Over the weekend your Chico State Wildcats travelled to the state's capital to run in the annual Hornet Invitational. Weather was absolutely perfect, and the fields (combination of all levels of collegiate teams competed) were also a great fit for our crew. Many Wildcats enjoyed Pr's or at least seasonal bests over the two-day meet. Please follow along below for lists of athletes, times, and short re-caps of each event for the 'Cats.

Day 1: Friday Women's 800m:

19. Sienna Bianchi (So) 2:15.34 (PR)
21. Sidney Garcia (Jr) 2:15.76 (SB)
26. Catherine McGuire (So) 2:19.28 (PR)
30. Kaya Scuba (Fr) 2:20.83 (SB)


Sienna drops her PB from 2:17 to 2:15 running a negative splitted 2nd place (heat) run. Also running a negative split was teammate Sidney Garcia, who's chopping time off with each week. Running in her 3rd track meet ever was Catherine McGuire (also a member of our soccer team) who scored her first sub 2:20 800m!

Men's 800m:

15. Emmanuel Wallace (fr) 1:55.96 (PR)
56. Jacob Camacho (fr) 2:00.68
63. Andrew Baxter (fr) 2:02.46

Red shirting frosh Emmanuel Wallace notched a 2 second PR while finishing 2nd in his heat and 15th overall on the day. A tough outing for fellow frosh Camacho and Baxter.

Women's 5,000m:

  3. Della Molina (So) 16:32.76 (SB/NCAA Provisional/NCAA Leader)
  5. Iresh Molina (So) 16:44.55 (SB) (NCAA Provisional)
18. Megan Malloy (So) 17:46.63 (PR)
19. Jasmine Fletcher (Jr) 17:49.15 (SB)
25. Kira Forsberg (fr) 17:56.48 (PR)
28. Isabelle Rosales (fr) 18:06.92 (PR)
30. Hannah Wirth (Sr) 18:10.70 (SB)
38. Sophie Pelletier (Sr) 18:26 (SB)
44. Gracie DuPuis (Sr) 18:50 (SB)

It was welcomed news when we learned that UC Davis would send their top women to the line in the women's 5k, giving Della and Iresh Molina some competition to run with and to chase. Davis' top gal Dani Barret (a DI All American-DI last spring) would take the race out in 5:05 at the front (1600 split). Not wanting that hot of an early pace the twins settled in with Davis' #2 Madi Kackley (who'd just run a 9:29 3k the week before). Della was able to hang with the Davis start through 3200m (10:32) but Iresh had lost contact a bit before 3k. Della covered the next 1600 in 5:24 (a series of 81's) and closed well to hit the tape in 16:32 for 3rd. Iresh would follow in 5th with a solid 16:44 early season mark. True soph Megan Malloy would record a new PB (17:46) while working with teammate Jasmine Fletcher the entire run (17:49). True frosh Kira Forsberg and Isabelle Rosales enjoyed 17:56/18:06 PB's as they get used to running 12.5 laps on the oval.

Men's 5,000m:

  1. Damian Garcia (So) 14:00.05 (PR, #4 CSUC, #1 NCAA, NCAA provo)
  7. Jesus Villarreal (Jr) 14:23.26 (PR)
  8. Brayden McLaughlin (Sr) 14:24.78 (SB)
10. Travis Selby (Jr) 14:27.63 (PR)
22. Andrew Stevens (Fr) 15:01.6 (SB)
23. Nicholas Guzman (So) 15:03.15 (SB)
30. Sean Alliegro (Fr) 15:08.15 (SB)
42. Mason Mullin (fr) 15:32.32

RS Sophomore Damian Garcia would run his first 'official' 5k on the track on Friday night. His only other foray was in our team's XC time trial in the fall of 2023 where he ripped a 9:00 final 3200m en-route to a 14:18 event record. Of course that doesn't show up in the results, so Friday's race would be the 8/15 specialists' collegiate debut. Given his improved strength (see his 2 sub 24 min 8k XC results from the fall) we knew Damian could be competitive among the leaders in this field. The pre-race instructions to our 5 guys in the fast heat was to run it as if it were an XC race, knowing we could beat the field.

Davis' top guy Muhamed Ahmed (14:02 PB) is known for his consistent 140 mile weeks, and it was assumed that he might provide the engine for the front of the field. This assumption was confirmed, as Ahmed led much of the race, and Damian and Brayden (14:19 PB) were on board the train. Not far behind for much of the run were teammates Jesus Villarreal and Travis Selby. After a 4:33 first 1600 Garcia and McLaughlin rolled through 3200 in 9:04 and 9:07. Villarreal and Selby sailed through in 9:10 ready for the pain that lie ahead.

The third mile of the 5k is truly the proving ground, and Ahmed's 67/68 second revolutions took their toll on all but Garcia and USF's Zach Elam. With 600m to go Damian passed a cracked Elam and followed Muhamed around the turn. With 500m remaining Damian made a bid for the win surging around the Davis athlete and immediately putting some distance between the two. Damian hit the bell at exactly 13:00, meaning he needed to break 60 seconds for the final 400m to dip into the 13's and to become Chico's 4th sub 14 minute guy. Giving all that he could Damian hammered the final revolution, putting 5 seconds into Muhamed along the way. Knowing he was close to breaking the barrier Damian leaned into the line and quickly fell to the track. After a good 20+ seconds, the time (14:00.05) confirmed that he'd Just missed. Of course the end result and the win, were quite impressive and put him in rare air. Damian leads the NCAA and now stands as the school's 4th best 5k guy ever. It should also be mentioned that he's training for the 800 and 1500 events, and this will most likely be his only 5k of the season. Having run a 4:03 for the full mile last spring, we're hopeful that he'll get into the low 3:40's this season and punch his ticket to NCAA's in the metric mile. *Also, it should be noted that when one runs a time that enters the school's Top-10, another falls from the list. Shout-out to Adrian Sherrod who's 14:09 run at SF State during his senior year falls from our list.

Not to be lost in the excitement were the big PR's notched by teammates Jesus Villarreal and Travis Selby. The two went into the night with PB's of 14:34 and 14:39 and notched 14:23/14:27 PB's. Making the evening even more special was the fact that father (and Wildcat legend) Kevin was the PA announcer for the meet, and was able to call the action from the press booth. Brayden McLaughlin also enjoyed a solid early season 14:24, which was within 5 seconds of his PB coming in.

The second heat was very exciting as well, with teammates Andrew Stevens and Sean Alliegro and Nicholas Guzman all playing a role at the front of the pack throughout. Stevens closed best of the three with his 15:01 second place finish. Guzman would finish 3rd with Alliegro taking 6th. All are young developing athletes and competed very well.

Saturday
Women's 3k Steeple:

14. Olivia Beschorner (Fr) 11:32 (Debut)

RS Frosh Olivia Beschorner ran a solid debut over the barriers. In HS Olivia's specialty was the 800m, so we've waited until her second season to attack the steeple. Saturday was a promising start. Stay tuned!

Men's 3k Steeple:

  2. Hunter Dougherty (Jr) 9:08.43 (SB, NCAA Leader)
  3. Adrian Hipolito (Fr) 9:11.91 (PR)
  8. Anders Beil (Jr) 9:30.38 (SB)
13. Joseph DePascale (Jr) 9:52.46 (SB) (red shirting)

A solid start for the 3 Wildcat men. Defending CCAA Champion Hunter Dougherty opens his season just 10 seconds off the time that he finished the season with a year ago. RS Frosh Adrian Hipolito ran a 9:24 last year and we knew he was going to be a great steepler. His uniform debut on Saturday helps to confirm this. Watch out as Hipolito gathers experience and fitness. Anders wasn't happy with his 9:30 seasonal debut, but it was just 10 seconds off his PB, and he looked strong throughout. Expect some solid progress in the coming weeks.

Women's 400m:

35. Sidney Garcia (Jr) 59.49

After a 2:15 800m on Friday Sidney doubles back on Saturday with a 59.4 400m, and eventually a 58 second split on the long relay.

Women's 1500m:

24. Sienna Bianchi (So) 4:38.92 (PB)
35. Kaya Scuba (Fr) 4:42.42 (PB)
44. Catherine McGuire (So) 4:45.17
71. Marbella Flores (Jr) 4:55.81
72. Jaclyn Denham (Sr) 4:56.67

Sienna blasts a sub 70 final lap to win the third heat of the 1500 while dipping under the 4:40 barrier for the first time in her career. Scuba runs a PB 4:42 while taking 4th in the same heat. Soccer player/budding Mid D star Catherine McGuire runs yet another PR with an impressive 4:45 clocking in her 3rd ever 1500.

Men's 1500m:

32. Michael Torres (Fr) 3:58.63
33. Devin Pereira (Fr) 3:58.66
45. Alex Lamoureux (Fr) 4:01.17

Michael Torres dips under the 4:00 mark in his uniform debut while leading a fair amount of his heat. Fellow RS frosh Devin Pereira also made his uniform debut with a sub 4 with a swift 2:04 initial 800m split.

Next Up: The Wildcat distance crew will take a weekend off racing, before heading to the Bay Area for the Stanford and Mike Fanelli Invitationals. Stay tuned for some great distance action.