I'm happy to report that the 'Cats have enjoyed another successful weekend of racing, this week at Sac State's Hornet invite. The majority of the distance crew competed at the Hornet Invite, against a combination of area DI's (Stanford, CAL, USF, Santa Clara, etc..), some DII's, and a number of JC's. Another handful of 'Cats stayed at home and participated in an intra-squad 3k time trial on Friday night. As all results were compiled there were a good number of PR's and top placings to solidify our early season progress. Topping the list of great performances, was the debut barrier run of multi-time All American Kyle Medina. The senior recorded CSUC's #2 AT steeple in his first stab at the event, clocking an NCAA Automatic 8:51 final time. Since we're talking about this amazing run, I'll start with this race in my meet review below even it was one of the last events run.

Men's 3k Steeple: Kyle Medina has enjoyed his fair share of success since donning the Chico State uniform some 3.5 years ago. His first two years in uniform the focus of training was the 800 and 1500 distances. As a true frosh he recorded a 1:50 for the two lapper, and as a RS Soph he broke Scott Bauhs' school record for the 1500 with a 3:41 run at Azusa's Bryan Clay Invite. A year ago we switched emphasis to the 1500/5k feeling as though his future might be in the longer distances. The added distance workouts produced a 13:54 5k and resulted in a second 2nd place NCAA finish in the 1500 (behind 3:39 performer David Ribich) and an All American run in the 5k.

On paper it would seem obvious that another year of similar work should result in a sub 3:40 for the 1500 and perhaps a sub 13:40 for 5k, but of course Western Oregon's 3:39 guy returns for his senior year, as does Adams State's Sydney Gidabuday (13:36 as a rs frosh). Then there were the few days where Kyle would come into the stadium from an aerobic run while yours truly was working with the steeplers on hurdling, and he'd randomly take a 36 inch hurdle (sometimes backward. ugh) with relative ease. This fall the steeple project started with a few one-on-one meetings to teach the basics of hurdling. Everything has gone swimmingly and Kyle has picked up hurdling almost as well as any athlete that we've had here.

Fast forward to Sac State's Hornet invite where we would send quite a talented crew to the start. Connor Fisher ran an impressive 9:02 debut steeple at this meet a year ago, but tweaked his ankle at Mt Sac and was never really able to improve from his maiden voyage (although he would win the CCAA title in Chico last May). Fisher was fit and looked ready to dip under the 9:00 threshold going into Saturday's run. Joining the talented duo up front was Junior Jack Johnson, who's quickly turning into one of the great stories in the history of our program. Johnson didn't make our roster as a frosh, but fought hard to just squeak onto it as a RS Frosh the next fall. Since then things have progressed nicely. Johnson clocked a 9:05 steeple a year ago in his first year doing the event, and also ran an impressive 14:22 5k. Most recently Johnson notched a 3:54 1500m PR at our Wildcat meet a week ago.



From the gun the 'Cats took control of the front, with Connor Fisher doing much of the early work. By the kilometer mark the lead group was the Chico trio and Humboldt's CCAA steeple runner-up Dustyn Salomon (9:08 pr in '17). By 1600 (4:43ish) Johnson had fallen off the lead group, and Medina took the front, looking like a young bird confident in taking flight for the first time. As Medina notched 70 second laps for revolutions 4,5,6 and 7 Fisher slid off the heavy pace, but still looked within himself running in second overall. Humboldt's Salomon worked hard to maintain a near 9:00 rhythm but the chase of Medina and Fisher had put him in a tough place with 1k to go. Jack Johnson would capitalize on Salomon's tiring legs as the Chico runner moved into 3rd place with 600m remaining in the race. All three 'Cats closed quite well as Medina would reach the line first with a remarkable 8:51.66 winning time. Connor Fisher would join the sub 9:00 club with his 8:57 PR in second, while Johnson would just miss the 9:00 threshold by 1.03 seconds with his 9:01 PR.

As mentioned previously Medina's mark falls just 3 seconds shy of Alex McGuirk's 8:48 school record, that earned him the NCAA runner-up finish in 2015. Fisher becomes the 'Cats 7th sub 9:00 runner in the history of the program, and ranks him #7 on the A.T. CSUC list. Johnson's shiny PR bumps him into the #8 spot on the CSUC list as CSUC legends Mark Dailey and Tim Tollefson were unceremoniously bumped from the school's record board. Medina, Fisher and Johnson also rank 1,2,3 on the current DII NCAA list.

Women's Steeple: Alex Burkhart is a determined and fierce competitor, qualities that have driven her to break our school's record in the steeplechase several times, including a year ago when she won the Hornet meet with a school record. On Saturday Burkhart looked determined to outdo her '17 performance from the gun, but a series of rough water jumps left her off her normal rhythm and Germany's Lisa Tertsch seized the opportunity taking the lead of the race in the fourth lap. Tertsch would sail to an impressive 10:19 win while Burkhart would cross the finish some 11 seconds behind, which was easily good enough for 2nd place and a time that should secure her 4th straight trip to the NCAA championships.

Lost in the race at the front was the impressive debut of Haley Boynton. The pre-race talk with Boynton centered around NOT following the front group in the early laps, knowing that women's steeples are oftentimes poorly paced. Boynton followed the race plan to perfection, starting around 8th or 9th in the early laps, and working into 3rd position in the final 400m of the race. A nice close gave Boynton an impressive 11:14 debut, which might be the fastest debut this coach has witnessed outside of Burkhart's 10:50's run some 4 years ago. Boynton will be one to watch in the coming weeks and years.

Men's 5,000m: Chico would send 4 men to the start of the 5k. RS Frosh Remington Breeze and Wyatt Baxter would lead the way, with Sophomore Zach Chamberlain and Junior Daniel Harrigan-Cota also shooting for solid early season marks. With sub 14 guy Seth Totten (post collegiate) leading the way, the pace from the start was honest and steady. Breeze and Baxter committed to a 70-71 second rhythm from the start hitting 4:40/9:24 splits at 1600/3200m. Caught between groups Breeze did some nice work pulling his good friend and teammate through 3200m. As Breeze began to tire a bit Baxter took over and pulled the pair closer and closer a small chase pack ahead that ran some distance behind Totten. Baxter would finish in 14:41,which sliced a second from his previous PR set at the conclusion of the '17 season. Breeze's fearless running was rewarded with a 10+ second PR of 14:45. Harrigan-Cota, who's missed a fair amount of training due to sickness and small injuries, held on for a 15:15 season opener, while Chamberlain would find the tape some 7 seconds later.

Women's 5,000m: Sophomore Nora Pizzella would join teammates Danielle Oden and Hope Morgan in the women's 5,000m. Unfortunately all three have dealt with a number of setbacks this spring, so PR's were out of the question. Pizzella hovered at 17:50's pace (PR is 17:39) until the third mile, when splits slid somewhat, and the sophomore would finish 13th in 18:10. Oden, who was pulled out well beyond her capabilities just to stay with the pack in heat 1, struggled late as well, recording a 19:11 opener. Running in heat II Hope Morgan would open her season with a hard fought 19:14 time.

Men's 800m: Juniors Derek Morton (1:49 PR) and Michael Good (1:51 PR) stepped into the 16 runner Heat I with a slew of fast DI guys to contend with. Morton placed himself in 3rd position through the bell (reached in 55-point). Good had started a bit on the conservative side, and had plenty of work to do in lap 2 to contend for a top-3 to 5 spot at the finish. Morton made a decisive move to the front as he approached the 600m mark, taking the rail and holding his position to the line for the heat win. Good would move up nicely but ran out of real-estate in the final 50m, placing 6th in 1:53.07. The two 'Cats had little time to soak in the solid early season effort before Humboldt's Brayden Leach notched a huge 4 second PR while taking Heat II in 1:51.13. CCAA's should be fun! True frosh Emilio DeSantis lowered his PR a second while racing to a 1:54.85 while placing 5th in heat II.

Women's 800m: Elyssa Schall took another nice step forward this week clipping over a second off her previous 2 lap PR while placing 4th in her heat in 2:16.05. Given that Schall ran negative splits in this effort yours truly is confident that she's in at least 2:14-2:15 fitness currently. Senior Jacquie Adams has Finally enjoyed some consistent training without injury or setbacks. The result was a beautifully run 2:19 heat win in her season opener.

Women's 1500m: Desirae Jones would record her second 1500m PR in 2 weeks, finishing in 4:49.02 in heat II. The sophomore will now tackle her specialty the 5k at the SF Distance Carnival.

3k Time Trial Results: Since we have no meets with the 3k event offered, we've run our own time trial at University Stadium for the past several years on the eve of the Hornet Invite. This year's results were quite promising as we look ahead to future 5k's with this group.

Men's 3k TT Results run on Friday night @ CSUC:
1. Eddie King (Jr) 8:24.1 (8:47 in '17)
2. Trad Berti (fr) 8:25.91
3. Arturo Arevalo (Jr) 8:28.26 (8:40 previous PR)
4. Jason Intravaia (Jr) 8:28.51 (8:46 in '17)
5. Jhavahn Holston (fr) 8:42.16 (9:50's 3200m PR in '17)
6. Steven Velarde (Jr) 9:22.19 (Sick)
Needless to say King, Berti, Arevalo, Intravaia and Holston all recorded substantial PR's.

Women's 3,000m:
1. Alexandria Tucker (RS Frosh) 10:01.06 (10:40's in '17)

A nice PR for Tucker who's prepping for some big 5k's and 10k's in the coming weeks.

Next Up: The 'Cat will have a weekend off racing before tackling the Stanford and SF Distance Carnival meets.