Wildcats excel at Stanford, San Francisco
Watt lower her 800 record, Maizland & Burkhart run possessed in the steeple

Friday-Saturday, April 3-4, 2015
Comments & photos by Oliver Hanf/Chico State Men's Coach & Gary Towne/Chico State Distance Coach

It was another action packed weekend of racing for the Chico Wildcat Distance Crew, as 17 different athletes posted NCAA provisional qualifying marks between the Stanford Invitational and the San Francisco Distance Carnival. A school record was broken, and six revisions of our All Time Top-10 list were needed. Overall it was another productive weekend for the 'Cats as they move closer to the championship meets ahead.

I'll start by listing the marks posted by the 'Cats at each distance.

 
 
Women's 800m:
 
Olivia Watt (Jr): 2:10.84 - School Record, NCAA provisional q.
Bailey Henshaw (Sr): 2:11.91 - Misses Chico PB by .01 #4 AT CSUC, NCAA Provisional
Bailey Henshaw (Sr): 2:12.13 - Win's heat at Stanford on Saturday
Kody Atkins (So) : 2:19.64 - Seasonal best.
Madison Grenier (So): 2:21.10- Seasonal Best
 
Men's 800m:
Kyle Medina (Fr): 1:52.60 - Seasonal Best, Misses NCAA provisional by .27
Michael Good (Red Shirting Frosh): 1:56 - Seasonal Best
 
Women's 1500m:
Olivia Watt (Jr): 4:29.62 - NCAA Provisional q. 1.5 seconds off her PR.
Lora James (Jr): 4:34.84 - #9 AT CSUC. Misses NCAA Provisional q mark by .1 seconds.
Jacquie Adams (Fr): 4:53.65 - Seasonal Best
Montana Loveday (Fr): 5:11 - Seasonal Best
Katie Coleman (Fr): 5:15 - Seasonal Best.
 
Men's Mile:
Kyle Medina: 4:05.12 - Converts to 3:46.9  for 1500, NCAA q, #7AT CSUC.
Falco DiGiallonardo: 4:08.77 Mile PR, Conversion misses 1500 PR, NCAA Provisional q.
 
Men's 1500:
Ryan Rampoldi: 3:58.71
 
Women's Steeplechase:
Alex Burkhart: 10:32 - NCAA Qualifier, PR, #2 All Time CSUC
McCall Habermehl: 11:03 - NCAA  Provisional q, PR, #11 All Time CSUC
 
Men's Steeplechase:
Barron Maizland: 8:55.21, #3 AT CSUC, NCAA  q,
Alex McGuirk: 8:57.08 - Seasonal Best, NCAA q.
Omar Pulido: 9:18 - PR, NCAA  Provisional q,
Brandon Taylor: 9:30 - Seasonal Best.
 
Women's 5,000m:
Quetta Peinado: 17:16. NCAA Provisional q, PR, Misses CSUC AT Top 10 by 3 seconds
Hannah Dorman: 17:54, PR
Jessie Varela: 18:52
Julie Finn: 19:55
 
Men's 5,000m:
Will Reyes (Red Shirting Jr) : 14:08.08, Would be NCAA q, and #3 CSUC
Nick Grubiss (So): 14:27, NCAA Provisional q
Alan Cuevas (Sr): 14:34, NCAA provisional q
Germay Tesfai (Sr): 14:39, Seasonal Best.
Johnny Sanchez (Sr): 14:53, Seasonal Best.
Marcus Montalvo (Red Shirting frosh) 14:58
Arturo Arevalo (Red Shirting frosh) 15:17
 
Men's 10k:
Aaron Mora (So): 29:55.47  #7 AT CSUC, NCAA q,
Steven Martinez (Red Shirting So): 30:45, Would be NCAA q
Dillon Breen (Sr): 32:10
Aaron Thomas (Sr): 32:10 - Shoe stepped on during first lap and had to stop to fix.
Geoff Hull (Sr): 32:15
  
Women's 10k:
Sadie Gastelum (So) 36:34 - NCAA Provisional q,  PR/Debut
Danielle Oden (Fr) 38:59 - Debut
 

Because of the sheer volume of heats and events that our athletes were involved with this week, I'll change the format a bit with the weekly write-up. Below I'll highlight some of the runs between the two meets at the various distances. Take a deep breath as this was a busy weekend.

SF DISTANCE CARNIVAL:

Women's 10k: Despite never having run the event before, coaching intuition led me to believe that Sophomore Sadie Gastelum would be good at the 25 lap distance. With an efficient stride-pattern and a tough racing mentality Sadie is wired well for the longer runs. Despite having missed her first two years of collegiate track (injuries) Sadie never looked like a "Rookie" during her Friday morning 10k. Sadie did a masterful job of finding her way into a lead group of runners that were travelling in the 88 second range per lap, and locked into their rhythm.

Although several athletes attempted to surge away from the lead pack during the first 3-4 miles of running, Sadie's group maintained close enough contact to never put themselves out of contention. This would indeed be the case as the winner would be Sadie! Just after 8k, Sadie made a bold move to shift gears quickly catching the race leaders. Laps of 88-89 seconds were now being covered in 85 seconds and a projected finish time that looked to be in the 37:00 range, now looked to be well under this threshold. By 9k Gastelum ran in the lead with Humboldt's Emma Lundberg chasing and within striking distance. Saving enough to close with an impressive 82 second final revolution Gastelum would take the win by 8 seconds over Lundberg.

Sadie's debut time (36:34) was well under the NCAA provisional threshold, but will likely fall short of the usual 36:00-ish mark that it will most likely take to get to the big dance. Either way, this was a great start for Gastelum who has now gained some valuable experience, while also reaffirming her coaches' belief that the 10k would be a great event for her. True frosh Danielle Oden also enjoyed a solid debut just dipping under the 39:00 mark w/ her 38:59.

Men's 10k:
RS Sophomore Aaron Mora knew he was a 10k runner when he successfully debuted a year ago at Mt Sac with a 30:10 run. Unfortunately this left him just shy of qualifying for the NCAA meet, so going into Friday's race Mora was determined to run under 30 minutes and hopefully solidify his spot on the line in May's NCAA Championships. Teammates Dillon Breen and Aaron Thomas were also hoping for similar marks, as was red shirting junior Steven Martinez. Unfortunately Martinez and Breen's physical setbacks (sicknesses) and related missed training left them shy of their goals, and Thomas had a shoe stepped on during the first 200m that forced him to stop, lose 60m on the field, and then the challenge of racing back to the pack (which never materialized unfortunately). Despite the tough sub-plots of these three, Mora locked in among a talented lead group and covered moves that needed to be covered.

Rolling through 5k in 15:01-ish Mora looked good and ready for the second half of the race. Between the half way mark and 8k the pace had quickened a touch, and several of those who once ran among the leaders were no longer aboard the train (Martinez being one). The 3k between 5k and 8k were covered in 8:55, which had the Whittier native through 8k in 23:55 (new PR) and with a 4 second sub 30 cushion to work with. The final 2k of the 10k might be the toughest event in track and field, and Mora definitely started to feel the pain during this stretch. As the once tight lead pack splintered Mora held on w/ some serious damage control. A 73.6 second revolution from 3 laps out had the Chico contingent taking a deep breath, but thankfully as he usually does, Aaron rallied over the final lap producing a 65 second final revolution that swept him through the finish in 29:55.47 seconds. Mora's new PR made him the 9th Wildcat in the history of the program to eclipse the 30 minute barrier and is the 7th fastest all time. His new PR is also a mark that has always made the NCAA field, so with some luck Mora will be finishing his season at Nationals in Michigan this May.

10k All Time List: Now that 9 Chico men have run under the 30 min mark, All American Jose Alfredo Saenz' mark stands as the only 30+ mark. Tyler Graff, who was the first 'Cat to break the 30 min barrier, now stands at #8 AT.

Women's 1500: Junior Oliiva Watt went into the weekend very hungry to compete. Her only true effort over 1500 was a solo run at home, where the results were eventually lost due to a timing malfunction. Today Olivia rolled out with the leaders in a frisky 68 second first lap. The pace predictably settled over the coming two laps which allowed the large pack to re-group after the quick start. With 400m remaining San Jose State's Jennifer Beckingham bolted from the front to an eventual 66 closing 400. Olivia initially covered the move, along with a few others, but only Idaho State's Katie Nicholls was able to stay close. Watt hit the tape third overall in the fastest race of the morning, in a seasonal best 4:29.62. This mark is only 1.5 seconds off her PR and places her nicely on the NCAA form chart.

Teammate Lora James is finally enjoying a healthy track season, and the results have been quite impressive. On Saturday while running in Heat II James shaved another 2 seconds off her PR with a 4:34.8 run. Her time misses the NCAA list by just .1 seconds, but does land her in the #9 position on the school's All Time list. Red Bluff native Anna Eicholtz was quietly bumped from the list after a 5 year stint among our best all time. In Heat 4 RS Frosh Jacquie Adams raced to a 4:53 PR as well.

Men's Mile: It's rare in today's world of track and field to have the opportunity to run the actual mile distance, but SF State has brought it back. After being excluded from the Stanford entry list Chico teammates Kyle Medina (fr) and Falco DiGiallonardo (so) decided to toss their name in the Invitational Mile field at SF State. With 3:56 miler Michael Coe doing the early pacing at a 60 second per lap clip, field seemed a bit hesitant to follow too closely.

Nevertheless Falco placed himself very close to the front from the start, while Medina looked as though he didn't know whether he wanted to truly race or not running in the second half of the pack for much of the run. While DiGiallonardo was beginning to to slide from the front group around the kilometer mark, Medina improved his postion by moving close enough to the lead pack to have a chance at a good placing. As the lead group battled for position over the final 400m for what they'd hoped would be the victory in this first ever event, Chico's Medina was able to close the gap and put himself into contention. After rounding the final turn Medina found another gear and bolted to the front of the pack. With momentum on his side along with 1:50-800m leg speed Kyle hit the tape in 4:05.1 for the win. Falco held on well in finishing in 4:08.

Women's Steeplechase: Yours truly has been coaching for over 20 years now, and has never witnessed a trajectory quite like that of Alex Burkhart's steeplechase career thus far. The true frosh who only broke 12 minutes for 3200m a handful of times during her senior year of HS ran her first steeple ever in 10 minutes and 55 seconds. Since then she's notched a 4:45 for 1500 and an impressive 17:39 for the 5k. On Friday, while running in a very capable field that included CSUC school record holder Amy Schnittger (10:25 PR) Burkhart took another huge step forward.

Burkhart, shooting for splits in the 85 range, put herself out close to the leaders and looked quite composed sailing through 400m in 81 seconds. Lap by lap Burkhart ran ahead of most of the field and just behind an elite leading group. 1600m was reached in 5:36 and Alex appeared full of run. The final kilometer brought pain and difficulty nevertheless Alex kept the slower laps in the 85 second range, and eyeing the leaders ahead, closed out the race quite well. While Schnittger took the eventual win in a near PR 10:26, Burkhart would finish just 6 seconds back in 10:32, 4th overall. In just her second attempt at the distance Alex had run the school's second fastest steeplechase ever, and had easily punched her ticket to the upcoming NCAA Championships.

In the second heat Sophomore McCall Habermehl followed with impressive results of her own. After a very difficult 11:40's run at the Kim Duyst Invitational it was obvious that McCall was dealing with some sort of physical ailment (her PR going into the race was 11:15). Doctors were seen and no official diagnosis was made, but some time away from workouts and a lighter running load was issued, and her body has rebounded nicely in just the past week. On Friday Habermehl made her return official while posting a very evenly paced 11:03 run in San Francisco. Her new PR is an NCAA provisional qualifier and made her the 11th fastest Wildcat ever to run the event. Given that she has only recently returned to health, the coming weeks should bring added improvements, and hopefully a sub 10:50 time that would surely punch her ticket to the NCAA meet.

Men's Steeplechase: Barron Maizland was an NCAA finalist a year ago in the 3k steeple and had run a 9:06 PR while qualifying for the big dance. This year he has looked much better in training and everyone who has followed his season thus far knew that sub 9 minutes was just a matter of time. On Friday Maizland became the fifth Wilcat to eclipse the 9 minute barrier with an evenly paced 8:55 run. A 68 second closing revolution over the barriers also gave Maizland the win and a near meet record. His new PR should easily grant him entry in the upcoming NCAA Championships.

Teammate Omar Pulido also ran to a big PR, notching a 9:18 while placing 3rd in his heat. His new lifetime best places him on the NCAA list along with Maizland and Alex McGuirk. If another 10 seconds can be taken off during the remainder of the season, Pulido would put himself into the realm of making the NCAA field.

Brandon Taylor also enjoyed a nice steeple run on Friday running to a 9:30 seasonal best. The JC transfer is coming off months of injury and recent consistency of training should spell faster times in the coming weeks.

Women's 5,000m: Junior Quetta Peinado had a rough seasonal debut at the 5k several weeks ago, running a disappointing 17:40's effort. On Friday Quetta put that race behind her while recording a new 17:16 PR. Her new personal best for the 12.5 lapper is an NCAA provisional mark, and leaves her just 3 seconds off our school's All Time Top-10 list.

RS Frosh Hannah Dorman had been sick in the days leading up to Friday's 5k, but you wouldn't have known while watching her race. The gritty West Valley HS alum pressed through the tough laps, en route to an eventual 17:54 PR. She will be fun to watch in the coming years as she adds training to an already tough mental racing game.

Men's 5,000m: A year ago red shirting Nick Grubiss made some big breakthroughs on the track, notching 14:32/3:52 marks for the 5k and 1500 distances. The fall brought more success with top-10 performances at CCAA and West Region championships. After a rough start to the spring season, Grubiss was diagnosed with a low iron count. With just a few weeks of iron supplementation Grubiss appears to be back on track.literally! His 14:49 5k run at the Johnny Mathis meet several weeks ago was quickly kicked aside this weekend as Grubiss rolled to a 14:27 PR and NCAA provisional mark.

Teammate Alan Cuevas had a similar effort on Friday reducing his PR from 14:47 to 14:34. The story behind this story though, is that Cuevas ran sub 14:50 as a true frosh 4 years ago, but has struggled with injuries since. A year ago Cuevas finally broke back through with some consistent training, and tied his first year PR. This season had brought frustrating results to date, but on Friday Cuevas hammered to a huge 13 second PR. His new personal best is also an NCAA provisional mark.

Senior Germay Tesfai was the third 'Cat to break 14:40 on the day while cruising to a seasonal best 14:39. As he did in 2014, Tesfai is rounding into shape as we approach the championship part of the season. A year ago Tesfai posted a similar time in San Francisco before eventually upsetting the CCAA 1500 field. Stay tuned, the Fresno native looks to finish his senior campaign with a bang. Unfortunately it was not three time XC All American Johnny Sanchez day as he struggled over the second half of this 5K heat, reaching the line in 14:52. well off his 14:30's PR. One heat later, red shirting true frosh Marcus Montalvo joined the Sub 15 club by popping off a 14:58 PR.

STANFORD INVITATIONAL:

Men's 5,000m: Red Shirting Junior Will Reyes recorded a very nice 14:08 5k PR running at the Stanford Invitational in the 3rd section. Rolling through the first two miles in even splits of 4:29 and 8:58 (PR!), it appeared that Reyes might have a shot at breaking the 14 minute barrier. The third mile held some slowing and one 71 second lap, that dashed all hopes of breaking 14. Still Reyes rallied to close in 65 seconds over the final 400m, and recorded a big PR. His new personal best mark would rank third on the 'Cats All Time list behind two NCAA Champions (Scott Bauhs and Charlie Serrano). Although Bauhs' 13:31 is quite some distance out there, dipping under the 14 minute barrier seems like just a matter of time if health and consistency are achieved.

Men's Steeplechase: In the history of the Chico State program, only 5 men have broken the 9 minute barrier for the steeplechase. On Friday two 'Cats enjoyed runs under this threshold, with Alex McGirk posting a seasonal debut of 8:57 in the second heat of the Stanford Invitational. Having run an 8:50 a year ago in the same race, Alex was frustrated with the result, but admittedly he struggled during the run with stomach issues. With a huge base of miles and workout behind him, I'm confident that Alex will be a force in the barrier event as we roll into the championship season ahead.

Women's 800m: On Saturday Olivia Watt would double back at the Stanford Invite with a near heat win and new school record 2:10.87 run. Olivia seized the lead down the backstretch of the first lap, and towed the field through 400m in 63 seconds. As the gritty junior ran down the backstretch for the final time the field stretched behind her. USF's Kate Jamboretz held on to Watt's shoulder and with 50m remaining made her move for the win. Watt tried to counter, but had little left in the tank after leading the entire race. Jamboretz would take the win by a fraction of a second over Watt, who would as mentioned previously reduce her own school record by a tenth of a second. Olivia's time is an NCAA provisional qualifier and should grant her entry (along with her 1500 time) into next month's championship meet.

Bailey Henshaw followed up her teammate's race with an impressive and dominant performance of her own. Running on the shoulder of the leaders through the 400, Henshaw took the front heading into the final lap. The powerful stride of Henshaw stretched the field as they passed the 500m mark. With no one able to respond to the move, Bailey would record the heat win with a 2:12.18 crossing the line more than a second in front of her nearest competitor.

Men's 800m: Kyle Medina would double back from Friday's mile win in San Francisco with a 1:52.60 effort at the Stanford Invitational. Medina never looked fully engaged, but as is usually the case, he found a nice gear to close with to carry him to a seasonal best. To Kyle's credit, he was working on some tired legs, and this was his first real 800m test of the season.

Alumni Alert: For those still with us, we had a number of alumni post some impressive marks: Chico 10k school record holder Alia Gray smashed the 16minute barrier for the 5k with a 15:35 effort in the fastest heat at the Stanford Invite. This was Alia's first real race of 2015 and bodes Extremely well for her chances at her favored 10k event that she will contest at this May's Payton Jordan Invitational. http://www.tfrrs.org/results/40020_2444286.html Ayla Granados: The Chico 1500m record holder notched a second place finish (4:23) at the Stanford Invite in the third fastest heat of the day. Anthony Costales: The three time CCAA 5k champ enjoyed a nice 14:15 5k PR at the SF Distance Carnival. Miles Dunbar: Now training in Eugene, OR Dunbar travelled down to SF to nail down a big 14:25 5k PR at the Distance Carnival. Amy Schnittger: CSUC Steeple record holder won the SF Distance Carnival Steeple in a near PR of 10:26.

Now a word from Coach O:
It was an incredible weekend for the Track 'Cats of Chico State as the team diversified into 3 different stadiums over the course of 3 days. The multi crew traveled to Stockton to compete in the Delta Mustang Invitational, the majority of the distance crew went to San Francisco for the SF State Distance Carnival and two vans filled with a variation of sprints, hurdles, jumps, throws and distance athletes went to Palo Alto for the Stanford Invitation.

STOCKTON
The multi-eventers flourished in th mid-year combined-event competition, bringing home 25 PRs between 9 athletes. "Phillthy" Phill Bailey earned the biggest prize of the weekend....an NCAA automatic qualifying mark! His parents Joe and Kelley can book their tickets to Allendale, Phill is a "Michigan Man" now. Phill's score of 7251 moves him into 5th on the school all-time list (1 point past 3-time All-American David Marden). Aaron Boren's score of 6989 from 1987 is removed from the top 10 but remains in our hearts :-) NCAA champion JJ Noble's score of 6994 (2001) is now 10th on the list and the only sub 7K score! For his accomplishments Phill was named CCAA athlete of the week for the second time this season. Meanwhile sophomores Lane Andrews and Scott Pater each PR'd and increased their provisional marks. Andrews scored 6520 and is 7th on the NCAA list while Pater's score of 6324 is 10th.

Brooke Whitburn won the Heptathlon, raising her PR to 4653 and moves her into 9th on the NCAA list. It is the second highest score by a Chico State sophomore (Kelly Clancey scored 4811 in 2009). Sophomore Kylie Herman placed third (4357). Melanie O'Brien scored 4313 to place 4th and break Whitburn's top true freshman score of all-time. Kristen Brunk scored 4345 last year as a red shirt frosh. Brunk has been battling foot, ankle and wrist injuries for most of the season. We were excited to see her back in action as she completed the first day of competition and set herself up for a strong performance next month at the CCAAs in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO
Speaking of San Francisco, the Wildcats lit up the results board at the distance carnival on Friday notching 13 provisional marks!

The Steeplechase was live! Alex Burkhart, a freshman sensation, ran the 2nd fastest time in school record in only her 2nd race in the event. It was a 23 second improvement from her maiden voyage. She placed 4th in the race which was won my Chico State alumna and school record holder Amy Schnittger. Alex is 4th on the national list. McCall Habermehl(11:03) ran a 10sec PR by improving 42 seconds over her first race of the year. Barron Maizland sliced 11 seconds from his PR to win the men's race in 8:55 and rise to 3rd on the NCAA list. Teammate Alex McGuirk ran 8:57 the next day at Stanford and is 4th on the national list. Omar Pullido took 5 seconds off his lifetime best to run 9:18. Junior transfer Brandon Taylor raced his first steeple of the year and finished with a new PR of 9:30.

The 10Ks also produced some NCAA marks that rank at the top of the CCAA. Sophomore Aaron Mora placed 4th with his 15s PR of 29:55 and sits 8th in the NCAA. Freshman Sadie Gastelum tops the CCAA women's list with her PR time of 36:34 (14th in the NCAA). The 5K races were also electric! The men's field had 176 runners. Nick Grubiss (1st year in uniform) placed 26th while meeting the "B" standard (14:27). He sits 10th in the NCAA behind teammates Kyle Medina and Falco DeGiallanardo, who both contested the 1 Mile on Friday. Allan Cuevas PR'd and reached a provo mark with his time of 14:34. In the ladies race Quetta Peinado hit a 2 second PR and a "B" mark with her 17:16. She now is the conference leader in the event. Medina and DeGiallanardo competed in the "Elite Mile" race. Medina won the race in a time of 4:05.12, which converts to a 3:46.96 time in the 1,500 meters. He is 7th in the nation while Falco DG is 13th.

Our ladies contested the open 1500 meters where Olivia Watt nailed down a "B" mark with a time of 4:29.62. Lora James' 4:34 was PR. Then in the 800 Bailey Henshaw placed 3rd with a provisional time of 2:11.91.

STANFORD
Meanwhile 32.9 miles south the Wildcats were revving up in Palo Alto.

Aja Jones made a mad dash around the oval recording a season best and CCAA leading 56.50 in the "quarter". Ashley Jones blazed a 12.30 in the "century". The 2 paired up with Marina Berrios and Ruby Davis to run a 47.90. Sean Goetzl ran 14.9 in the 110HH to qualify for the finals the next day.

On Saturday Olivia Watt and Bailey Henshaw put on the Cardinal and white uniform again, this time they were racing at Cobb Track and Angel Field on the Stanford campus instead of Cox stadium at SF State. Watt shaved .04 off her school record in the 800 that she set last year. Her new PR of 2:10.87 is 9th in D2. Henshaw won her heat in 2:12.18.

The Grande Finale of an amazing weekend was showcased by the lady 4x4 crew. Once again Watt and Henshaw were in action, teaming up with Berrios and Erskine. Erskine did the honors of "coming out of the hole" burning up the track with a 57.1 split. The two middle distance runners hammered out 58 splits and then it was up to Berrios to bring home the "stick" against some pretty big schools. The RS frosh received the baton in 5th place...and within the first turn passed Wisconsin and the University of Washington. Notre Dame, the winner of the race was at least 15m ahead and out of reach. Just ahead of Marina was the Stanford Cardinal and she had her sites on them. By the time they reached the 300m and entered the final straight the two athletes were even! Together those two raced down towards the finish line neck and neck until Marina slipped by her in the final 10 meters to beat Stanford by .09. Chico State's time of 3:50.49 ranks as the 3rd best time in school history.

And so our team now enters the final segment of our regular season. This weekend we host the 2-Day Distance Carnival and Twilight Invitational. Next week a van or 2 will head down to Mt. SAC for some more fast distance racing while the majority of the team heads to the East Bay Legacy meet in Hayward. A bye week comes up after that and then we embark upon the most important trip of the year...the California Collegiate Athletic Association championships. Getting close!