It was another long and exciting trip to the Bay as the 'Cats split their distance squads between the Stanford and SF Distance Carnival meets once again. As is usually the case, the two meets produced some big PR's and a solid number of NCAA marks. Unfortunately this year's SF Distance Carnival was moved to the Chabot Community College track due to an issue with the SF facility (protruding tree roots in outer lanes). The move, coupled with unseasonably warm temps in Hayward, created some challenging conditions for those not running at Stanford.
Headlining the action was the incredible run of Kyle Medina who shattered our school's all time record in the 3k steeple in only his second attempt at the event. Most who view his 8:44 time will never know how close he was to running UNDER 8:40. The senior held the lead of the race through the final water barrier, and only 1 barrier and 140m of running stood between himself and an 8:30-something finish time. Alas, Medina miss-timed his final take-off and his trail knee slammed the barrier. As he fell head first into the track surface, the Boise and BYU athletes that he was once stride for stride with, sailed to the finish in World leading 8:38/8:39 marks. A stunned Medina took a few seconds to get to his feet and then sprinted (the best he could with a bruised knee) to the line. As of this late writing, Medina's knee has been slow to heal, so we're hoping that he'll be able to take another shot at sub 8:40 at Stanford's Payton Jordan meet late in the month.
Since there were so many of our athletes racing through the weekend, and too many races to accurately describe, I'll share the times posted by our athletes at each distance between the two meets.
List of Times run by 'Cats at each distance: Men's 800m: Derek Morton (jr) 1:50.64 Heat Winner @ Stanford, 4th fastest Collegian on the day. Michael Good (jr) 1:52.82 2nd in his heat @ Stanford Matthew Herrera (fr) 1:55.72 PR Emilio DeSantis (fr) 1:56.71 Women's 800m: Jacquie Adams (Sr) 2:19.04 (Negative split, seasonal best) Brittany Anselmo (Sr 2:28.76 Men's 1500m: Derek Morton (jr) 3:48.61 NCAA Provisional, Seasonal best. Matthew Herrera (Fr) 3:59.01 Women's 1500m: Jacquie Adams (Sr) 4:50.02 Seasonal Best Veronica Garcia (Sr) 5:22.01 Men's Steeple: Kyle Medina (Sr) 8:44.40 NCAA Auto, School Record, 7th in Invite race @ Stanford Connor Fisher (Sr) 9:04.48 NCAA provisional Jack Johnson (Jr) 9:05.74 NCAA provisional Women's Steeple: Alex Burkhart (sr) 10:16.19 NCAA Auto, Second fastest in NCAA-DII Haley Boynton (fr) 10:58.33 NCAA provisional, #10 A.T. CSUC Nicole Anthony (Jr) 11:16.55 Seasonal Debut Men's 5,000m: Eddie King (Jr) 14:33 NCAA provisional, PR Jason Intravaia (jr) 14:41 PR Arturo Arevalo (jr) 14:49.14 Teddy Kassa (jr) 15:04 Women's 5,000m: Alex Tucker (fr) 16:57.57 NCAA provisional, PR, Heat winner and 4th fastest of day out of 150 5k runners! Hannah Dorman (Sr) 17:03.78 NCAA provisional, First race of season. Desirae Jones (Jr) 18:30.95 Danielle Oden (Sr) 18:44.56 Men's 10,000m: Wyatt Baxter (Fr) 31:09 Zach Chamberlain (So) 31:58 Women's 10,00m: Kayden Carpenter (So)37:09 5 seconds off PR. First race of season. Hope Morgan (Fr) 39:48
Instead of my normal breakdown of each race I'll talk a bit about some of the highlights for the 'Cats between the two meets.
Derek Morton: The junior from Mt Carmel HS in San Diego enjoyed a nice 15/8 double at the Stanford invite. On Friday Morton raced to a 3:48 1500 despite running almost two full laps in lane 2. Some better tactics and improved fitness should send him under the 3:45 threshold soon. On Saturday Morton ran among the chase pack in his heat at Stanford before powering down the backstretch of the final lap and overhauling the early race leader from Pitt. A strong final 100m sealed the heat win for Morton who even posed for fans and photogs throwing up 2 fingers as a "Division II" gesture.. as he was the only Non DI athlete in the heat. His final time (1:50.64) is an NCAA provisional mark and was good enough for the 4th best collegiate time on the day.
Alex Burkhart: The senior from Rancho Cucamonga (Los Osos HS) has picked up right where she left off in 2017, when she broke the school record 3 times, before losing it to teammate McCall Habermehl in the NCAAA final (Record is 10:12 and Burkhart's PR=10:14). On Friday Alex ran in the fastest steeple heat of the day at Stanford that included NCAA champ Allie Ostrander of Boise State. Thankfully Burkhart has plenty of experience and toughness, and locked into running her own race. For 1600m she ran under school record threshold, but the hot early pace took it's toll over the final kilometer. A strong final lap gave Burkhart a 9th place finish and a near PR 10:16.19 finish time. Her mark ranks her second among Division II barrier racers on the season to date. Stay tuned!
Alex Tucker: Remember this name because Alex Tucker IS the future of our women's distance team. The RS Frosh from Danville is making impressive strides as her second year develops. An 8 mile tempo the week before at a 6:04 average per mile was a glimpse into this young women's current fitness and on Friday in warm conditions she lowered her 5k PR from 17:43 to 16:57. Tucker ran the majority of the race among a lead pack that whittled down with each passing lap as the race approached the second half. Rolling through 3200m in 10:55 Tucker looked very controlled and ready for the tough laps ahead. With 1200 remaining Alex took the lead for a lap, before being overtaken by another athlete. By this time the lead pack had been reduced to Alex and 4-5 DI athletes from across the country. With 600m remaining and knowing that if she was to break 17, she needed to go NOW, Tucker took the front for good, tossing in a 75 second revolution. Former Cuesta JC State JC XC Champ and current SLO runner Maranda Daschian followed closely, but a final 200m of 35 sealed the win for Tucker, who would be the lone finisher to cross the line under 17:00 in Heat II. Her time would make her the 4th fastest woman on the day (note: there were a Lot of 16-something seeds, but it was Warm!). Alex' time makes her the 12th fastest Wildcat ever and the first frosh to eclipse the 17:00 mark. Next up (after a 1500 at Chico this week) will be her maiden 10k voyage at Mt Sac. Stay tuned!
Hannah Dorman: Dorman is the defending CCAA 5k champ and would go on to place 4th in the NCAA 10k final in the '17 season. An early season injury had pushed her seasonal debut off until Chabot, but Hannah had enjoyed some strong workouts in the weeks leading up to Friday's run. Running in the first heat of the women's 5k in 80ish degree temps Hannah rolled through 3200m in 10:50 in the thick of the talented heat. Despite slowing over the final 1600m Dorman still held on to finish 7th of 18 in the Invitational heat in 17:03. Although it wasn't the time she was looking for (PR is 16:45) there was NO doubt the senior had put it all on the line and raced hard. A great rust buster and one that will help her appreciate the cooler conditions ahead as she chases a 10k PR at Mt Sac in a few weeks.
Eddie King: A junior from Live Oak High in Gilroy has made some nice strides since running a 14:44 a year ago. A summer in Tahoe sprinboarded him to a great XC season, and a slew of solid workouts this fall. He'd also PR'd in the 1500 (3:54) and 3k (8:24) in recent weeks. On Saturday he went out trying to run in the 14:20 range, but a few aggressive laps at mid race seemed to catch up with him over the final 1600m. King held on tight and closed well to secure an 11 second PR of 14:33. I fully expect another step forward at Mt Sac or Azusa in a few weeks if all goes well.
Haley Boynton: The rs frosh from Lodi HS enjoyed a very nice second attempt at the 3k steeple racing to a #10 A.T. CSUC and sub 11 minute mark despite running in 80 degree temperatures. One of the toughest competitors on the roster, Boynton dug in during the difficult second half laps and passed a number of competitors before finishing 8th in the second fastest heat of the day and nailing down her first NCAA provisional mark. With better conditions and a similar effort Boynton appears to be a threat to break into the 10:40's this season!
DMR Madness:
In 2017 I decided to sign up a men's DMR team at the SF meet on Day 2, since it's so rare to have that opportunity. The result was an exciting win by the guys and even a modest meet record.
Fast forward to 2018 and yours truly signed up a men's and women's relay. The men's team was to be Connor Fisher (1200), Emilio DeSantis (400), Jack Johnson (800) and Kyle Medina (1600).. basically swinging our steeplers back for some double duty on Saturday after Stanford barrier runs. Given Medina's knee's resemblance to a grapefruit, Arturo Arevalo was subbed in after a Friday 5k at Chabot. Fisher would lock in with a nice duel with a scrappy Humboldt runner who hung with him through 65, and 60 second splits through 800m. the pair had separated from the field and Fisher dug deep in the third lap to finally gain some space from the Jack 1200 guy at the handoff.
Frosh Emilo DeSantis ran a clean 50 point split to give the 'Cats another second or two advantage, before Steeple/5k guy Jack Johnson would try his hand at the 2 lapper. Johnson who'd anchored the '17 win ran a nice 1:57 split giving Arturo (AKA Turbo) a good 5ish second lead over Humboldt's 9:04 steeple guy Dustyn Salamon. After a 29 second initial 200m (oops) Turbo cooled the jets a bit and cruised through 400 in 61. He then recorded back to back 65 second laps which kept the lead in check. During the last lap the announcer began talking about the meet record that the 'Cats had set the previous year and in hearing this Turbo began to hit the jets again, closing in 61 seconds and clipping .6 seconds off the '17 'Cats meet record! ;v)
The women's DMR was a VERY exciting affair. The 'Cats would send another distance based team to the line with steepler Haley Boynton leading off, and 800m runner Brittany Anselmo running the single lapper, followed by Desirae Jones (5k runner) taking the 800 duties, and giving the close to frosh 5k/10k gal Alex Tucker.
Boynton ran a pretty conservative early lap to the 1200 sitting in the main pack, before yours truly encouraged her to move to the front to get the pace going. Before she could take the lead, another team cranked up the pace a bit after a slowish 80 second first circuit. The second lap was covered in 77 and now it was time for Boynton to make a hard push for home. That she did as the RS Frosh covered the final lap in a nice 69 seconds, giving the 'Cats a bit of breathing room at the front of the race.
In looking back, we would need every second of the lead that Haley had created because Humboldt's 2:13 800m gal quickly caught and put distance on Anselmo (who's missed a lot of training this winter). A 64 second split didn't help the 'Cats but again that early cushion provided by Boynton kept us close enough to the Jacks. Desirae Jones ran a very solid 2:23ish two lap split, holding her ground well as Humboldt handed off into the anchor leg with a 5 second lead over the 'Cats. With Humboldt's 4:29 NCAA 1500m qualifier anchoring, vs our frosh 5k gal, our chances didn't look great on paper. but Humboldt's anchor Tatiana Gillick has a history of cracking at times when the pressure is high.
Alex Tucker ran a Beautiful anchor leg cutting 2-3 seconds off the Gillick's lead, and the announcer's voice stating this seemed to weigh heavy on the shoulders of the Humboldt runner. In the second lap Gillick was noticeably running tight, where as Tucker was on the hunt, and about to capture her prey. Approaching 800m Tucker caught and without hesitation passed Gillick. This move in itself was perhaps the key to the 'Cats eventual victory as Gillick appeared to be running in quicksand, where as Tucker was sailing along at an even 75 second clip. Gillick has also been known to uncork ferocious kicks over the final 200m of races. Over the last lap and running with a now 4-5 second advantage Tucker and Chico appeared to be on their way to an easy victory. This is before Tatiana hit 200m and began to turn the legs over and extend her stride. With 100m remaining we had a race and the announcer stated as much to the crowd. Thankfully Alex had another gear to finish with as well, and the Chico runner would hit the tape just 1 second before the hard charging Gillick. The race was one of the most exciting of the weekend, and well worth the decision to make it happen. Onward to 2019!
Next up for the 'Cats is the Chico Twilight Invitational to be held on Saturday afternoon/evening on April 7th. Most of the distance crew will step down to 1500's before re-visiting the longer stuff Mt Sac weekend down south. Mid Distance will split their efforts between the 800 and the 1500 on Saturday.
