On Saturday the 'Cats enjoyed a rare opportunity to compete on their home track at the annual Wildcat Invitational. Although the competition wasn't overly impressive, with just a handful of other colleges in attendance, the 'Cats stacked all of their distance and mid distance folks in the 1500's and 800's, thus insuring solid competition for everyone involved. Many of our 5k/10k types laced up the spikes for a rare 15/8 double, a week before many will tackle their first 5k of the year in SF next weekend.

Overall the results were quite positive. Three Wildcat men notched NCAA provisional marks in the 1500m A heat, led by RS Frosh Kyle Medina who rolled to a 3:49.09 PR. On the women's side Olivia Watt narrowly missed an NCAA provisional qualifier as she solo'd an impressive 4:34 while winning the fast heat convincingly. Most doubled back with good results, considering the short rest between events. Overall it was another fun day at University Stadium.

Men's 1500m: It is a luxury to have an All American at your disposal for pacing duties if needed, and this week our go-to guy for a quick early pace was Alex McGuirk our school record holder in the steeplechase (8:50) who also boasts 3:50 1500m leg-speed. Alex' goal was to reach the 800m point in an evenly split 2:04 and then see how much further he could go from there. As McGuirk hit 400m in 60.9 a line of 12 guys rolled through on his heels. The second lap saw a bit of slowing of the tempo, but Alex still managed to hit 800m in the desired 2:04 split. McGuirk made another 150m before teammate Kyle Medina rolled up on his shoulder, signaling that he was ready to make a run for a sub 3:50, and pacing was no longer necessary. As Medina assumed the fore, McGuirk stepped onto to the infield, and the race was on.

As Medina quickened the tempo only teammate Falco DiGiallonardo was able to respond. The pair looked very smooth hitting the bell, and off the penultimate turn DiGiallonardo took the lead down the backstretch. If Falco could close well his 3:52 PR would certainly be sliced considerably, as would Medina's 3:50 mark set last season. Medina drew even with DiGiallonardo coming off the final turn and built the slimmest of gaps down the final straight. Announcer Clinton Hayes and many in the stands had Kyle hitting the tape under a touch under 3:49, but alas as automatic timing nearly always does left the final verdict a bit slower with a time of 3:49.09. Still Falco was able to join Medina in the sub 3:50 club with his 3:49.49 final time. Not to be outdone in the PR and NCAA mark category, teammate Barron Maizland (a steeple specialist) hit the line in 3:51.02. Red Shirting Junior Will Reyes would also record a big PR with his 3:53 effort (previous PR was 3:58). All told, no less than 9 Wildcats would eclipse the 4:00 mark in this heat, which might be a first for our program.

Men's 1500m: Heat 2 Red shirting true frosh Marcus Montalvo an alum of Mt Carmel HS in San Diego, would take the win in the second heat, running to a nice 4:01 1500 debut. Teammate Brandon Taylor would take second, just a tick of the clock behind, while true frosh Cameron Ashbaugh would finish 3rd in 4:02.

Women's 1500m: Junior Olivia Watt had a plan to lead the entire race if needed, while trying to hit a low 4:30's mark. Never one to back down from her plans, Watt would follow through nicely. After hitting 400m in 73.4, Watt recorded a 73.0 revolution, and then a 73.1 third lap (are you sensing a trend here?). Olivia would cover the final 300m in 54.5 seconds, which is.. Yes, you got it 73 pace! Watt's final time of 4:34 is her quickest season opening effort, but a bit shy of her 4:28 PR set with competition last spring.

Not to be lost in the Watt show at the front, were the efforts of the rest of the 'Cats. Lora James closed very quickly over the final 500m while moving up from 12th to an eventual 4th place finish. Red shirting Camila Turati a true frosh and El Toro Alum would also close well while recording a 4:45 debut effort. Fellow true frosh Alex Burkhart also looked great finishing in 4:45, with Quetta Peinado just on her heels. RS Frosh Hannah Dorman enjoyed a nice 4:50 PR, as did Sadie Gastelum who actually ran her very first track race since arriving in Chico two years ago (injuries).

Women's 1500m: Heat 2: In Heat two, true frosh Danielle Oden mixed it up at the front of the pack for much of the race before losing a footrace to the line. Her 5:02 was a good maiden voyage, for the eventual 10k specialist.

Men's 800m: Barron Maizland did much of the work in the fastest heat of the men's 800m, taking the field through 400m in a modest 58 second split. During the third 200m Kyle Medina made his way to Maizland's heels, and poured on the gas down the final straightaway eventually notching the negative splitted 1:54 victory.

Red Shirting true frosh Cameron Ashbauh finished off a nice double with his 1:59 win in the second heat of the men's 800m. Ashbauh a product of Mission Viejo HS had run a 4:02 1500m earlier in the meet.

Women's 800m: Women's Heat I - 800m: Chico 1500m school record holder Ayla Granados solo'd a 2:11.26 PR from the front. Former teammate Bailey Henshaw seemed to race on her heels in this one, allowing Granados to run away from her, and eventually losing a stretch run with Butte standout Sara Brandt. Henshaw would rebound nicely though with a 57 carry in the 4 X 4!

Women's 800m Heat II: Quetta Peinado would double back with a near-win in Heat 2 of the women's 800m.

Next Up: A good portion of the Distance-'Cats will step up to the 5k distance at this weekend's Johnny Mathis Invite in San Francisco. Stay tuned for some hoped quick early season marks.

Coach Hanf take on the meet: It was another epic home meet for the Chico State track team last weekend. There is something about our "home cookin' that produces stellar performances. For a team that really enjoys to travel, we sure do like our own back yard!

PRs and record marks were accumulated throughout the warm spring day. Both our women and men easily won the meet outdistancing CCAA rival schools Humboldt and East Bay as well as Southern Oregon, Monterey Bay and William Jessup (coached by Chico alum Veronica Opazo Graves!). Butte College was also there.

Sophomore Brooke Whitburn won the long jump, outdueling fellow Humboldt Heptathlete Kate Earle 18'9" to 18'6". Chico heps Kylie Herman and Ary Mires were 3rd and 4th with jumps of 17'9" and 17'8" respectively. Whitburn also won the Triple Jump with a distance of 37'5" (9th all-time). Ron Taylor made his jumps debut for the year with a leap of 22-11. He tied redshirting classmate Jordan Riggins. Riggins won the 200 in 22.09 and helped his redhirt team win the 4 x 100 in a time of 42.53. Not too shabby for our redhsirting athletes!

Our "A"team, anchored by Taylor, crossed the finish line in first with a season best 42.40 but for the second week in a row were called for passing the stick outside the zone! (Sorry Coach Hanf they were second...I've got the pictures to prove it - TC) This author (Hanf) would like to rescind his comments from last week about the team getting caught "cheating". The team of course were giving it their best effort and certainly were not intentionally trying to overshoot the exchange zone. More work is obviously needed to perfect the passes.

Our ladies relay team continues to slice off time...this week was 1.2 seconds faster than the previous. Taylor Walker-Wimberly (TW Squared), Ashley Jones, Aja Erskine and Ruby (Rubic's Cube) Davis ran the 4th fastest time in school history (47.41). Our "B" team of Ary Mires, Kayla Lawson, Marina Berrios and September Rodriguez were 4th in a time of 48.88. Jones later ran a 12.20 in the 100 trials and then a 12.25 to win the finals. TW Squared was 2nd in the finals with a season best 12.57. Davis ran a season best 12.69 but did not contest the final. Erskine was the 400 winner in a time of 57.56.

One of the shining events of the day was the men's pole vault where Chico was getting PRs left and right. The ladies warmed it up well with season best heights for Taylor Sack (11'8") and Kayla Vazquez (11'2"). Sack went on to place 2nd in the javelin (122'0") behind Meghan "Bubbles" Delamater (125'11") and ahead of 3rd place finisher Whitburn (118-8). Decathletes "Fast" Lane "Train" Andrews and Scott Pater "Tot" are continuing to make incredible gains, especially in the pole vault! They both entered their freshmen year last year with no experience in the event. On Saturday both sophomores took their game to another level. Andrews cleared 14'3" and Pater went over 14'9". They placed 4th and 5th. Fellow sophomore Justin Woo was 2nd with a new PR of 15'3".

The big sensation was Phill Bailey. His PR prior to the meet was 13'11". Not only did he clear 14'3" along with all of his teammates, he kept going...clearing 15'3" with Woo and then up and over 15'9". When the official asked what height he wanted next he vehemently said SIXTEEN. He then cleared it! He is now a provo qualifier in the decathlon, long jump AND Pole Vault. The school record of 16'7 1/2" is suddenly getting a scare. Phill "Philly Cheesteak" Bailey has learned to vault! Many kudos go out to his vault coach John Brunk and to fellow vault coach "Hurricane" Katrina Rodriguez (2010 NCAA Champ). Dallas Wilson was a triple threat in the throws rings...his 3 ring circus produced two PRs and a season best. He won the shot put (50'0") and hammer (164'3"0 and was 4th in the discus (149'0"). Kudos as well to coach Zach Wales.

Another shining moment of the day was the 1500m. It was great to have our distance squad back in full force! The cardinal and white were dominant. Olivia Watt (school record holder in the 800) was victorious in the 1500 in a hand time of 4:34. Unfortunately the timing crew was unable to capture the picture and those times are not reported in the attached spreadsheet. Hand times have been submitted. The athletes will of course run faster as the season progresses but it stinks to not get a time for your hard efforts. The Chico ladies looked terrific!

The men's race was stunning to see, producing 3 provisional qualifying marks. RS freshmen Kyle "funky cold" Medina and Falco"catch me if you can" DiGiallanardo closed their last 800 in 2:00 flat! Their 1st and second place times of 3:49.09 and 3:49.49 currently lead the nation in division 2. Steeplechaser Barron "Bloody Red" Maizland also hit a provisional time (3:51.02) to place 3rd. Chico athletes in uniform and as redshirts placed 1 through 17 in the 40 man field! Look out CCAA! Medina doubled back to also win the 800 in a time of 1:54.93. Maizland was 2nd in 1:55.19 and DiGiallanardo completed the sweep with a 1:56.08.

Tristan Lake improved his provisional qualifying mark in the 400m Hurdles and his time of 52.92 moves him past Manny Trevino's teammate Doug "Skull" Johnson (1965) on the all-time list....5th best in our history book. Sean Goetzl was second in the race with a season best 54.62, but he was also the champion of the 110HH with a CCAA-leading 14.73. The meet was capped with a couple of thrilling relay races. Competition was stronger in the ladies race. Southern Oregon got out of the gates with their two fastest runners. We held our own with Berrios opening up in a 59.1 and Watt looping in 59.3. Half miler Bailey Henshaw closed up 15 plus meter gap in a hurry and blazed past the opponent on the homestretch with a 57.7 split to give anchor runner Aja Erskine a lead. Aja comfortably navigated the open land in front of her in a 58.1 closing leg to seal the victory for the Wildcats.

The men ran away with it from the start. Still running without our ace Geoff Brown (he'll be back in action this week in San Francisco...he dominated today's Dollar-And-A-Half workout), the men opened up with a 51.2 split from Chris Sanchez. Philly Cheese Steak blazed a 48.6 and Lake almost matched with his 48.8. Lane Train brought it home in 50.0 to give the team a season best 3:18.77 and a lead in the conference list.

For those of you in the Bay Area, come check us out this weekend. We will be competing at the Johnny Mathis Invitational at San Francisco State. Please enjoy the pictures. Most are provided by Jena Turner's mom Janine. She is fantastic! The lesser quality one is from my phone.