I'm proud to say that the Chico State distance runners performed exceptionally well this past weekend at the NCAA Championships. Despite having two of our eight competitors battling influenza in the days leading up to the meet, and another dealing with a nagging tendon issue, we still managed to bring home 3 All Americans and two additional Top-10 finishers. Headlining the efforts was Alex McGuirk's runner-up finish in the steeplechase where the senior crushed his own school record while becoming Chico's first sub 8:50 barrier runner. On the women's side Olivia Watt's third place finish in the women's 1500 was undoubtedly the highlight of the weekend. The ferocious competitor ran with the pre-meet favorite through blazing early splits that had her 300m away from becoming the 'Cats first sub 4:20 runner. Although some slowing occurred during the final stretch, Watt still managed the third place finish with the school's second fastest time ever (4:22). Overall it was another exciting and memorable NCAA trip capping what has been an exceptional track season. Please follow along below for some recaps of the three days of action in Allendale, Michigan.

Thursday-Day 1 NCAA Championships
The 'Cats were greeted with cool and windy temperatures for Thursday's prelims and 10k finals. Temps were ideal for distance racing, but the winds howled at 20+ mph for much of the late afternoon, before easing off before the 10k finals were contested under the lights.

Women's 1500m Prelims: Junior Olivia Watt came into the weekend ready to race. In Thursday's prelim the Junior from Morro Bay ran shoulder to shoulder with #2 seed Ewa Zaborowska (A Polish standout from Harding) for the full 1500m distance. Their splits: 70.5, 72.8 (2:23), :53.4 (to the bell) and 71.3 added up to a swift 4:28 run that would have been her second fastest time ever a year ago. On Thursday it was a trial effort that looked quite controlled, and gave her an auto qualifying spot into Saturday's final.


Men's 1500m Prelim-Heat II: With the winds blowing at a pretty good rate, no one seemed to want an honest early pace, so Kyle Medina settled at the front of his prelim heat waiting for the true racing to begin. It took until the bell (reached at 4:00 pace) before the pack started move. Medina gave up a few places as the pack raced down the backstretch, but as he entered the final turn, Kyle grabbed the heels of the third place runner Nick Hall of Ashland. As the pack sprinted down the final straight Medina ran as fast as needed to secure the final auto spot into the final (57.0 final 400). Given the dawdling early pace all time qualifiers would come from Heat I, making Kyle the last athlete to make the Saturday's final.

Women's Steeple Heat I: True frosh Alex Burkhart has enjoyed one heck of a freshman season, but a late season tendon issue in her foot had reached a tipping point by the time we reached the NCAA meet in Michigan. Mileage was altered and workouts were either cancelled or adjusted in the weeks leading up to the big meet, in hopes of clearing up the injury well enough to compete well at the Championships. Unfortunately the bum foot continued to be an issue, and with prelims and finals scheduled in back to back days, everyone involved took a deep breath going into the weekend.

Despite running with considerable pain Burkhart ran among the leaders for the initial kilometer before an awkward landing in the water jump resulted in an actual fall. Alex gave up several places during the spill, and her rhythm was noticeably off during the subsequent laps. One by one athletes slowly made their way by Burkhart until she ran in 6th position. With only 4 making the final automatically in each heat, and the next best 4 times between the two races grabbing the final spots.. Burkhart fought hard to keep a decent time in tact.

At the bell while running with a noticeable hitch following each hurdle landing Alex dug deep. Knowing that each place and second counted, and buoyed by the screams of her teammates Burkhart made a last push to try to catch the competitor who ran just ahead. As she hit the final straight Alex caught a final gear and made her last effort to catch St. Leo's Colett Rampf. Sensing that she might be in danger of being caught Rampf increased her speed down the final straight. Thankfully Alex' momentum was too great and the Chico frosh overtook Rampf at the line, giving Burkhart a valuable 5th place finish in her heat. Now her time would need to beat that of the 8th place finisher in Heat II and she would make her first NCAA final. Thankfully Alex' time would indeed just squeak into the final as the late pass of Rampf would prove the deciding factor for the frosh. This was the good news. The bad news was that the pain in her foot was too great to even cool down. She would now have 24 hours to recover enough to tackle the best steeple field ever assembled at the DII championships.

Men's Steeplechase Prelim - Heat I: Senior Alex McGuirk has enjoyed an amazing senior year of racing and on Thursday he made easy work of the men's steeple prelim. Running among the leaders throughout the race McGuirk bided his time, in hopes of saving energy for Friday's final. As the pace wore on the lead pack eventually dwindled down to 5 as they hit the bell. As Alex ran by yours truly all he heard was "There are five in the group, there are five in the group" making sure that he knew that he would need to at least beat one of them to secure an automatic spot into the final. Off the final turn all five competitors ran within a half-second of one another. Sensing that there was little room for error Alex made a nice surge to the line taking the heat win in a controlled 9:04.73 time. Fifth place in the heat was a scant .17 behind , proving just how tight that final stretch was!

Men's Steeplechase - Heat II: Senior Barron Maizland had made the NCAA final in 2014 and entered this year's championships with improved fitness and a new 8:55 PR.. BUT he was one of our influenza victims and had been battling weakness and fever in the days leading up to his prelim run.

A consistent competitor Maizland planted himself among the leaders in the early going and looked solid rolling through the mid way point just off a 9:00 clip. As the third kilometer began, Barron appeared relatively gassed, and he struggled to keep his competition from moving away from him. He had safely dispatched 2 athletes behind him, but he sat in 7th place with 400m remaining. Not knowing whether he'd need to place 6th to make the final Maizland dug deep the final lap, only to fall .4 short of Cal Baptist's French standout Valentin Robert. Thankfully his 7th place 9:06 finish was just good enough to grab the final spot into Friday's final, but just as in Alex Burkhart's case, Maizland appeared in need of a miracle to be able to vie for an All American run in 24 hours.



Men's 10,000m Finals: Sophomore Aaron Mora would toe the line at the NCAA track championships for the first time on Thursday night after qualifying with a 29:55 run earlier in the season. Recent workouts had shown promising results and Mora certainly had bought into the necessary late-season work that is needed to have success in an NCAA Championship 10k. Many of the recent workouts included varying paces within intervals and breakdown reps, in preparation what was sure to be a multi-paced run at NCAA's. The first 3200m splits were a perfect indication of why we emphasized multi paced workouts and intervals in the weeks leading up to NCAA's, as Aaron recorded the following lap times: 74,71,72,72 (4:50),75,74, 70, 72 for a 9:43 split.

As much as the early splits were all over the board Mora was on board among the leaders, absolutely determined to challenge for All American honors. The third mile brought a slowing pace (5:00) as the pack hit the metric 3 mile in 14:43 and 5k in 15:20ish. It was during the fourth mile that sparks began to fly and true surges were made. Knowing these were coming Mora braced for the pain and ran several 70 second laps leading to a 16 lap split of 19:29. As the surges continued from the front Mora found himself leading a chase group during the 8th kilometer, as he ran 9th and 10th place.

As Aaron struggled with the final mile a few athletes who had marked the initial surge at the front, were now coming back to the chasers behind. Unfortunately Aaron had lost contact with Missouri Southern's Eric Schott and Mines' Dan Mahoney who were now bridging the gap to a few Kenyan's who were falling back through the field. With 2 laps remaining one of the Kenyan's Job Kemboi fell from the track and now Mora ran in 10th position. As both Schott and Mahoney sprinted by Michael Biwott in the final straight Mora finally caught a final gear with 200m remaining. Although I didn't get the final split, I'm guessing Mora clocked a 27.0 final half lap, while falling just 3 seconds shy of his All American goal. Although it was a bitter sweet finish, Mora had finished among the Top-10 in his first NCAA 10k race. This experience will be invaluable as he looks to the coming years and a hoped return to this stage.  

Friday-Day 2 NCAA Championships

Women's 800m Prelim: The 'Cats didn't have the best of draws with the women's 800m prelims. Both of our qualifiers were placed in Heat 3 along with 2:04 runner Lindsey Butterworth of Simon Fraser. With only 2 qualifying on to the final automatically and the next 3 best times between the 3 heats, there would be little room for error, and we would need to run a fast race in order to make Saturday's final. Add the fact that Bailey Henshaw (2:07 school record holder) had missed each of our final two workouts before NCAA's due to the flu, we definitely had our backs against the wall going into the prelim.

One of my concerns going into the 800 prelim was that the field might key off Butterworth too closely and if she didn't elect to take the early lead, then a slowish pace could result. This is exactly what happened as a reluctant Fellan Ferguson led the field through 400m in a 64/65 split (the two previous heats each went out at 61 seconds). Now it would be a free for all in the second lap for the one auto spot into the final after Butterworth, who would go on to nearly break the meet record in the final a day later (2:02 PR). While Chico's Olivia Watt was full of run as she covered the surge from the front down the backstretch, teammate Bailey Henshaw was never in the mix with the lead group unfortunately.

As they raced down the final straight there were four women left in contention. Butterworth (who was en route to an easy prelim win) and Seattle Pacific's Lynelle Decker (2:08 PR) followed closely by Watt, and Saginaw's Taylor Stepanski. As Watt swung wide with 50m remaining Stepanski did the same and the two crossed legs. Watt nearly fell to the track, and Stepanski seemed uninterrupted by the mishap, eventually racing to a second place finish in the heat. Watt re-built her momentum, and hit the finish 4th in her heat, but just .3 seconds shy of the final time qualifier into the final. There is no doubt that she would have made the final, minus the mishap on the final straight, but the contact was un-intentional, and thankfully Olivia still had the 1500m final to contest the next day. It should also be noted that Olivia still ran her second fastest time ever once again eclipsing the 2:10 barrier.

Women's Steeplechase Final: Alex Burkhart and her parents had spent much of the time between Thursday's trial and Friday's steeple final, tracking down foot specialists to see if there was anything that could be done to lessen Alex' tendon pain. Despite their best efforts nothing outside of icing and anti-inflamatories could be done within the window that they were working in. If she were to contest the final, she would have to deal with the pain, while trying not to injure it any more than it already was.

Unfortunately the women's final was as predictable as they come. With the best field of women's steeplers ever assembled at these Championships (including the second fastest individual ever in DII history) the early pace was wicked fast. Alex ran in 12th position at 800m, despite running a sub 10:00 pace. Predictably the pace at the front slowed as the reality set into the field, but this was no field to tackle for a less than 100% freshman, and soon Alex ran alone at the back of the race, trying her hardest to stay close to the next competitor ahead.

Although she would finish the final 12th out of 12, Alex Was able to finish, and without incident, so hopefully her foot won't be any worse than it had been going into the run. The result was far from what she'd hoped as she qualified for the championships 6 weeks previous, but there was absolutely no doubt that she had done all that she could this weekend. With 3 years of eligibility remaining and this experience behind her, expect big things from Alex Burkhart in the coming years!

Men's Steeplechase Final: In my pre-race meeting with Alex McGuirk he shared that the bug that had run it's course though much of our team, apparently had touched on him as well in the hours leading up to the final. Alex' plan of taking the pace out hard from the front, was quickly replaced with a plan of sitting in the pack and waiting to see how the legs and lungs felt as the race would evolve. Teammate Barron Maizland who'd barely squeaked into the final the day before, had a similar plan, but stepped to the track with a positive mindset , prepared to go after his PR.

In the early going the pace was relatively honest, hovering around a 9:00 rhythm. During the fourth lap Tabor Stevens (8:26 PR) took the front, and began to squeeze the pace down. The field behind surged and stretched into a single file line as they hit 4 laps in 4:44. The increase in pace shot Maizland out the back, and now the 'Cats chances of scoring hinged on McGuirk who trailed Stevens and Western State's Adam Sinda in third position overall. Alex would follow Sinda for 2k before gaining a step advantage on the Western State athlete during a water jump landing.

McGuirk, after running 70 second revolutions for laps 4 and 5, recorded a 68, and then a 66 to the 7 lap mark. These aggressive laps had him running within just a few seconds of Adams' Stevens, which really sparked the crowd, and especially the spirited Chico contingent who hoped that perhaps there was a chance that he might upset the fastest steepler in DII history. Alas it became evident that Stevens would take his third straight NCAA steeple crown, but McGuirk would hold on nicely for second place. His late race surge had put him across the line in a new PR/School record of 8:48.29. Given that Alex was our final walk-on allowed on the team some five years before, this was quite an achievement, and one that this coach will never forget.

Saturday-Day 3 NCAA Championships

Women's 1500m Final: From all that I saw during the prelims I was convinced that the top 3 seeds coming into the meet looked clearly better than the remainder of the field. Top Seed Staci Foster was a 4:47 HS runner, before going to Colorado, graduating in four years and then returning to So Cal to finish her eligibility at Azusa Pacific. She had won the NCAA indoor mile this winter, and boasted 4:21/16:21 PR's. Harding's Ewa Zaborowska was a standout junior runner from Poland, before ending up at Harding University where she had run a 4:22 earlier this season. Watt would enter Saturday's final with a 4:23 PB, but 100 percent committed to chasing the win while hoping for a sub 4:20 final time.

As the gun sounded a few of the lesser seeds took the lead and carried an honest pace through 400m (68 seconds). As Foster sensed a slowing of the pace during the next 200m stretch, she would take the front for good. Recognizing that the race was on, Watt joined the Azusa standout, running just off her shoulder through a 69 second revolution. (2:18 800m split). Although she started toward the back of the field initially Zaborowska had surged up to join the leading pair just before 800m, and now it truly was a 3 woman race, as the trio surged through a 68 second third revolution (3:27-1200 split), leaving all competitors behind.

As they started the final 300m Watt ran in second position on the heels of Foster, but her body language showed strain, and Foster began to edge away down the backstretech. With 150m remaining Zabrowska made her way around Watt as all three leaders struggled to sustain their wicked early paces. Foster would find the tape first, ducking under the 4:20 threshold for the first time in her life. Zaborowska would finish second, in 4:21 (PR) and Watt would hold on for third (4:22 PR!). A fierce pack sprint from behind had the remaining 5 All Americans all running safely under 4:27, which this coach has never seen before at these championships.

Watt's performance was nothing short of incredible. As a walk-on out of HS 4 years ago Olivia had never raced beyond the 400m distance. Her 47 second 300 hurdle and 59 second 400m marks were her best credentials, but pale in comparison to much of her competition. Through hard work and a very tough mind-set Olivia has turned herself into an All American, and one of the best mid distance runners in this history of our program. And she has another year of eligibility remaining!

Men's 1500m Final: Championship racing at the 1500m distance on the men's side oftentimes requires good closing speed. Thankfully our precocious frosh Kyle Medina has some nice "wheels", and now we just need to work on his race attentiveness, and we might just have ourselves an NCAA title contender.

On Saturday Medina jumped out to an early lead, more or less just to gain positive positioning in the field. His 63 second first lap did little to damage a talented field, but did leave him in good position for the moves that would be sure to come over the final half of the run. Medina relinquished leading duties over lap 2 and did a nice job of tucking in near the rail and maintaining his position among the top 3 in the field. As the leaders hit 800m (2:06.5) the pace predictably quickened, and unfortunately Medina allowed the good portion of the field to flow by him over the next 200m stretch.

Medina, now with only 500m remaining, found himself in 10th place and gapped by several strides by the competitor in ninth. Just as the Chico contingent had thought that he'd thrown in the towel Medina seemed to spring back to life. Sensing a big final 400m, yours truly hit the split button to see how quick the final circuit would be. One by one Medina rolled by fast closing competitors and with 200m remaining he ran in 8th place on the heels of GVSU's Ricky Perez. Perez was quickly dispatched and Medina continued his charge, rolling by Shane Niksic (Mesa) and Logan Barrett (St Joseph) down the final straight. As he crossed the line in 5th overall the Chico crew celebrated wildly, and my split button read "56.7." Now if we can keep our young buck among the leaders before employing that kick, we might have ourselves a title contender in the coming years!

Men's 5,000m: At the Championship meets the 5k is generally the "All Star" race for the distance runners. Generally you have your fastest steeplechasers, 10k runners, 15 runners, and of course 5k runners all in one field. Despite being doubled, the top 10k runners generally do quite well bouncing back a few days after contesting the long event and "fresh" athletes sometimes don't appear to have much of an advantage over those who have competed earlier in the meet. This year's NCAA 5k final proved this theory quite well.

Chico would send Alex McGuirk (14:10 PR) and Nick Grubiss (14:10 PR-Fresh) to the line. With Alex being a bit under the weather going into his steeple final, it wasn't surprising to see him take a spot near the back of the field from the start. Nick grabbed some nice early positioning and looked prepared to vie for All American honors.

As was expected the early pace was all over the board, and the near 80 degree heat had everyone running a bit cautiously. The leaders ran early splits of: 69, 75, 71, 71 (4:46). During the second mile the pace dropped and the pack splintered. McGuirk fell well off the pace of the potential All Americans, but Grubiss hung tight for as long as he could, before being dispatched by a combination of surges and the heat.

While Steeple champ Tabor Stevens pulled away from 10k champ Tyler Pence for the eventual win Grubiss strained in trying to keep the 8th place position within striking distance. Unfortunately Nick lost precious seconds over the third mile, and a 63 second final lap left him 2 places shy of his All American goal. Grubiss has a lot to be proud of including a new 14:10 PR and a Top-10 NCAA finish on the year.

I'm proud to say that the Chico State distance runners performed exceptionally well this past weekend at the NCAA Championships. Despite having two of our eight competitors battling influenza in the days leading up to the meet, and another dealing with a nagging tendon issue, we still managed to bring home 3 All Americans and two additional Top-10 finishers. Headlining the efforts was Alex McGuirk's runner-up finish in the steeplechase where the senior crushed his own school record while becoming Chico's first sub 8:50 barrier runner. On the women's side Olivia Watt's third place finish in the women's 1500 was undoubtedly the highlight of the weekend. The ferocious competitor ran with the pre-meet favorite through blazing early splits that had her 300m away from becoming the 'Cats first sub 4:20 runner. Although some slowing occurred during the final stretch, Watt still managed the third place finish with the school's second fastest time ever (4:22). Overall it was another exciting and memorable NCAA trip capping what has been an exceptional track season. Please follow along below for some recaps of the three days of action in Allendale, Michigan.

Coach Oliver Hanf says...
When do athletes want to perform at their best? When it counts the most of course! The 2015 track season is now in the history books. It was an incredible journey that saw 34 additions made to the all-time top 10 list this year, including 3 school records. After a captivating CCAA championships performance and a spirited "last chance" meet the track Cats competed with great poise and passion at the NCAA championships in Allendale, Michigan. Our track team of 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores, 5 juniors and 3 seniors stepped onto the national stage at Grand Valley State's blue "oval office" facing off against the nation's finest track & field athletes last weekend. There are 175 sanctioned division 2 track teams. Our men placed 16th and our women placed 23rd. While we took aim at a possible top 10 finish we are indeed proud of the team results in our biggest meet of the year.

Senior distance runner Alex McGuirk came home with the highest accolades, finishing his illustrious career with a 2nd place finish and a new school record in the steeplechase. His time of 9:48.29 gave 2-time defending champion Tabor Stevens a bit of a push. Visions of Scotty Bauhs chasing down Nicodemus Naimadu in 2007 came to mind. With 1 lap remaining in the race Alex separated himself from the chase back and honed in on the "giant" champion from Adams State. It was rather impressive to see the 6'5" (some say he's 6'7" or even 6'8") 5-time outdoor track All-American peak over his shoulder with concern while Alex was on the hunt. 8 team points were awarded to the Wildcats for McGuirks rise to the #2 spot on the podium. Alex won the CCAA steeplechase 3 straight years, was this year's Cross Country individual CCAA champion and now has a second All-American trophy.

Olivia Watt and Lauren Schnelli each earned 6 points for the team as both finished in 3rd place. Watt was stellar in her qualifying round run in the 1500 where she ran a strong yet composed 4:28 to gain an automatic berth into finals. Unfortunately her quest to be a two-time All-American was dashed in the 800 prelims when she tangled up on a heel of an opponent that she was about to pass in the final stretch. Her time of 2:09.92 was .32 seconds from advancing. What did this do to Olivia?! At first it made her mad! Then it added focus and extra fuel to here already raging fire of motivation. When it was time for the 1500 final, the always poised Watt was even more centered and determined. She had visions and dreams of winning the race, and she WENT for it! Her new PR of 4:22.80 was not quite fast enough to out-dual Staci Foster of Azusa Pacific, but it brought her within 1.2 seconds of Ayla Granados's school record. She put every ounce of energy into that race.

Schnelli (Butte College) was the 12th ranked high jumper coming into the competition. Central Missouri's "freshman" Erika Kinsey ended up winning her 2nd event of the games with a 6'1" final height but at times it was Schnelli who looked like the top leaper. A 5'8" clearance on her first attempt moves Lauren into a tie for second on our AT List (Michal Miller, 1984) and only 1/4" from Jessica Saltzman's school record (2001). Schnelli was very vibrant out on the field, showing a loose confidence and no fear to celebrate gigantic clearances of her first three heights. She was a crow pleaser for sure. Both Watt and Schnelli are juniors. The 12 team points lifted the Wildcats to a 23rd place national finish.

Junior decathlete Phill Bailey (Riverside JC) also showed signs of being the best athlete in his event...the decathlon. His 100 time of 11.13 wasn't his most electrifying short dash of the year but the strong side winds proved to be detrimental to the entire field. He was in 3rd place after the kick-off event. After hitting a pop-up style opening long jump measuring 18' he unleashed the biggest blast of the competition, sailing 24'1" deep into the 'beach". It was a wind legal jump that ranks 7th best in school history. His 35'8" shot put dropped him down a few spots again and his 6'1" high jump kept him in place. But his magnificent 400m dash put him right back near the top. He executed a near flawless revolution in a PR of 48.29. His day 1 point total of 3849 was almost 50 pts ahead of pace from his mid-year decathlon score of 7251 and had him in 2nd place. His day 2 kick-off in the 110HH was his signature performance of the decathlon. He executed coach Irving's plan to a T and was rewarded with a new personal record 14.47. It was the fastest in the field and is the 2nd fastest time in our record books (trailing only Hakeem Dyson's 14.38). It was Phill's 3rd win out of the first 6 events. Justin Balczak's lead shrunk to just 16 points. Could Chico State possibly win a decathlon title for a 4th straight year?? Bailey's next 4 events were steady but not spectacular and he ended up with a point total 7192 to place 4th. His 5 team points put the Cats on the score board! It's not an easy act following the foot steps of last year's champion J P Smith, runner-up Teddy Elsenbaumer and 2-time All-American John Brunk, but Phillip Bailey is making his own mark and certainly adding to the legacy that is in place. It was the 6th year in a row and the 7th out of 8 years that Chico has had at least one decathlon All-American. Coach Robert Nooney started that run in 2008.

Moments after Olivia's smooth and powerful 1500 final, Kyle "Funky Cold" Medina stepped out on the blue "tartan" and sped out on a mad dash, covering the 1st 100m with Usain Bolt-like swiftness to gain control of his position. By the 2nd lap, the bulk of the field cruised on by the RS frosh, sucking him up towards the rear. He navigated the field with a strong focus and engaged into the final battle. A 56 second final lap saw him surging from 10th to 5th place, adding 4 points on top of the 13 that were recorded earlier by McGuirk and Bailey taking the point total up to 17, where it would stay. What a mighty effort by the freshman! McGuirk, Watt, Schnelli, Bailey and Medina all earned All-American certificates and were honored on the podium with a trophy. Top 8 in each event earn this distinction. New to his year is that places 9-12 earn 2nd team All-American honors. Aaron Mora (10th in the 10k), Nick Grubiss (10th in the 5K), Alex Burkhart (12th in the women's steeple), Barron Maizland (12th in the men's steeple) and Taylor Sack (12th in the women's pole vault) were all named NCAA 2nd team All-Americans!



Our Wildcat Tracksters were clearly confident and having fun at the same time, which embodies a Chico State Track theme of kicking butt but having fun with the process. This theme characterizes our group's talents, dedication and perseverance. With dogged determination our group pursued big goals with a big passion. Coach Nooney and I received an e-mail on Monday morning from the event management director that read like this: "Boys and girls: Wow!!! What a great group of student athletes and coaches!!! Your group kept things rockin' during the whole meet and during our "down time". Please come back to see us here in Michigan." During a nearly 60 min. clean up delay between relay races, the Wildcats added a positive energy to the crowd as coach John Brunk electrified the fans with an exuberant wave and then the bulk of Wildcats led a spirited dance to the Cupid Shuffle in the bleachers..."down, down, do your dance do your dance..." There is much to be proud of here in the Chico track office and it pleases this particular coach to share the news with you all.