Over the weekend your Chico State Distance 'Cats enjoyed another exciting and productive trip to the Bay, where we split time between the Mike Fanelli Classic (returned to SF State) and the Stanford Invite. There were some up's and downs, but overall it was another week of PR's and learning, as we head closer to the Championships ahead. Highlighting the weekend for the men was Damian Garcia, who ran All Time Top-10 marks in the 1500 (3:43), and 800 (1:50.4). The women were led by Iresh and Della Molina who ran the school's 2nd and 3rd fastest 10k's ever (34:08/34:09). All three athletes appear to have punched their tickets to the NCAA Championships to be held in May in Pueblo, CO. Below I'll first list the top times posted by 'Cats in each heat, and then break down some of the highlights.
Men's 800m: Damian Garcia (So) 1:50.40 (PR, #10 CSUC, NCAA) CCAA Leader Jacob Camacho (Tr Fr) 1:55.42 (PR) Women's 800m: Sienna Bianchi (So) 2:14.47 (PR) Sidney Garcia (Jr) 2:14.64 (SB) Kaya Scuba (Fr) 2:15.28 (SB) Men's 1500m: Damian Garcia (So) 3:43.54 (PR, #5 A.T. CSUC, NCAA) CCAA Leader Emanuel Wallace (Fr) 3:57.03 (PR) Women's 1500m: Sienna Bianchi (So) 4:33.84 (PR) Kaya Scuba (Fr) 4:35.85 (PR) Madison Decker (Jr) 4:46.02 (PR) Marbella Flores (Jr) 4:47.40 (SB) Women's 3k Steeple: Olivia Beschorner (Fr) 11:07.21 (PR) Katelyn Espino (Fr) 11:44.69 Men's 3k Steeple: Hunter Dougherty (Sr) 8:57.30 (NCAA, Misses PR by .2 seconds) CCAA Leader Adrian Hipolito (Fr) 9:35 Anders Beil (Jr) 9:37 Joseph DePascale (Jr) 9:43 Women's 5k: Jaclyn Denham (Sr) 18:01 Jasmine Fletcher (So) 18:03 Kira Forsberg (Fr) 18:03 Sophie Pelletier (Sr) 18:09 Gracie DuPuis (Sr) 18:32 Isabelle Rosales (Fr) 18:38 Roxanna Diaz (Fr) 18:47 Men's 5k: Alex Lamoureux (Fr) 14:38 (PR) Devin Ibarra (Fr) 14:46.1 (PR) 5k debut Xander Schulte-Sasse (Fr) 15:11.1 (PR) 5k debut Nicholas Guzman (So) 15:25 Michael Torres (Fr) 15:27 Women's 10k: Iresh Molina (So) 34:08 (PR, #2 A.T. CSUC, NCAA) CCAA Leader Della Molina (So) 34:09 (PR, #3 A.T. CSUC, NCAA) Megan Malloy (So) 36:57 (PR) Men's 10k: Brayden McLaughlin (Sr) 29:24 (NCAA) CCAA Leader Travis Selby (Jr) 30:24 (PR) Jesus Villarreal (Jr) 30:55 Andrew Stevens (Fr) 31:48 Mason Mullen (Fr) 31:50 (Debut) Women's DMR:
A Team: 3rd/19 teams: 12:15 Splits: Catherine McGuire (3:45), Sidney Garcia (58.18), Kaya Scuba (2:17), Sienna Bianchi (5:14) B Team: 4th/19 teams: 12:27 Splits: Marbella Flores: 3:45, Jaclyn Denham: 64, Olivia Beschorner 2:20, Jasmine Fletcher 5:15 Men's DMR:
A team: 1st/26 teams: 10:08, Splits: Alex Lamoureux (3:05), Andrew Baxter (51.18), Adrian Hipolito (1:55), Damian Garcia (4:15) B team: 7th/26 teams: 10:21, Splits: Nicholas Guzman (3:10), Anders Beil (53.3), Michael Torres (1:57), Hunter Dougherty (4:20)
Thursday Highlights: 10k's at Fanelli
True Frosh Megan Malloy sliced an impressive chunk off her 10k PB on Thursday in going from 38:27 to 36:57. Travis Selby also enjoyed a :30 PR while running a CCAA leading 30:24. Selby (and teammate Jesus Villarreal) had hoped to challenge a sub 30 minute run, but the pacer was taking the pack through early splits at an even 29:30 pace. The quicker than wanted early splits made things tough for both 'Cats. Travis lasted the longest with 14:57 (5k) and 24:07-8k splits while holding on to a low 30's run.
Friday Fanelli Highlights:
Men's 5000m:
Solid runs for RS frosh Alex Lamoureux and Devin Pereira. Devin has had three seasons in a row ended before they began due to injury and had little base coming into the season. His 14:45 was a nice debut and a good start. Alex also looked strong as he enjoyed his best race in a year. Red shirting true frosh Xander Schulte-Sasse missed the entire fall training cycle with injury but looked quite strong in his maiden voyage through 12.5 laps. I'm guessing he's going to be a force in the 10k as he grows his aerobic strength. On the women's side the 5k's were a bit off what we were hoping for. A decent number of our women have tested quite low for iron in recent weeks, and those results are certainly showing in these results. We're trying to work on getting the crew healthy, and hopefully we have enough time in the season.
Steeples::
Women:RS Frosh Olivia Beschorner allowed the lead group to run away from her in the early going of this one, just locking in around 90 seconds per lap. With 400m remaining a decent number of the women who comprised the lead group, ran just ahead of Olivia. The North Dakota native did a great job of hunting them down and passing at least 4 athletes over the final revolution, while recording an impressive 11:08 PR. Another 10 second drop will place Beschorner among our all time Top-10 list! True frosh Katelyn Espino also enjoyed a smooth second barrier outing, looking quite well over the obstacles while moving through the field. Although a misplaced lead foot led to a head-first plunge into the final water jump, Katelyn managed a nice 11:44 PR!
Men: The men's steeple at SF was a tough one for the 'Cats. RS Frosh Adrian Hipolito ran in the fastest heat of the day hoping to drop his PR from 9:11 into the 9 minute range. With a series of 70-point early laps Adrian was well below his target pace, but by the mile he had begun to slow and was bleeding places. Adrian would fade to a disappointing 9:35 finish. Teammate Anders Beil was also a bit more aggressive than we'd hoped given his current fitness, and the junior faded to a 9:37 run. On to the next!
1500's:
Women: A really nice day of 1500m running for our women. Sienna Bianchi led the way with her 4:33 clocking. Sienna's heat went out a bit on the slower side through the opening lap. Buried in the field with a spot on the rail, Bianchi waited for the pace to shift, and rolled with the pack. With 550m remaining in the race Sienna slowed to allow a few athletes to pass her on the right. She then began to circle around the field heading down the homestretch. Just after the bell Sienna moved to the lead, ready to hammer the final revolution. Her 69 second final lap kept the field at bay as she claimed the heat victory and a big PR. Sienna's new PB puts her within a second of our school's All Time Top-10 list. Not to be outdone Kaya Scuba followed up with an inspired 15 of her own, dropping her PR from 4:42 to 4:35. Another big breakthrough came in the form of Red shirting junior Madison Decker's run. Coming in with a PB of 4:52 Madi moved up in her heat throughout, and then ripped a 68 second final lap to Win her heat by 6 seconds! Her 4:46 PB is an impressive jump, but with a finish like that, you can bet there's a lot more to come.
Men: Red shirting true frosh Emanuel Wallace ran an impressive 3:57 PR, closing in 59 seconds for the final revolution.
Stanford (Friday):
Men's Steeple:
Senior Hunter Dougherty ran a gutsy race, hovering around 8:50 pace for the first 4 laps. The final kilometer was a tough one, but the Chico native held on tight while recording his second sub 9 minute run, just missing his lifetime best (recorded at season's end in '24).
Men's 1500:
Damian Garcia has been torching workouts lately and has enjoyed some very consistent training. Thankfully his 4:03 full mile last track season got his foot in the door for the 3rd fastest heat of the night at the Stanford Invite. Damian would take full advantage. With no pacer in this one, and having been cycled to the back of the pack in the first 400m Damian rolled through 800m in a slower than wanted split of 2:02. The next 300m brought a quicker pace and a surge up toward the front of the field. With 300m remaining Damian was in full flight chasing the 3-4 remaining men. He didn't quite catch them all, but Damian's 57.1 close (the fastest in the field) took him to the line in 3:43.54. His new PB ranks him 5th A.T. and pretty much guarantees his place on the line at the NCAA Championships next month.
Women's 10k:
Iresh Molina debuted in the 10k last spring at the Last Chance meet in Azusa, recording a 34:19 25 lapper.. (the 2nd fastest time in CSUC history). Twin sister Della wanted in on the action this year, so the two toed the line at Stanford on Friday night ready to punch their tickets to the NCAA meet. The goal was to try to find a group that was running between 81-82 seconds per lap ideally, which would put them on the cusp of the 34-minute barrier, and safely into the national championship meet.
Della and Iresh did a good job of locating a sustainable group that was travelling around their pace, and they locked into 81/82 second laps with a large second group on the track. 1600 was reached in 5:26 (right on pace), and 3200 brought a bit of slowing (10:57/5:31). The third 1600 was covered in 5:31 and 5k was reached in 17:09 (a bit slower than hoped, but fast enough to get the NCAA job done. The fourth 1600 was another 5:31, and the fifth (5:30). Knowing that they were close enough to home to secure an NCAA berth, but also looking pretty controlled, yours truly gave the green light for some movement forward.
The pair hit the gas and bridged gaps that separated them from runners ahead, covering the next 4 laps in 5:23. The pair found a nice closing gear running 75/76 final revolutions placing them 9th and 10th in the 30+ runner field. As mentioned previously, these are the 2nd 3rd fastest times in CSUC history, which is impressive given that we've had 2 NCAA runner-ups in the 10k and a good number of All Americans through the years. Sadly Wildcat HOF member Missy Lendl-Jones slides from the All Time list, to make room for Della. NCAA runner-up Katie Lee now sits at #10 with a 35:23.
Men's 10k:
In the days leading up to the Stanford meet Brayden McLaughlin knew that he would be on the bubble between making the night heat (#2) at Stanford, or the 3rd (morning) group. Both had their plusses and minuses. He would get the nod for heat 2, but with that came the reality that the lead pack was to be paced at a 28:40 clip through 5k. Brayden's PB a year ago was 29:16, and we knew it would take at least that time to grab a spot at NCAA's this year.
The entire pack of 30+ runners sailed through 1600 in 4:38-4:40, and Brayden reached 3200 ahead of his HS PR, hitting the metric 2 mile in 9:17. The pace would quicken in the third mile as Brayden hit 12 laps in 13:53, and 5k 14:28. The fourth 1600 was covered in 4:38 and Bray just needed to hold this pace to run around 29 flat. Unfortunately, the early pace began to catch up with Brayden as he ran a 4:46 fifth mile, hitting 8k in 23:18. The sixth 1600 brought more slowing as Brayden strained to hit a 4:53 split. With no more pop in his calves Bray hit the line in 29:24, which in all likelihood will be a bit short of what's needed to make the dance in May. A valiant effort, but we'll have to eye a last chance 10k most likely in order to get back to the NCAA stage.
Saturday:
Women's 800m:
Sienna Bianchi recorded another PB on Saturday, lowering her 2 lap threshold to 2:14. Teammate Sidney Garcia felt a bit TOO good in the first lap of her heat, zipping through 400m in a very swift 62 seconds, (leading the field). The final 200m was a tough one for the gritty SD Mesa alumna, but she would hold on for a 2:14 seasonal best. With a bit of self-control over the first lap Sidney appears to be in 2:12 shape at least! Kaya Scuba took a nice step forward on this day as well, recording a 2:15 seasonal best. This trio keeps slicing time off with each passing meet.
Men's 800m:
The Chico guys made sure that the final event for us was a winning effort. Having lost the title a year ago, the 'Cats lined up a foursome this year that felt confident in their ability to bring the title home to Chico. Alex Lamoureux led the 1200 through 800m (2:02) before Santa Cruz and Cal Poly Distance Club made a break. Still Lamoureux held on well and handed off to true frosh Andrew Baxter in third place. Baxter was fresh off an 800m attempt that saw him completely lose his focus while accidently breaking in from his 1 turn stagger early, and basically DQ'ing himself in the process. He returned with a very nice 51.1 carry here that brought our baton up to the leading pair. Steeple frosh Adrian Hipolito took the hand-off next to Cal Poly's 1:52 guy Miles Jones, and basically ran stride for stride with him for 800m as the pair handed off simultaneously. Damian Garcia (Quite tired from a long weekend of racing) was instructed to do only what was needed to win the race. He did a great job of this, marking the SLO athlete through a 2:09 initial 800m. With 600m remaining and with the SLO athlete slowing, Damian made his push for home just in time to hold off a feisty New Mexico State athlete. The solid close gave the Chico men another DMR win and Damian got off with a relaxed 4:15 carry.
Women's DMR:
A year ago the Chico women won the DMR with a meet record 11:45, defeating DI New Mexico State in the process. This year New Mexico was back, but none of the Wildcats 4 returned. Still the Chico women ran a valliant effort, nailing down a 3rd place finish, with our second team finishing just behind in 4th overall. Sidney Garcia's 58.1 split was a highlight of the women's relay this year.
Men's DMR:
The Chico guys made sure that the final event for us was a winning effort. Having lost the title a year ago, the 'Cats lined up a foursome this year that felt confident in their ability to bring the title home to Chico. Alex Lamoureux led the 1200 through 800m (2:02) before Santa Cruz and Cal Poly Distance Club made a break. Still Lamoureux held on well and handed off to true frosh Andrew Baxter in third place. Baxter was fresh off an 800m attempt that saw him completely lose his focus while accidently breaking in from his 1 turn stagger early, and basically DQ'ing himself in the process. He returned with a very nice 51.1 carry here that brought our baton up to the leading pair. Steeple frosh Adrian Hipolito took the hand-off next to Cal Poly's 1:52 guy Miles Jones, and basically ran stride for stride with him for 800m as the pair handed off simultaneously. Damian Garcia (Quite tired from a long weekend of racing) was instructed to do only what was needed to win the race. He did a great job of this, marking the SLO athlete through a 2:09 initial 800m. With 600m remaining and with the SLO athlete slowing, Damian made his push for home just in time to hold off a feisty New Mexico State athlete. The solid close gave the Chico men another DMR win and Damian got off with a relaxed 4:15 carry.
Up Next: For those still following along and wanting to check out some high level track and field, consider coming out to watch our home invite this Friday and Saturday. On Saturday we are planning to run an Invitational mile, where Damian Garcia will go after the storied 4 minute mark. We hope to see at least some of you there!
