On Saturday a handful of Distance 'Cats took to the track in Turlock, CA to contest the early season Kim Duyst Invitational. While the better portion of the distance team will wait to open their season this weekend at the home Wildcat Invite, the Turlock crew wanted to get some opening efforts under their belts before tackling the larger meets ahead. With temperatures in the high 70's and a very non Turlock-like wind-less day, competitors enjoyed amazing early season conditions and the results reflected this.

Highlighting the day for the 'Cats were the three NCAA provisional marks established by steeplers Alex Burkhart (10:55) and Barron Maizland (9:15), and 800m runner Bailey Henshaw (2:11.9). It's quite likely that each of the three will need to improve these marks to reach the NCAA meet (to be held in Michigan this May) but given this was our first outing of the year, I like their chances. Below I'll share some of the highlights from our crew for each of the distance events.

Women's Steeplechase: The 'Cats would send 3 to the line in the women's barrier event. Sophomore McCall Habermehl who ran an NCAA provisional mark of 11:11 a year ago was the only between the three that had run the event before. For true freshmen Alex Burkhart and Nicole Anthony (red shirting) this would be their debut over barriers and water jumps. Habermehl's training hadn't gone exceptionally well leading into the event, so we weren't sure what to expect. Nicole and Alex had looked well during our brief window of hurdling and water jumps, but a debut steeple can be a completely different animal than any other event.

The pack ran through a surprisingly modest 88 second first lap before several Stanislaus athletes and a Santa Clara runner dropped the tempo to an 85. Habermehl let the pack go, recognizing that the tempo wasn't sustainable for her, but frosh Burkhart with her best poker face called the bluff of her competitors and rolled through 800m on the heels of the leaders. Burkhart hit 1600 in 5:48, which was well under what this coach had projected for her at that point of the run. Thankfully she looked very composed and had company in Stanislaus' top gal, as well as Santa Clara's best barrier runner Grason Murphy.

The three ran together until about 1k to go, when Burkart and Murphy left Stanislaus' Dallas Campbell. It was now a two person race for the title and both were frosh running their first steeples. Burkhart made a decisive move to win the race within the last lap and the move would propel her to an 81 second closer and a 10:55 final time. The mark gives Burkhart the distinction of being our 5th best steepler in the history of our program. It's also an NCAA provisional qualifier (10:52 was the final time to make NCAA's a year ago), and earns her a spot on the line at this summer's USA Junior Championships in Eugene, OR.

McCall Habermehl would struggle over the final half of the race, recording a tough 11:45 mark, and true frosh Nicole Anthony just missed the 12 minute barrier with her 12:08 final time. Anthony struggled through the race with identical cuts under each of her arches caused by her spikes and the water jump landing. With a new set of kicks, and Saturday's experience behind her, look for big things from Nicole in the coming weeks and years.

Men's Steeplechase: 2014 NCAA Steeple finalist Barron Maizland would take a 9:06 PR to the start line on Saturday, but the goal was basically to get a good early season effort under himself over the barriers. Teammate Omar Pulido who ran 9:23 a year ago had the same goal in mind as he stepped to the line on Saturday. True frosh Zachary Price would debut and hoped to eclipse the 10:00 barrier in his first attempt over the barriers. Overall the race would work out quite well for the 'Cats as Maizland hopped out to an early lead and Pulido followed closely. Stanislaus' Jesus Ortiz (9:18 PR while running at Western State a year ago) followed closely, even taking the lead at one point. As the race evolved Maizland became a bit impatient and set out on his own en-route to his eventual victory. Ortiz followed for several laps and Pulido fell some distance back into 5th place.

While Maizland cut the pace down nicely to an eventual 9:15 victory and NCAA provisional qualifying mark, Ortiz was struggling and Chico's Pulido knew there was a chance to catch him. Over the final lap Pulido committed to making the catch, and this commitment was rewarded as he caught and out-kicked Stanislaus' top barrier man by .04 seconds! Frosh Zachary Price ran a very methodical and tough first steeple, finishing in a commendable 10:00.75, missing his goal by less than a second. Maizland and Pulido quickly updated the youngster that both of their debut's were above the 10 minute threshold as well. A solid day for the barrier men, and this was without school record holder Alex McGuirk (8:50pr), who will debut at the Stanford Invite in several weeks.

Women's 1500m: RS Frosh Jacquie Adams had a bit of a rough seasonal debut on Saturday at the 1500 distance. A hip issue Adams left a bit off her game as she struggled to a 5:02 finish.

Men's 1500m: Sophomore Ryan Rampoldi had run a 3:56 during the '14 season, but overall his times and efforts were less than consistent. One of the hoped goals on Saturday was for the youngster to run smart and tough, while he attempted a challenging 1500/5k double. For teammate Andrew Overton, who never raced over 400m in HS, the goal was to take another step forward as an emerging mid distance talent. Overton's favorite event is the 800, where he ran 1:54 as a RS frosh last spring. On Saturday the sophomore would chop a nice 2 second chunk off his previous best for the 1500 with an eventual 4:02 finish time.

Rampoldi couldn't have asked for a better race to be a part of, given his current level of fitness and his background. With the leaders hitting 400m in 62.6 Ryan looked controlled and confident. The second lap split was a 63.5 and yours truly could see the youngster getting anxious for the real racing to start. With a 3:45 guy leading the way and two others in the pack who had 3:49 and low 3:50's PR's, Ryan was advised to be patient and to allow the race to develop. Rampoldi would run the 300m to the bell in 46.9 seconds, and now the group shifted gears a bit. Ryan would make his way around Santa Clara's 3:49 guy Joey Berriatua and caught the quick wheel of Stanislaus' 1:50 800m guy Abraham Alvarado. While sub 3:45 guy Darius Terry would close under 60 for the win, Alvarado and Rampoldi battled for runner-up honors. That is, until Berriatua came back to life and stormed down the final straight for an eventual second place finish. Rampoldi would end up 4th, but had raced his heart out en route to a nice 3:55.33 PR. His final 400m was covered in 61.5 seconds. A nice effort for the developing Rampoldi, who is showing signs of becoming a sub 3:50 guy down the road.

Women's 800m: Senior Bailey Henshaw stepped to the line Saturday having endured a pretty tough week of training. Nothing in particular hurt, and neither athlete, nor coach were alarmed, but the plan for the race was to be a bit more conservative than she normally might be. The plan worked well and Bailey looked very good throughout. As pacemakers took Stanislaus' top gals through a quick early lap of 63-ish, Bailey passed the bell at 64. By 600m Henshaw (who has twice made our NCAA championship XC squads) had run into second position on the shoulder of Fresno Pacific's Courtney Moore.

The gritty Soph from FPU held Henshaw wide throughout the turn and won the footrace to the line beating the Chico senior by .7 seconds. Although she hadn't won the race Henshaw had easily eclipsed any previous year's season opener as she'd clocked a 2:11.97 NCAA provisional mark. Had she not run 2:11.90 a year ago, Bailey's time would have also been among the Top-5 in school history. This was definitely a great start for an athlete that is determined and destined to eclipse the 2:10 mark this season.

Teammate Lora James a 2:16 runner a year ago, was pulled through 400m too quickly for her early season fitness (and given she'd missed much of the week's training with the flu). She would record a somewhat disappointing 2:22, but would bounce back nicely late in the meet with a 60 second 400m split in the relay.

Men's 800m: Sophomore Andrew Overton struggled today over the 2 lap distance on the heels of his 4:02 1500m pr earlier in the day. One's ability to double effectively has a lot to do with aerobic background, and Andrew's 200/400 prep focus might have come back to haunt him a bit here. After a 57 opening revolution Andrew wasn't able to respond during the second lap, and struggled home with a 2:02 run. Red Shirting frosh Michael Good, who's spent a lot of time on the shelf w/ sickness in recent weeks, bounced back relatively well with an even paced 2:00 effort.

Women's 5,000m: The 5k's were the only event of the day that appeared to be negatively affected by the weather. With temps still hovering in the upper 70's and athletes still adjusting physiologically to these advanced early season temps, there were a lot of casualties in both 12.5 lappers. For the 'Cats, true frosh Danielle Oden and senior Jessie Varela would make the early mistake of getting out too aggressively given the conditions present. An opening lap of 82-83 was definitely going to be felt later in the run, as the heat and distance took it's toll. This would indeed be the case as Oden and Varela fought hard to maintain position among a pack of women operating in the upper third of the field. Oden reached 3200m in 11:45, but splits were now in the 93 range per lap, and a potential PR wasn't in the cards. Danielle and Jess closed well over the final 400m, to eventual 15th and 18th place finishes respectively. Teammate Katie Coleman would finish 35th overall with a 20:22 final time.

Men's 5,000m: By the men's start, temps weren't quite as hot as they had been for the women, but they were still well above ideal, which meant that the guys would need to make smart decisions with their early lap running. Taking some pointers from the women's race, the Chico men tucked into a chase pack early reaching the 1600m mark in 4:50. Alan Cuevas, who is one of the many 'Cats to have been felled by the flu bug the past few weeks did a fair amount of leading (of the chase group) during the second mile of the race. 3200m was reached in 9:44 and Chico's Alan Cuevas, Ryan Rampoldi, and red shirting frosh Arturo Arevalo were taking most spots in the chase group. As the leaders ahead either peeled from the track or lost their composure due to the heat, Cuevas and Rampoldi's group would become the lead pack by 4k. Soon after, Rampoldi sensed that if he was to have any chance at the win and of breaking 15 minutes (his pr was 15:17) he needed to up the tempo. Setting out alone the doubled Rampoldi recorded final splits of 71, 69, 67, and :30 while taking the win, and hitting a 14:57 PR. Cuevas held on for second in 15:12, and Arturo would just miss third place, after being passed in the final 100m.

Wrap up: As mentioned previously, Saturday offered a nice opening weekend of racing for the Chico crew. Some lessons were learned and some PR's were notched, and as is the story every year, new athletes emerged as future stars in their events.

Our short term focus now lands on the upcoming Wildcat Invitational to be held in Chico this Saturday afternoon. The good majority of the Distance 'Cats will compete in either or both the 1500 and 800m events. If you're in the area and want to see some great action across the board, come on out this weekend to watch the 'Cats run, throw, and jump their way to victories this coming Saturday at University Stadium.

Upcoming Schedule: (I'm SO sorry for the confusion that I caused with listing incorrect dates in last week's update on future meets, as I was looking at the wrong month on my calendar.. Here is what will actually unfold over the coming weeks.

Saturday March 14-Wildcat Invitational-Chico, CA (Running Finals will start at 1:00pm)

Saturday March 21- Johnny Mathis Invitational-@ SF State (look for some big early season 5k's)

Friday April 3- SF Distance Carnival/Stanford Invitational (BIG weekend for our crew)

Coach Hanf take on the meet:
It was a very productive week 2 for the Wildcat Tracksters and Fieldsters. 4 NCAA provisional marks were hit and the top 10 record board had to once again be updated. True freshman Alex Burkhart started the meet off with a jaw dropping performance. It was her first time in a Chico Track uniform and the first time racing the 3K Steeplechase. Not only did she break the targeted 12:00 goal, she broke 11:00! Her time of 10:55 is the 5th best time in program history and easily ducked below the provo time of 11:11. The best part of it is that there is so much more in the tank for the youngster. Keep your eyes and ears open for the newbie from Rancho Cucamonga. Kristi Cangiamila's time of 11:08 is removed after an impressive 11 year stay.

Barron Maizland followed suit. Maizland was the 2014 CCAA runner up in steeplechase (trailing only teammate Alex McGuirk) and an NCAA championships qualifier. He started off his season with a win and notched a provo mark with his time of 9:15. A "controlled and confident" Ryan Rampoldi (as described by coach Towne) doubled back to win the 5K in 14:57 after hitting 3:55 in the 1500. Both are PRs.

Tristan Lake made his entrance into the top 10 and on the NCAA provisional list, ending Rex Spear's 23 year long stay on the 400m hurdles list. Lakes time of 53.13 easily won the race. Senior hurdler Sean Goetzl made his 2015 debut. He won the 110HH in a time of 14.82 and now leads the CCAA. Phill Bailey was 2nd in 14.87- a new PR. The Chico men now have the top three hurdle times in the conference with Hakeem Dyson sitting in the 3 spot. Unfortunately Dyson will be out for several weeks recovering from a foot injury. Meghan "Bubbles" Delamater heaved the javelin 137'6" on her 6th and final attempt to move into 5th on the AT list and 4th in the nation. The junior from Freedom HS was second in the CCAA last year. The two-time defending CCAA champ and school record holder will be missed! Sprinters Ashley Jones and Aja Erskine (both members on last year's school record relay team) had superb outings, each doubling and running on the 4 x 100 (48.64) which finished in 2nd behind CCAA rivals Dominguez Hills . Jones ran 12.33 and 25.30 while quarter miler Erksine dropped down in distance and ran 12.49 and 25.65. Erskine met up with hurdler Tori Mason, half miler Bailey Henshaw (2nd in the 800 in 2:11.97) and rookie Marina Berrios to run the 8th best 4 x 4 in school history (3:53.35). Erskine led off with a 57.4 split, Henshaw was 2nd leg and ran 58.7. Mason ran third ( 59.4 ) and redshirt frosh Berrios ran her best ever run with a 57.8 split.

The men's 4 x 4 relay improved their season best time but were caught running out of the zone...2nd leg Hakeem Dyson received the baton just outside the exchange zone and the yellow flag shot right up. The DQ hurt but did not break their will. The team will be back and ready to crack the 42s barrier this weekend at home for the Wildcat Invitational. The guys ran a heck of a 4 x 4 improving their season best time to 3:19.16 without our top runner Geoff Brown who was held out due to a slight injury. He'll be back this week! Sophomore decathlete Lane Andrews led off with a 50.9 split. Tristan Lake ran 48.9 from the 2 spot. Phill Bailey sizzled a 48.6 split and long jumper Ron Taylor anchored in 50.7. Brown had run the fastest splits in the previous two meets so we are excited to get him back into the mix. Taylor will open up his long jump campaign this week at our home meet. The field events kick off at 11:00 and the races begin at 1:00.

Hoping to see lots of you in the stands are out helping with some of the officiating duties.

Go Wildcats!