and Steeplechases...

While Saturday will bring a full scale track meet, concluding with some FAST 1500m running. One of the races to watch will be the men's 1500 on Saturday night. Southern Oregon has 3 athletes entered who have run between 3:49-3:50. Humboldt State will add their 3:44 HS 1500 star Jantzen Osier, and Chico will add Dan Parker, Isaac Chavez, and a host of the 5k/10k guys like Gradone, Sherrod, and Costales. Stay tuned and we hope to see you out at the track next Friday and Saturday evenings!