PUEBLO, CO - The Wildcat track team finished their season at the NCAA Championships in Pueblo, Colorado last week. It was definitely a bitter-sweet finish to the season for the Chico crew. In the new-look NCAA (where times have dropped Substantially to get to the big dance) the 'Cats qualified just 6 women total. Sprinters Danielle Bacon, Savannah Bailey, Taylor Lee, and Chloe Taylor had combined to run a 3:43 1600m relay at the Last Chance to grab a spot into the NCAA meet. Chloe Taylor would also be a top seed with her 58.5 second 400 hurdle school record. The distance crew would be represented by Marissa D'Atri (steeple/5k) and Hannah Tiffany (10k/5k).
D'Atri had enjoyed a very productive season leading into NCAA's, rolling to a 10:16 steeple PR (#3 A.T. CSUC, #5 DII NCAA), and most recently smashed our school's 5k record with her 16:14 run at the last chance meet. Tiffany also carried some great momentum into the NCAA meet running her two qualifying marks (34:58-10k/ 16:33-5k) at the CCAA Champs and Last Chance meets. The week following Last Chance was a very bitter-sweet one for Hannah, who injured her calf coming off the big 5k PB. Hannah was forced to take 7 straight days away from running, during which she found that she'd barely made the NCAA fields in both the 10k and 5k events. Nothing like staring at 15k of racing with just 3 modest days of running in the 10 days leading up to the Championships. That was the situation that Hannah faced in preparing for her first track championships.
The other main factor that Really made things more difficult for our two distance women (and plenty of others from across the country) was the fact that they would be racing at 4,900ft above sea level, and the Colorado-based athletes would have a distinct advantage against their sea level competitors. To help level the playing field, D'Atri slept in an altitude tent the final half of the semester. Tiffany's tent was never deployed unfortunately as the motor was too loud for her roommates' liking.
On to the race summaries:
Thursday May 25
Steeple Prelims:
Marissa began our competition with a second-heat steeple prelim run. The top-4 would advance to the final automatically, but a top-five finish, and a time that was quicker than 8th place in heat-1 would also guarantee a spot. Marissa did a PERFECT job of doing the least that was needed to advance while taking 5th in her heat in 10:52. Late in the run Marissa moved into 4th for a brief second, after an Adams State athlete fell into the water in front of her. The Adams runner panicked, and strained to catch and re-pass Marissa, who knew she didn't need to beat her, while cruising to the line 5th in a 10:52 time.
10k Final:
Hannah Tiffany went into Thursday's 10k with a total of 12 miles under her belt in the 10 days leading up to the run. To add to her challenge, she was ranked 21st of the 22 entrants, And this would be her first race at altitude. The Nevada Union HS alum shrugged off the less than ideal run-up, and pre-race rankings, rolling with a large main group through early splits of 5:38 and 11:18 (1600/3200). The three pre-race favorites had split from the group early, and the main pack (probably 12 strong) was travelling fast enough to shake 7-8 women from the pace. Hannah was locked in to the group that contained most of the All American spots, until the 11th lap, when everything seemed to catch up with her in a hurry. Hannah reached 5k around 17:52, but 20-30 meters off the group. The second half of the run was certainly one of the longest 5k's that Hannah has run to date. She would consider dropping out, but ultimately found the strength to finish the race, matching her pre-race ranking with her 21st place finish (37:47). It should be noted that 9 of the top 12 finishers were from altitude schools.
Friday May 26th:
Women's Steeple final.
Marissa went into the steeple final with the experience of having taken 7th in the '22 edition, and with clear evidence of fitness improvements over the past year (PR's at 1500, 5k, and steeple-10:16). Marissa toed the line with a goal of competing for a top-3-5 finish. Competition at the top was very solid as #1 seed Eleanora Curtabbi (Italian citizen) had broken 10 minutes both this season and previously during European competitions. Adams State's Ava O'Connor (Irish athlete) was a strong #2 seed with a 10:07 mark. #3 seed Natalie Graber from Grand Valley had a 10:13 PB, and had blazing 9:09/16:08 3k/5k PR's this season. Much of the remainder of the field came from altitude schools (Adams/Western) which of course left a bit of a question mark as to just how things might play out at 4,900 ft. To add to Marissa's challenges on the day, she has suffered a hamstring cramp the night before, during sleep. As is often the case with night cramps she felt residual soreness/tightness on race day, but did her best Not to think about it leading into the race.
The race plan was to settle into a spot just inside the Top 5-10 in the early going (depending on the early pace) since a sea level athlete doesn't have as much room for error when competing at elevation. As the race began Marissa played her cards perfectly. Having evaluated previous Pueblo results, along with the prelim 10:50 run, we figured running 10:30's could be achievable, and should insure at least a Top-8 performance. The hoped pace was 83-85 second laps, and that's just what Marissa logged while staying attached to a strong-running lead group of 9 in the early going. By 1600m Marissa ran in 8th position and within a few seconds of 4th and 5th place, and several seconds ahead of 9th-12th. Things continued well through 2k, but then a gap began to form between D'Atri and the main group. The final 1k was very tough, and despite her best efforts Marissa was passed by two athletes before crossing the finish in 10th place.
There was no doubt, this was a really tough race for Marissa to swallow. She had high goals, and has flourished on the big stages until this run. She took it Really hard and to be honest, it's hard to say what happened. My best evaluation is that she wasn't 100 percent going into the run, and sea level athletes have far less room for error competing up there. Going into the championships, sea level athletes comprised 6 of the top 8 seeds. In looking at the results Altitude athletes took 5 of the top-6 spots. 7th place finisher Ashley Corcoran from New Hampshire had moved to Denver 4 weeks prior to the championships after an April graduation. It helps to be acclimated if you're going to run distance races at 5k feet of elevation.
The silver lining for Marissa was the fact that by virtue of a Top-12 finish, she earns Second Team All American honors, And more importantly she returns for 1 more year next spring, where NCAA's will be in Kansas. Let's circle back to this race in a year and compare results. My bet is that things will look Much different.
Saturday May 27th:
Women's 5k Final:
Both Marissa and Hannah would contest the 5k on the final evening of competition. Hannah felt awful in the lead up to the race, unable to sleep in the evenings between races, and of course lacking recent training due to the calf injury. Seeded 23rd of the 24 entrants with her 16:33 PB, Hannah's goal was to run an even effort, and Not end up in a spot like she was in the 10k two evenings before (where she was barely able to finish the race).
Marissa entered the race ranked 9th, with her 16:14 school record, but bringing a sore hamstring to the line (following the two steeples). Her goal was to challenge for a Top-8-12 spot, knowing that it was going to be a very tough race.
From the start, Hannah placed herself at the back of the pack, locking in for the tough laps ahead. Marissa spent most of the early laps tucked into a main group that included places 4-18 for much of the run. At mid-race Marissa ran in 9th place, but the main group still contained at least the 14th place runner. Marissa's 3k split (10:14) was just a few ticks over 17:00 pace, but she'd slipped to 14th overall. The final mile was a test of pain tolerance and toughness as Marissa battled some talented women in an effort to challenge for Top-12. A solid final lap carried her past Madison Brown (a 10k All American), but NCAA XC 3rd placer Klaudia O'Malley (16:07 pr) would just get by Marissa in the final meters of the race. As the dust settled Marissa would place 14th and missed 2nd team All American (12th) by just 1.2 seconds. This wasn't the result Marissa had hoped for, but it was a hard-fought battle. The depth of talent in this race was unparalleled (for DII Championships), and 9 of the top 12 finishers came from altitude schools. Although Hannah would be the final finisher in this one, her effort was much more even and controlled than the 10k two nights earlier. To top off our team's NCAA experience, our women's 4 X 400 team had managed to snag the last spot on the line for the concluding event. Although they would place 9th in the final, the women's crew earns Second Team AA honors while running the second fastest time in school history in the final.
Concluding thoughts:
Despite the tough ending to their seasons, Hannah and Marissa have a lot to be proud of this year. In her first track season since her junior year of high school Hannah managed to run under 35 minutes for the 10k, and 16:33 for the 5k. She now ranks among the school's top-10 all time in the 3k, 5k, and 10k. Marissa joined 4 All Time lists with her 4:29, 9:45, 16:33, and 10:16 PB's. Of course her 16:14 broke an 18 year old 5k mark. Both athletes have more eligibility remaining, and I'm confident that Emporia, KS (Not at altitude) will bring much better results for both.
