Every year our group has a 3k meet. One where we bump the 5k/10k runners down to work on some faster paces, and where we move the 8/15 runners up to work on some over distance racing. With a deep roster, as we meet in the middle, almost everyone on our team has someone to push/pull them to a solid early season mark. This year's 3k-fest took place on the 6 lane Humboldt State oval. Conditions are generally optimal at the Redwood Bowl for distance running, and Saturday was no exception with skies cloudy, no wind and a hint of moisture falling from the sky intermittently. Given the wind machine meet of Turlock the week before, everyone was excited to attack 7.5 laps of good-conditions racing. Thankfully many PR's were notched on Saturday and the 'Cats were able to enjoy some quality time in a beautiful part of the state.

Men's 3k: The goal for senior team leader Isaac Chavez was to finally break the 8:20 barrier. As a sophomore the Barstow native ran 8:20 at the Aggie Invitational at UC Davis, and failed to reach that mark during his junior run a year ago. Teammate Aaron Thomas (who's returning from injury) agreed to pace-set for the initial mile at an even 66 second clip per lap.

From the gun Thomas took the fore and a line of mostly Wildcats, along with some HSU athletes, followed the leader through early laps of 67 and 68. Knowing we needed a quicker clip for Isaac to have as chance at going under 8:20, Aaron brought the next lap down to 66.9 (Note: the Humboldt track is a yards measured facility and thus is a touch longer than a metric oval). In any event, teammate Dayne Gradone (14:14 5k PR) was antsy and swung around Thomas, and now the race was truly on. Gradone smoothly shifted into another gear covering the 4th circuit in 66.0 while slightly gapping teammates Chavez, Falco DiGiallonardo, and Phil Graber (Gradone hit the true mile in 4:29). The fifth lap was much the same with Gradone leading the way with another 66.0 lap and the same 1-2 second gap remained between himself and Chavez.

The sixth lap took it's toll a bit on Dayne as a 68.2, allowing his teammates to bridge the gap from behind. At the bell Chavez took the front needing a 62ish final circuit to break the 8:20 barrier. Unfortunately the 8-teens will have to wait another day, as Chavez hit the tape as the victor by 2 seconds with a final time of 8:20.26. Red Shirting teammate Falco DiGiallonardo closed well to take second in a PR 8:22, while Gradone hung tough to finish 3rd in 8:23. A BIG Pr was logged by Phil Graber who looked strong the entire run with a 8:24.35. Red Shirting true frosh Kyle Medina an 8/15 specialist closed exceptionally well (sub 60) to place 5th overall in 8:26. All told (counting red shirts) the 'Cats would take 9 of the top 10 spots on the day, and 13 of the 14 competing Chico runners had logged Pr's.

Women's 3k: CCAA XC Champion Ayla Granados had missed 6 weeks of base training early in the '13 track season, and unfortunately wasn't able to run the early season 3k. This year training has been smooth and consistent and given her blend of speed and endurance, a sub 10minute attempt was planned for Saturday's 3k. Wildcat assistant coach Hilary LaBelle agreed to take some pacing duties at the front for at least a mile, with the goal of hitting 80 second revolutions. Hilary has always been good at pacing, and Saturday she highlighted this internal metronomic habit, punching early splits of 81.5, 80.4, 80.19, and 80.3. Granados hit the true mile at 5:22 and looked ready for the tougher second half of the race.

Teammate Olivia Watt, who is quite honestly the greatest story-in-the-making on the current Wildcat roster, spent a few laps running behind a few overzealous Humboldt girls, and training partner Bailey Henshaw, before branching out on her own. The 400m runner from Morro Bay HS who came to Chico never having run XC, looked great at the mile (reached in around 5:30). At the front Granados notched another 80 flat to the 2k mark, which represented the final 80+ split of the day for the senior from Castro Valley. A 79.5 sixth circuit brought the visual of eventual lapped runners ahead, which added some fuel to the fire. Lap 7 was a 78.2. Knowing that sub 10 was in the bag but 9:56 or better would put her on the school's All Time Top-10 list Granados displayed the closing speed that made her the school's second fastest 1500m runners to date. With a final 200m in the 34 range Granados hit the tape in 9:52.8, placing her #6 on the school's All Time list behind 5 multi-time All Americans.

Not to be outdone in the "Amazing Race" category, Olivia Watt (who had hopes of breaking 10:20 going into her maiden voyage of 7.5 laps, closed the final lap in a near 70 second split and joined Granados in the sub-10 club with her 9:58.25 final time. Teammates Bailey Henshaw would take third place with a 10:26 mark, while Bekah Bahra would give the 'Cats a sweep of the Top-4 places. Olivia Guadiana who's running career at Chico has been full of missed seasons and training with an assortment of injuries, looked great on Saturday while posting a 10:36 mark. Red Shirting frosh Hannah Dorman also ran strong hitting a 10:38 time. Fellow true frosh Montana Loveday almost didn't believe yours truly when she was told that her time was close to 10:50 (she actually ran 10:46) as she expected something closer to 11:00. Overall this was a very nice run for the Wildcat women, despite the fact that we ran without a number of top runners who will join the fold in the coming weeks.

Men's 800m: The lone Distance group representative that Didn't race 7.5 laps on Saturday was Andrew Overton who is still developing the strength to venture beyond the 2 lap distance (he was a 400m specialist in HS). Overton would open his '14 season with a PR for the 800m distance as he raced to a 1:57 third place finish. Coach Trevino bumped 200/400m specialist Nick Sloggy up to the 800m for the week, and he responded well with a sub 2 clocking. A good strength session for the sub 49 second 400m guy.

Coach Hanf take on the meet:
Hello everyone one. Week two of our season is in the rearview mirror and our sights are now set for our first home meet of the year...the Wildcat Invitational on Saturday March 15. Our team enjoyed lots of time together last Saturday, as we hopped on two buses and headed to Arcata via HWY 299. I'm convinced that the Beatles wrote the song "The Long and Winding Road" while traveling on this stretch of highway. Even though the wake-up alarms were set before 5:00AM and the travel time was 4 and a half hours, the Wildcats competed well as we squared off against our long time conference foes in an old fashioned dual meet. Our Cardinal & White Wildcat squads were victorious over the Green & Gold Lumberjacks...the men winning 117-36, our ladies 107-45.

Of the 18 events scored per gender, both our men and women won 14 of them. Had we spread out our distance crew we would have won more; coach Towne loaded them all up in the 3,000. Boy did they look impressive blazing around that beat up 6-lane track. Ayla Granados ran the 6th fastest time in school history, posting a 9:52.80 in the event that is no longer contested at the NCAA level. Sarah Montez was the last national champion in the 3K back in 2008. Olivia Watt also broke the 10 min barrier with a 9:58 in her 3K debut. She was followed by Bailey Henshaw and Bekah Bahra. The top Humboldt girl was 5th. Our men took the top 8 spots (10 if you were to count redshirts Falco DiGiallonardo and Kyle Medina). All-American Isaac Chavez led all runners with a time of 8:20.26. Dayne Gradone (8:23) and Phil Graber (8:24) completed the "podium" sweep. Cross Country CCAA champion Aaron Torres handled the "rabbiting" duties for the crew.

For the second week in a row the races began with Chico State winning both the women's and men's 4 x 100 relay. The men's team featured 4 decathletes, freshman Scott Pater and our 3 NCAA auto-qualifiers Teddy Elsenbaumer (1st leg), J P Smith 2nd) and John Brunk (anchor). Their time was 41.92. Smith was also a double winner in the individual events: 100 (11.15) and 200 (22.44). Johnny Brunk was the victor in the 400 in a time of 49.95 and then ran the fastest relay split on the team (48.9). Michael Souza, a 5th year senior out of Sac City, won the high jump with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 6'10". He also won the long jump with distance of 21'7 1/2". Today he was named CCAA athlete of the week. Pater, in his first year of pole vaulting cleared 13'6".

Tori Mason and Amilia Santos were double winners for the ladies. Tori won both hurdle races (15.22 and 66.63) and Amilia won the 100 and 200 (12.51 and 26.37). Kasey Barnett anchored the relay to victory (48.59) and then leaped to a provisional mark in the long jump (18'11 1/2"). Freshmen heptathletes Brooke Whitburn (17'8") and Kylie Herman (17'7") were second and third. Whitburn later posted our school's 10th best triple jump (37'0"), removing Ashley de Arrigunaga from the list. Ashley (my teammate) jumped 36'8" back in 1993. Herman, in only her 2nd collegiate meet also threw 115'4" in the javelin. Barnett was named CCAA athlete of the week for the second straight week. Last week reached a provisional mark with her 12'3.5" pole vault clearance. Rookie vaulter Annie Spargo was the champion with an 11'0" clearance.

I have some neat pictures to share thanks to our unofficial photographer Kevin Brunk. Hope to see many of you here in Chico this weekend for the Wildcat Invitational. The sun will be out and the temperatures are rising. Cat Scratch!