Home cooking is always a great thing, and this weekend the excitement of racing in front of our home fans and on the familiar surface of our own track brought a wealth of PR's and a bounty of great performances. In the case of our ever evolving women's 800m record list, the weekend also brought a near re-writing of the all time rank order for the 2 lapper. Bailey Henshaw and teammate Olivia Watt both smashed Watt's week old school record, while fellow 'Cat Lora James' fourth place finish would vault her to #7 A.T. on the 'Cats list. It was an exciting weekend of racing and I'll do my best to quickly share the stories and results below. Before I start the race re-caps I'll start with the events and top times posted on the weekend as I'd done after last week's big weekend of racing in the Bay.

Distance Carnival (Friday)

Women's Invitational 800m: CSUC 1500 school record holder Ayla Granados did her former teammates a huge favor on Friday night, providing even pacing through a 63 second 400, and 1:36 600 splits. School record holder Olivia Watt was hot on Granados' heels as she stepped off the track, and teammate Bailey Henshaw also looked full of run w/ 200m remaining. As the pair entered the final straight Henshaw drew even with Watt as each had hopes of eclipsing the 2:10 barrier and cementing their place in school history, and of course on the starting line of next month's NCAA Championships in Michigan. As she has done in nearly all of her impressive 4x4 relay legs, Henshaw found an extra gear in the final 40m that propelled her through the line before 2 minutes and 10 seconds had expired. When her 2:09 final time became official just seconds after crossing the line, a scream of joy could be heard as she embraced her teammate Watt who had also PR'd with her 2:10.27 run. Not to be lost in the school's two fastest 800m performances of all time was the 4th place 2:12 PR of Lora James, who shaved a mammoth 4 seconds off her previous PR, while etching her name on the Chico State All Time list in the #7 spot.

Men's Invitational 800m: RS Frosh Kyle Medina started the week with a lower calf issue that prevented him from running the team's Tuesday workout. By Wednesday he was doing better, and on Thursday he did a track session with his teammates who planned to race on Saturday. That evening Medina decided he wanted to try his hand in the Invite 800m the next evening despite having run a workout earlier in the afternoon. Fast Forward to race time the next day. Assistant coach AJ Pulice had intentions of pacing the field through a 400 split of 53-54, but actually sailed through with a mid 52 split. Hot on his heels with a 52.9 split for the first revolution was Medina who looked quite well. Medina reached 600 in 1:21 and needed just a 29 second final 200m to match his 1:50pr. Unfortunately this wasn't to be as the final 100m brought the piano on back feeling that so many 800m runners have experienced through the years. Medina fought hard but lost the battle with the piano, and with Stanislaus' hard charging Ian Brooks who would take the win by just .2 seconds. Red shirting true frosh Derek Morton (1:54), Michael Good (1:55) and Arturo Arevalo (1:56) would all record seasonal bests.

Women's Steeplechase: Red Shirting frosh Nicole Anthony would race to a nice PR while clocking her first sub 12minute run over the barriers. This was accomplished despite a water pit fail on the third or fourth lap, where her lead leg never made it up to the barrier and instead hooked the jump. As her momentum carried forward and with her foot caught on the barrier behind her, an impromptu belly flop was imminent. Despite the tough crash Anthony would hop to her feet and despite being completely soaked, she managed to clock another 93 second revolution. The fall may have caught up with her a bit later in the run, but damage control and toughness brought her home with an 11:55 final time.

Women's 5000m: The women's 5k was a very strangely paced affair. Two of the top seeds went out exceptionally hard, which left the remainder of the top seeds with a few less bodies to help the pace in the pack. While SF State's Kathia Avila sailed through 400 in under 75 seconds at the front, Chico's McCall Habermehl and red shirting frosh Camila Turati settled for running something in the realm of their target pace (sub 18 pace) with the few others that seemed interested in the same. The pace in the lead pack swayed anywhere between 85-89 seconds per revolution for much of the race, which led yours' truly to give up on the thought of a sub 18 by either of our two athletes. Just as it appeared that this threshold was out of the question, Habermehl started to pick up steam. With 1k remaining the Soph from Woodcreek HS in Roseville, CA started noticeably picking up the tempo and her competitors were coming back to her step by step. A 76 second finishing lap easily caught and passed OIT's Sara Howard and took Habermehl to the line in 18:02. The runner-up finish was a new PR and a good sign of her increasing fitness levels, after an early season bout with a mystery illness that took her out of several weeks of training. True frosh Camila Turati followed relatively close w/ her 18:12 5k Pr.

Twilight Invitational (Saturday)

Men's Seeded 1500m: Generally the "Seeded" aka Heat II 1500 at our home meet is won with a fast closing 3:59, and one or two might dip under the 4:00 threshold. On Saturday that all changed in a big way as the top 7 finishers (including 3 'Cats) ran well under the 4 minute mark. Much credit has to be given to Wildcat alum and current assistant coach AJ Pulice who was an aggressive pacer from the front, pulling the front of the heat through 400 in 61 seconds. Although the pace eased during lap 2 the leaders rolled through in around 2:06 and much of the field ran very close near the front. Humboldt alum Ben Tarango (1:53 800m PR) bolted in the final straight to claim the victory in 3:55. Next to find the tape was Wildcat true frosh Steven Velarde who recorded a huge 3:56 personal best. Wildcat alum Rogan Meza also crossed in 3:56 (PR) and 'Cats Brandon Taylor (3:57.0) and Arturo Arevalo (true frosh-3:57.57) followed closely.

Men's Invitational 1500m: Ever since Scott Bauhs broke the 4 minute barrier on the Chico track in 2008 the Men's Invite Mile/1500 has been a featured event of the competition. This year was no different w/ a stacked field of Wildcats looking for fast marks. With 20 men stacked on the start line together a deep breath was taken by yours truly as the talented field sailed down the straightaway toward the first turn. Just as the pack reached 100m 2014 Twilight 1500 champ Alex McGuirk (3:50 PR) was clipped from behind and went down extremely hard. Several atheletes fell over our star steepler and thankfully the starters fired the gun a second time. McGuirk was bloodied and bruised, but managed to get back to the start line w/ hopes of defending his title. Humboldt Track Club's Mario Castillo wasn't as fortunate as he wasn't able to manage the re-start after the rough fall to the track.

As the gun sounded the second time Kyle Medina (designated pacer tonight) took the lead and sailed through 200m in 28-29 seconds. 400m was reached in the desired 61 second split, but the slowed pace the second 200m carried through the next lap, and by 800m the lead pack was behind the hoped 2:02 split by 2-3 seconds. Medina would run another 200m before stepping off the track and now the leaders would have to average under 60 second pace for the final 500m to get under the 3:50 threshold. As he'd done at the Wildcat Invite several weeks ago while running to a 3:49 PR, Falco DiGiallonardo seized the lead in an attempt to notch the pace down fast enough for a hoped PR. Only 8:55 steepler Barron Maizland was able to respond and now the two ran well ahead of the chase pack, trying to crack 3:50. The final 100 brought some slowing and despite the pair's best efforts, they would both hit the line in 3:50 times, with Falco garnering the victory. Maizland's 3:50 was a nice PR and 4 seconds faster than he'd run in the same race a year ago.

Closing very well from mid pack over the final 400m was 2014 CCAA Champion Germay Tesfai. The Fresno native passed UC Davis standout Austin Goings in the final meters of the race while PR'ing with a 3:53.07 run. Sophomore Nick Grubiss recorded a seasonal best 3:53 while placing 4th. Red shirt Will Reyes would finish 7th in a near PR 3:54.01, and McGuirk (3:54), Ryan Rampoldi (3:55), Steven Martinez (3:56), would take places 8-10. 10k specialist Aaron Mora ran to a 3:56 PR while placing 12th, and true frosh Marcus Montalvo would cross in 3:57. Aaron Thomas would also join the PR brigade with his 3:57 run.



Women's Seeded 1500m: A year ago at this same meet McCall Habermehl recorded an 11:35 (steeple), 5:00 1500m double. A year later and the day after turning in an 18:02 5k, Habermehl eyed an improved mark for the 1500 distance than the '14 version. Running a very smart race within the pack Habermehl jumped from the group and began the chase of Stanislaus' standout Dallas Campbell. Just as she had the evening before Habermehl exploded from 400m to go in the race. With 200m remaining the Chico Soph flew past Campbell, who responded nicely in an attempt to preserve the win. Although she tightened a bit over the final 40-50m McCall would take the win in a big 4:48 PR, a day after a tough 5k.

Not to be lost in the excitement in the front, Julie Finn took a nice step back from a year of injury with her 4:57 PR (9th place overall). Jessica Varela, Yajaira Zarate and Danielle Oden would all finish between 5:00 and 5:01 respectively.

Women's Invitational 1500m: Fresh off their recent 800m Pr's the evening before Olivia Watt and Bailey Henshaw were set to pace their pacer from the previous evening (Ayla Granados) to a hoped sub 4:20 mark at the front of this race. With NCAA 1500m runner up Marina Vorderbruegge also entered, the race for the time and the win would be interesting. Wildcats Alex Burkhart and Quetta Peinado entered the evening hoping to give 4:40 a good run for it's money as well.

Henshaw and Watt did a solid job of providing the 69-70 second tempo that was needed for Ayla to have a chance at the 4:20 barrier, although the pace did slip a bit during the second revolution of the track. Watt stepped off the track at 1k, and Ayla took control over the front. Vorderbruegge had already fallen from the honest pace, and now it was Granados and the clock. Unfortunately the clock would win this race, as a tiring Granados hit the tape in a commendable 4:24 time, but not as quick as she'd hoped. Her mark was Easily fast enough for the win though, as Vorderbruegge had slid back some 8 seconds by the finish. Measuring their energy and kicks perfectly were teammates Burkhart and Peinado who would fly through the finish with 4:36 and 4:37 Pr's. Burkhart, a true frosh had missed our school's All Time list by just 1 second, so Katie Lee's 1500 mark lives to see another day.

Also closing quite well was Sadie Gastelum, who lowered her lifetime best for the metric mile from 4:53 to 4:45 on this night. Hannah Dorman would also enjoy a slight PR, capping a great evening of 15 running for the Wildcat women.

Up next: The 'Cats will send two vans of distance runners down to the Mt Sac Relays and a few of the associated overflow meets. Some 10k's will be run, some 5k's and of course Steeples and 1500's. Wish us well as we approach our last weekend of racing before CCAA's and the championship season!

Coach Hanf take on the meet:
Chico turned into PR city on Friday and Saturday night as our Wildcats continued to burn up the track and light up the field. This team always performs well at this Twilight meet after several weeks on the road. The home cookin' always tastes good...especially when Keith Whitburn is making the Tri Tip and Pulled Pork sandwiches. Thank you Keith! Things kicked off on Friday with the women's javelin right as the 5:00 work whistle blew . Meghan "Bubbles" Delamater placed third with a heave of 122'5" and was followed by teammates Taylor Sack (4th with 120'2"), Brooke Whitburn (6th with 118'11") and Kylie Herman (117'2"). Shortly after finishing in the spear tossing festivities Sack zipped over to the pole vault competition, where she proceeded to place second in the event with a season best height of 12'0", good for 18th on the national list. Her coach and Chico State alumna Katrina Rodriguez won with a clearance of 12'0" as well.

Jamie Starmer fired the gun at 7:00 for the first race (and perhaps the most exciting race of the meet). Chico alumna and school record holder in the 1500 (and All-American in the 5K) Ayla Granados volunteered to rabbit in hopes of pulling the Chico girls to a faster time than they have ever run. Mission accomplished, and a new school record came out of the efforts. The dynamic duo of Bailey Henshaw and Olivia Watt came around the final turn nearly even and thrilled the home crowd as they sped towards the finish line. As they crossed the line the time of 2:09.75 popped up on the scoreboard and suddenly Henshaw became the new school record holder at Chico State! It was a 2-second plus PR and moved her into 5th in the NCAA standings. Watt was the previous record holder and she too went under the old record, shaving off half a second. Her time of 2:10.27 is 9th on the national list. The duo finished first and second. Finishing in fourth was Lora James in a time of 2:12.67, also an NCAA provo mark. It was a 4 second PR and ranks 7th best all-time.

Although no records fell in the men's race several PRs were recorded. Our top middle distance runner Kyle Medina was not scheduled to race earlier in the week but by the time Friday evening rolled around he was ready to roll. Alumni AJ Pulice (All-CCAA last year) did the pacing duties and pulled Medina around to a 52.9 split. As Pullice peeled off Medina continued his frenetic pace, recording a new 600m PR along the way. However, in the words of our great distance coach "the wheels" fell off in the last 50. He was passed up just before the finish line to place 2nd in 1:53.72. Redshirts Derek Morton (1:54.96) and Michael Good (1:55.31) were 4th and 6th respectively. Ryan Rampoldi record a new PR (1:55.64).

Saturday was a big day for our sprinters...both current student-athletes and visiting alumni. Amilia Santos took top honors in the 100-meter dash - her personal-best time of 11.94 is the fourth-fastest 100 in Wildcat history. Santos also matched her PR time of 25.35 seconds en route to a third place finish in the 200-meter dash. Kasey Barnett had another outstanding performance and for the 5th time in 6 weeks was named CCAA athlete of the week. She won the long jump, bettering her NCAA Provisional Qualifying mark with the fourth-best jump (19-feet-10.25) in Chico State history. She also finished 3rd in the 100 with an NCAA Provisional and PR time of 12.04 seconds, which places her seventh on top 10 list. Brooke Whitburn lost a tiebreaker to Barnett in the long jump, but her second place leap of 19-feet-10.25 ties her for 1st in the conference, 1st in the nation and fourth place on the all-time Wildcat top 10 list. Jen (Haws) Stuart went from 3rd on the AT list to 5th in a 5 min span. Senior Heptathlete Sarah Hockensmith placed 6th with a huge PR jump of 18'6". That's only 1.5 inches from tying Abbey Butler (2003) and Heather Halliday (1994) for 10th on the AT list.

The night cap was the men's high jump and men's javelin. Another alumni took home top honors as Michael Souza cleared to 6'6" in the HJ to win. Akiyoshi Ono, a Chico State student who was competing independantly, threw 202'6" to place 3rd (3 guys over 200'). Redshirt decathlete Aaron Martin added another 10' to his PR ( a week after PR'ing by 10' at the Delta Dec). He threw 193'6" to place 5th. Brian Egge threw 178'10" to finish 10th. It was an intense javelin competition that featured 24 throwers competing under the flood lights. The energy on the field was electric! The Saturday segment of the meet featured trials and finals in both the 100/110 Hurdles and the 100m dash.

Sean Goetzl ran the second fastest time in the prelims (14.75) but came back to win the finals with a PR time of 14.57 and earn a prov mark. Phill Bailey PR'd in the trials (14.77 ) and then again in the finals (14.68) to place 3rd. Goetzl and Bailey are 1-2 in the CCAA, and Goetzl is now tied with 3-time NCAA Dec Champ JP Smith and Dean Williams (1982) for 3rd on the All-Time list. Bailey ends up tied with Ray Lauderdale and Jake Nelson for 8th all-time. Brooke Whitburn PR'd in the women's trials (15.20) and then again in the finals (15.11) to place 4th. Whitburn raised her Triple Jump best mark to 38-2 (7th A.T.) to win the event.

Chico Students won both 100s as Ashley Jones and redshirt Jordan Riggins were the fastest kids in the stadium that day. Jones cranked out a 12.09 in the trials and then matched her PR of 12.03 in the finals (8th on our All-Time list). Jordan "Big Rig" Riggins, redshirt transfer from Colorado Mesa (coached my Chico alum Matt Canterbury!), was a double winner in the sprints. He had the top time in the 100 trials (10.78) and then outdueled his older brother Anthony (competing for Stanislaus) 10.70-10.91. The brothers finished 1st and 2nd. Another Chico redshirt made the finals; DJ Dosier ran 10.91 in the trials then 11.04 in the finals. Big Rig also won the Long Jump with a PR 23'9" and won the 200 in 22.00. He also anchored the redshirt 4x100 to victory in 41.97. Tristan Lake lowered his provo time in the 400 hurdles winning in a time of 52.59 (5th on the All-Time list). He is now less than a second from Rocky Morris's school record of 51.62. The Santa Barbara City College transfer was named CCAA athlete of the week for the second time this season.

Two exciting highlights came during the intermission of the Trials and Finals sprints/hurdles. Our 2014 decathlon crew were treated by a visit from Dr. Frank Zarnowski, the legendary guru of Decathlon statistics. He is widely regarded as the foremost authority on the decathlon. The CEO of the Decathlon Association presented Chico State with the Webb Cup- a beautiful crystal trophy that is emblematic of collegiate decathlon success. The annual alumni 60m dash followed. Teddy "Mr. Prez" Elsenbaumer took the Gold, Michael Beeman the silver and Damaris "D So Blue" Greer the bronze. Beeman crashed at the finish line with a pulled hamstring and an awkward fall to say the least. The poor lad ended up in a shoulder sling and had some pretty intense scrapes and bruises. It was a rough night for the Beeman's...older brother Brian also took a fall in 4x4 anchor leg attempt. There was plenty alumni success to be proud of. Jessica Mixon cleared a lifetime best 5'5" in the HJ to place second behind our current top high jumper Lauren Schnelli.. Heptathlon school record holder/All-American Robin Hannah was third with a 5'3" clearance.

Once the sun goes down and the flood lights are on the evening energy always increases. The premier race of the evening was the men's invitational 1500. Memories of a packed house watching Scotty Bauhs break the 4:00 mile surfaced as a very stacked field toed the line. As is done before every 1500 the starter's give instructions that if anybody falls in the first 100 a gun will be fired to indicate a restart. For the first time in my career I witnessed such a recall as our All-American steepler Alex McGuirk took a tumble at the end of the first straight away. McGuirk, who won this race last year was scraped up pretty good but was able to hop into the restart. Kyle Medina was the rabbit for the evening and did a great job with a 61 opening lap. Unfortunately the pace dropped to 2:02 at the half mile mark leaving them a little behind the target time. By the time they reached the bell lap they front runners would need to run a sub 60 in order to break 3:50. Falco DiGiallanardo took the bull by the horns in an attempt to better his PR of 3:49.49. Steeplechaser Barron Maizland followed the charge and the two of them crossed the tape just over 3:50. It was a 4s PR for Barron. Defending CCAA champ Germay came across next in a time of 3:53.07, giving Chico a 1-2-3 sweep. Nick Grubiss also had a nice PR finishing 4th in a time of 3:53.38. 6 Wildcats rank in the top 9 in the conference.