For the past several decades the final weekend of March has served as an important window for distance runners from across the country, as the Stanford Invitational always brings great fields and conditions together for some fast mid-season times. By 2008 the Stanford Invite had become so large that really good runners were not making the fields, and thus came an overflow meet called the SF Distance Carnival (now the Mike Fanelli Track Classic). Through all of these years, mother nature has somehow been Very welcoming, offering up classic spring CA weather to it's fit visitors from across the country. That is until this weekend, when a big spring storm blew through Nor-Cal literally in the heart of the distance action. There's no doubt that some great performances (time-wise) were compromised, but overall the Chico Wildcats enjoyed another solid weekend of racing in the Bay, and look ahead with confidence and excitement to the season in front of us.

Due to some complications with SF State's track, this year's Fanelli meet was held at Chabot CC. The good majority of the 'Cats distance crew would contest their events on the East side of the bay, minus All American Marissa D'Atri who would run in the 2nd fastest heat of the women's steeple at Stanford on Friday evening. Below I'll list each event and times notched by the 'Cats, while sharing a brief description below.

Friday's Highlights:

Men's 1500m:
3:53.56 Damian Garcia (Fr). Heat winner and 5th fastest time of the day
4:12.06 Michael Torres (Fr)

Damian's run was definitely impressive. After spending the first lap in the final position on the track Damian moved through the field with each revolution taking the lead at 1200m and soloing off the front and into the strong headwind down the finish straight. Second placer (Cameron Rhone of Long Beach) has run 1:51 and 3:50 this season already.

Women's 1500m:
4:41.45 Katie Hawley (Sr). 5th in Heat 2
4:51.52 Sienna Bianchi (Fr)
5:01.23 Olivia Beschorner (fr)

Running in some of the worst of Friday's weather, Katie and Sienna were both off their PB's for the distance, but fought hard out there. Sienna's run was also undermined by an overzealous start that included a 32 second initial 200m.

Men's 5k:
14:37.66 Braydon McLaughlin (Jr)
14:47.02 Alex Lamoureux (Fr)
14:50.62 Matthew Gordon (Fr)
14:56.20 Dylan White (Jr)
15:07.48 Blake Webster (fr)
15:30.59 Nicholas Guzman (Fr)  Has missed most of the past 3 weeks w/ sickness.

An admittedly rough evening of 5k'ing for the 'Cats men. The fastest heat of the day (Brayden's heat) ended up in the middle of the windiest window of the evening. The winds calmed down as the evening went on, so some of our younger athletes had some nice conditions to work with.

Women's 5k:
16:47.38 Della Molina (Fr) 5th of 157 between all heats. NCAA Provisional, Event Debut.
17:00.48 Iresh Molina (Fr) NCAA Provisional, Event debut.
17:41.80 Jasmine Fletcher (So) PR
17:50.32 Jaclyn Denham (Jr) PR
17:53.46 Alexi Steinmaus (Jr) PR. First sub-18 5k!
17:57.32 Megan Malloy (Fr) PR. First sub 18 5k!
18:04.08 Hannah Ryan (Sr) Sick
18:47.02 Gracie Dupuis (Jr) coming off injury
18:47.52 Grace Reed (Fr) Red shirting frosh

Women's Steeple @ Stanford:
10:14.41 Marissa D'Atri (Sr). #3 A.T. CSUC, #2 NCAA DII #3 A.T., CCAA

Running in a loaded heat at Stanford, D'Atri did a masterful job of following (several meters behind) a fast starting lead group through 1600m. By 2k she'd caught the lead pack, and with 400m remaining in the race the CSUC school record (10:09) was in jeopardy. Unfortunately a barrier on the penultimate turn cost D'Atri the shot at the record as she stuttered into the obstacle and miss-timed her takeoff. After landing on the other side of the barrier on her back, the Martinez native regained her composure and her footing, and closed well enough to manage a 2 second PR (10:14) while taking 4th overall.   She'll run her next Steeple in two weeks at APU. Stay tuned!

Saturday's Highlights:

Men's 800m:
1:53.35 Damian Garcia (Fr) Seasonal Best

Damian looked a bit off his game in this one, but still held strong enough to gather a seasonal best for the 2 lapper. Of course he was doubling back from his 1500 heat win the evening before. 

Women's 800m:
2:17.67 Sienna Bianchi (Fr)
2:27.94 Olivia Beschorner (Fr)

After a tough 15 the day before Sienna looked much more confident and controlled in today's 800m. She would narrowly miss her low 2:17 PB.

Men's Steeple
9:12.16 Hunter Dougherty (Jr) PR, NCAA Provisional, #2 CCAA
9:24.81 Adrian Hippolito (Tr Fr), PR, USA Junior Qualifier
9:27.94 Anders Beil (So) Seasonal Best

A really nice day of barrier running for the guys. Hunter (running in only his 3rd ever steeple) drops from 9:28 to 9:12 and narrowly grabs an NCAA provisional mark. Adrian Hippolito a true frosh who had his eyes set on the USA Junior championship standard of 9:25 grabbed the standard by less than .2 seconds. Beil, a 9:20 performance a year ago has had a few really tough weeks of training, so we decided on a Very conservative racing plan. He followed the plan perfectly, running through 2k in last position, before moving through the field as he was able.

Women's Mile::
5:10.52 Jaclyn Denham (Jr)
5:16.65 Alexi Steinmaus (Jr)
5:17.69 Megan Malloy (Fr)
5:17.83 Hannah Wirth (So)

Three of the four women doubled back from the 5k the previous night, to get a bit more out of the weekend.  Hannah Wirth (who's been injured and missed several months of running enjoyed a seasonal debut)

Women's 10k:
37:05.10 Sophie Pelletier (Jr) PR, 5th overall on the day. CCAA Leader
38:07.51 Jennifer Ruiz (Jr)

This was a bit of a strange race. From the gun two athletes sprung to a quick early lead, while the rest of the field appeared content to run over 90 second pace per lap. Sophie and Jennifer quickly created a slight gap on the field running modest 88 second splits through the first 3-4 laps. By 1600 the main group had caught the Chico pair, but none did any work to help the front of the group until the race was nearing half-way, when Biola sent 3 women to the front and dropped the pace to 86-87 per lap. Sophie was able to go with the pace, but Jenny (behind on training due to a winter injury) couldn't react. Sophie did a solid job of competing over the final 3200m and narrowly missed her goal of breaking 37 minutes.



Men's 10k:
30:03.04 Daniel Hernandez (Jr) PR, NCAA Provisional, CCAA Leader
30:42.55 Jesus Villarreal (Jr) PR
30:54.42 Travis Selby (So) PR, CCAA #2
31:38.39 Sean Alliegro (Tr Fr) PR, Debut, USATF U-20 Qualifier
32:49.29 Andrew Stevens (Tr Fr) PR, Debut

A really nice run for Hernandez who'd never run the 25 lapper on the track before Saturday. Daniel committed to a pack that was clearly targeting sub 30 and sailed through 5k in 14:55 and 8k under 24:00. Unfortunately, as the pack dissolved over the final 2k Daniel fell off the sub 30 clip. A 64-(ish)  final lap nearly brought the dream to reality, but alas, the 29 minute 10k will have to wait for another day. Jesus (who's redshirting) enjoyed a minute-plus PB, as did teammate Travis Selby. True Frosh Sean Alliegro needed a sub 31:45 to punch his ticket to the USA Junior championships this summer, and got the job done with a 31:38 debut!

Women's DMR:
1200- 3:37 Della Molina
400- 61.1 Sienna Bianchi
800m- 2:15.1 Katie Hawley
1600m- 4:51 Marissa D'Atri

Total Time: 11:45.20, Meet Record, School Record, #3 A.T. NCAA DII Outdoor Mark

What an exciting race this was. Della Molina sat at the back of the lead pack through the first 1k before making a big move on the final turn. A 69 second final lap gave the Chico women several meters on the field as Sienna Bianchi set out for the 400m leg. Bianchi held her own recording a 61.1 split, and handed off in second, on the heels of DI New Mexico State. Senior Katie Hawley locked in on the NMST athlete as the two ran stride for stride for the entire 2 laps. Hawley drew even with her competitor as the two handed off to their teammates. Marissa D'Atri put this one away early, tagging nearly 10 meters to her NM counterpart by 400m. Thankfully the PA announcer was alerting the stadium of a potential meet record, otherwise Marissa might have settled in for the easy win. Instead she kept the pace honest, and closed nicely for a 4:51.2 split putting the 'Cats well under UC Riverside's 11:50 meet record.

Men's DMR:
3:11- 1200m: Dylan White
54.4- 400m. Matthew Gordon
1:54.00- 800m: Damian Garcia
4:21.0- 1600 Brayden McLaughlin
10:20.77 2nd Place/22 teams.

Unfortunately Mario Giannini (our hoped anchor and 3:50.0 1500m guy) picked up an achilles niggle in the days leading up to the meet, so we decided not to risk his season, and rested him. Not the deepest in Mid Distances at the moment we re-shuffled the line-up and managed to piece together a second place team. Credit Damian Garcia for a really impressive 800m leg that took us from 6th to 2nd place. Brayden McLaughlin managed to hold the position, but didn't have the leg-speed to catch Humboldt's 3:52 (1500) anchor.


Up Next: Most of the roster is gearing up for the Bryan Clay Invite at APU. Stay tuned and thanks for the support!