If Saturday's Kim Duyst Invitational (held on the Stanislaus State track in Turlock, CA) were a scored meet, Mother Nature might have walked away the day's winner. After several days of much needed rainfall leading up to Saturday, the Central Valley turned into a wind making machine with the air moving at 20+ miles per hour throughout the day. Most distance races turned tactical, as those who grinded at the front of the pack for more than a lap or two usually ended up on the wrong side of the inner-race battles. Given the conditions the theme was to compete smart and strong, and to scrape some of the rust off the systems as we approach the bigger races ahead.

Highlights for the pared down Chico State distance team (we rested many top athletes) were definitely the runs of Mid Distance women Olivia Watt and Bailey Henshaw. Olivia, celebrated her 21st birthday with a 4:39 1500m PR, then doubled back for a 2:15 800m run, and topped the cake with a 59 split in the relay. Her training partner, who donned the Chico uniform for the first time (after red shirting last spring) won the 800m in 2:14, and would also produce a 59 carry in the relay. Read more about each race below:

Women's Steeplechase: We had two steeple "newbies" on the line for the women's barrier event in Turlock, and unfortunately for them, it wasn't a very nice day for anyone having to run fast while jumping into the air repeatedly. Both Julie Finn (a RS Frosh) and Montana Loveday (current red shirt) learned how easy the steeple feels early, AND how Tough it feels later. The water jump for each is a work in progress, and each had near falls in the early going, but bounced back nicely for some late race puddle jumps. Look for each to cut substantial time off their Duyst marks from this weekend.

Men's Steeplechase: The 2014 men's steeple crew at CSUC should be one of our best ever. Leading the way is Jr. Alex McGuirk who ran 8:56 as a soph last year. Since the '13 season the barrier crew has welcomed 2 JC standouts in Barron Maizland (CA State meet Champ-9:17), and '13 state meet 6th placer Omar Pulido-9:33pr). Add Ryan Rampoldi a RS Frosh who hurdles quite well and ran low 25's in the fall for the 8k XC distance.. and you have a group with a lot of potential. McGuirk (who's coming off a clavicle fracture over the winter) sat out Saturday's run, but Maizland, Pulido and Rampoldi represented the 'Cats well. With the winds blowing quite hard Maizland and Rampoldi did much of the tough leading in the first 2k of action. CM April a top JC guy from San Jose took the lead with 600m remaining and Maizland covered his surge to the front. With 3:56 1500m speed to close with, Maizland took the lead for good following the final water jump finding the tape in a modest but much wind affected 9:45 mark. Pulido who'd moved up well throughout the run would fall just shy of catching April over the final straight. Rampoldi hit a pretty hard wall in the final 800m, but still held on to break 10 minutes for the first time.

Women's 1500m: Stanislaus' Courtney Anderson is a fierce and talented competitor. She led the Warriors to a 2nd place finish in the '13 NCAA Indoor Championships (DMR) with a 4:40's 1600 split, and recently ran a 9:35 3k. She's also prepping for the NCAA Indoor Championships that are less than 2 weeks away. On Saturday Chico's birthday girl Olivia Watt gave the Stanislaus senior all that she could handle in the 1500m. The early pace at the front was relatively fast with Stanislaus' 4:24 1500m runner Marina Ghabor- Vorderbruegge and Anderson taking the early pace. Watt settled into the chase back, but after 400m realized that she needed to attempt to bridge the gap that had formed between herself and the pair ahead. By 800m Vorderbruegge had been caught and passed and now only Anderson lie ahead. Slowly and steadily Watt made up the meters that separated the two, and with 250m remaining Watt ran on the heels of Anderson. Playing her cards well Watt held her position until the final straightaway where she attempted to swing around Anderson. The gritty Stanislaus runner would have none of this as she too shifted gears. The two ran the final 100m into the wind in what had to be something very close to 15 seconds with Anderson holding the advantage to the tape. Although she hadn't won the race Watt had run a nice 4 second PR and had served notice that she is going to be a force as the season progresses (*final 300m covered in 50 seconds). Not to be outdone teammate Jackie Mansoor ran an inspired effort moving into third overall with 300m remaining. The final straight wasn't quite as kind to Mansoor who lost some places leading the chase pack into the final windy stretch. Still Mansoor was relatively close to her 4:52 PR, even with the tough conditions.

Men's 1500m: Between alumni, Red Shirts and currently competing 'Cats, Chico-related runners would take 5 of the top 7 spots in the 1500m race on Saturday. Red Shirt Falco DiGiallonardo (3:52 PR) mixed it up among the leaders throughout, taking the front for at least one of the 3 early laps. Chico Alum Joseph Rivera (3:47 PR from his senior season at CSUC) also mixed it up at the front throughout the race. Hartnell's Michael Ramirez injected a surge at mid race that split a four man lead group from the rest of the pack. This move hurt Ramirez' final lap, leaving Rivera, DiGiallonardo, and Santa Clara's Joey Berriatua to battle for the win down the stretch. This trio would run the final 100m to an almost dead heat and It looked as though Falco had taken the win from our vantage. Apparently an "ease up" at the line cost the Valencia native the victory. Red Shirting frosh Kyle Medina closed well but had left too much ground to cover over the final lap to contend for the win.

Women's 800m: In the women's 800m Stanislaus' 2:11 gal Aman Hundal and a teammate took the pace out at around 63-64 through 400m. Chico's Olivia Watt (doubling back from the 1500m) ran several strides behind splitting a 65 at the mid race point. Teammate Bailey Henshaw flew through the bell in 66 looking composed and ready for lap 2. Down the backstretch with the strong winds at their backs Watt appeared to be making up some time on Hundal (who's teammate had dropped out already having apparently served as a pacer). Henshaw was also closing the gap and now ran off Watt's shoulder. At 600m Hundal stepped off the track, just a few strides ahead of Watt who now led the race. Hundal appeared to have run a planned 600 on this day. In any event, the Chico pair hammered around the final turn and into the nasty headwind. Henshaw opened up a gap on the tiring Watt but each closed very strong down the final straight. Courtney Anderson blazed the final stretch as well, slicing a second or two from Watt's lead over her, but it was too little too late as Watt enacted a bit of revenge over the earlier loss to the Stanislaus All American.

Men's 800m: Red Shirting frosh Kyle Medina doubled back (from an earlier 15) for the 800m, running a bit un-inspired from the start. A solid second lap put him on the heels of the Stanislaus pair but the gap was too great going into the final 200m. RS Frosh Andrew Overton a 400m runner in HS doubled back after a PR 1500, but was a bit gassed from the earlier effort (especially given his relative lack of lifetime mileage). As Overton continues to build the aerobic engine, he's going to be one to watch at the 2 lap distance.

Women's 5,000m: RS Soph Jackie Mansoor finished a solid double with her 6th place finish in the women's 5k. Teammates Xiang Tak, McCall Habermehl, and Olivia Guadiana also raced to competitive 9th, 11th, and 12th place finishes respectively.

Men's 5,000m: Alan Cuevas might be the biggest secret on our men's distance team, only because of a fragile body that has allowed a select few races with consistent training behind him, since he ran 14:47 as a red shirting frosh 3 seasons ago. Leading up to Saturday's men's 5k in Turlock Cuevas' workouts and training have lined up quite well and he appeared excited just to race healthy again. While a lead pack powered through the early laps trying to keep things under a 15 minute clip, Cuevas carefully picked his groups and gradually slid by tiring athletes as the laps wore on. Following Cuevas' moves through the pack was Academy of the Arts French standout Nicolas Rifflard (15th in region and 57th at NCAA's in the fall season). In the final kilometer Cuevas and Rifflard broke from the pack and now it was a two man race for the title. With 3:52 1500 speed, yours truly knew that Cuevas would have to break the Arts runner before the gun lap, but this was nearly impossible given the strong winds. Predictably Rifflard made his move at the bell and Cuevas couldn't respond. Holding on well over the final 400m Alan just fended off Santa Clara's Bryan Crook (who ran 8:31 for 3k a week ago). Rogan Meza bounced back nicely after a disappointing 1500 earlier in the day with his 8th place run. Dillon Breen also looked quite strong throughout, while placing 12th overall respectively.

Coach Hanf take on the meet:
I'm happy to say that we are back in season! It was a bit of an emotional set of days over the last weekend for yours truly as this is my first season without my number one fan, my father Uli Hanf, who passed away in June. He was the most knowledgeable fan of our program that I have known and he will be missed. He always has been and will remain my main inspiration to write these post-meet wrap ups. He was so eager to receive the report on how the Chico State track team did at the meet, even though he attended most of them.

It was also a tremendous rush to have our new head women's coach Robert Nooney kick-off his career, and for me as well, as I begin a new chapter in my new post as head men's coach. Lots to be excited about!

Our first invitational was held in Turlock on Saturday. CCAA member Stanislaus State hosted the meet. Terrible head winds of 6 meters per second/20mph prevented anyone from getting marks that they would write home about, but the Cats proved that we will be a force once again this year.

Our steeple crew made the first splash when Barron Maizland, Omar Pullido and Ryan Rampoldi placed 1,3 and 4. Defending CCAA champ Alex McGuirk, who is now a junior, sat the race out as he is still working back into form after a winter clavicle fracture. These four guys are going to be special for us this year; stay tuned.

Both our women's and men's 4 x 100 teams followed suit, each winning in dominating form. Amilia Santos is our leadoff runner for the 4th straight year. JC transfer Ashley Jones (12.01/24. 62) hands off to sophomore quarter-miler Aja Erskine (56.99) and our nationally ranked long jumper/pole vaulter Kasey Barnett anchors. The team ran 47.79 on Saturday, which is the 6th best time in school history. Our men's relay, missing decathletes JP Smith and Teddy Elsenbaumer, broke 42.00 with Chad Baur and hurdle school record holder Hakeem Dyson filling in. Nick Sloggy (senior from Chico HS) and JC transfer Joey Johnson (Merritt College) rounded out the team. Barnett was the winner in the pole vault (12'3") and was joined on the NCAA provisional list by freshman teammate Taylor Sack (Agoura HS) when she hit a 7" PR to clear 11'9.75". She moves into 6th best in school history in just her first meet! Big things lie ahead for her! It was an easy go however- meet officials had to hold the cross bar on with poles because the winds kept blowing the bar off.

Birthday girl Olivia Watt, ran the most impressive "triple" of the meet...she placed 2nd in the 1500 (4:39), second in the 800 (2:15.72) and ran a 59.9 relay split. Bailey Henshaw was the first place finisher in that 800 race in a time of 2:14.59 (10th best in school history). She ran a 59.5 split. All of that in howling wind. Look out! One area that the winds did not diminish results was in the javelin. Senior Chris Kaiakapu just missed his PR with a toss of 184'11" while true freshman Jake Mitchell, fresh off his first ever decathlon hurled the spear 164'9". On the ladies side, Meghan "Bubbles" Delamater threw the 7th best toss in our rich history placing 3rd with a distance of 129'3". Her roommate Kayla Ambrose was 4th with a new personal best 119'5".

Next Up for the 'Cats will be a small meet at Humboldt State this coming Saturday. The following Saturday March, 15th we will have our home opener the Wildcat Invitational. Mark your calendars.