Greetings from Chico everyone. During a typical track season there are 3-4 weekends that highlight the schedule. Of course the two championships are primary, but there are 2-3 invitational weekends that stand out as opportunities to notch Pr's and hopefully post championship qualifying times. The biggest weekend is definitely the one that just passed, as So Cal welcomes teams from across the country at numerous meets, including the Bryan Clay Invite (APU), and LaVerne's Leopard invite. Your Wildcats were represented at each of these meets, while several (red shirts) stayed local and raced at SF State's Johnny Mathis Invite. Thankfully the weekend provided much of what we were looking for, as countless PR's were logged, and great racing was had. We now enjoy a weekend off, before taking on the rest of our conference in the annual CCAA Championships (back to Turlock).
Below I'll first list the times notched for each event offering you a quick visual of the action, then I'll break down a few of the highlights.
800m: Men: Damian Garcia (So) 1:49.95 PR, NCAA provisional, CCAA #1, #8 A.T. CSUC Women: Sidney Garcia (Jr) : 2:13.45, SB, Misses top-10 by .3 seconds. #11 A.T. CSUC Sienna Bianchi (So): 2:14.04, PR Kaya Scuba (Tr Fr) 2:16.28 Catherine McGuire (So) 2:17.30 1500m: Men: Damian Garcia (So): 3:42.01 #3 A.T. CSUC, CCAA Leader, #6 in NCAA, Sub-4 equivalent Alex Lamoureux (Fr) 3:57.41 SB, Solo off front through 800 in 2:03.0 Michael Torres (Fr) 3:58.50 Women: Sienna Bianchi (So) 4:32.46 Just misses PR by 1 second. Kaya Scuba (Tr Fr) 4:32.51, PR, #12 A.T. CSUC, Top True frosh time ever for CSUC Catherine McGuire (So) 4:47.73 (ran 2 hours after her 800) Isabelle Rosales (Tr Fr) 4:51.12 (PR) Red shirting and ran @ Johnny Mathis 3k Steeple: Men: Hunter Dougherty (Sr) 8:51.24 (PR) #3 A.T. CSUC, Top 10 NCAA Adrian Hippolito (Fr) 9:07.13 (PR) NCAA Provisional Anders Beil (Jr) 9:20.29 (Misses PR by .25 seconds) Joseph DePascale (Jr) 9:33.09 (PR) Red shirting, and ran @ Johnny Mathis Women: Olivia Beschorner (Fr) 10:57.95 (PR) Misses CSUC Top-10 by .3 seconds. Zoe Aitken (Fr) 11:26.79 (PR) Only 2nd steeple ever #8 in CCAA 5000m: Men: Brayden McLaughlin (Sr) 14:14.77 (PR), #1 CCAA, NCAA provisional, Travis Selby (Jr) 14:15.76 (PR) NCAA provisional Devin Pereira (Fr) 14:39.84 (PR) Mason Mullen (Tr fr) 14:45. (PR) Red shirting and won Mathis Invite 5k. Xander Schulte-Sasse (Tr Fr) 14:54 (PR) Red shirting and ran @ Mathis Nicholas Guzman (So) 14:56.26 (PR) First sub 15. Dylan White (Sr) 15:00.35. First race since NCAA XC due to injury. Andrew Stevens (Fr) 15:06.50 Sean Alliegro (Fr) 15:13.73 Women: Della Molina (So) 16:17.53 (PR) #2 AT CSUC, NCAA Provisional Iresh Molina (So) 16:21.15 (PR) #3 AT CSUC , NCAA Provisional Jasmine Fletcher (So) 17:27.1 (SB) Megan Malloy (So) 17:39.95 (PR) Jaclyn Denham (Sr) 17:58.36 (SB) Kira Forsberg (Fr) 18:00.72 Red shirting true frosh running at Mathis. Sophie Pelletier (Sr) 18:01.22 (SB) Hannah Wirth (Sr) 18:39.99 Gracie Dupuis (Sr) 18:42.20 Roxanna Diaz (Fr) 19:02.22
800m Highlights:
Damian Garcia eclipsed a major barrier in the 2 lapper, notching a 1:49.96 run at Bryan Clay on Day 1. Buried in his invite heat in the early going, Damian swung around much of the pack on the final backstretch. A nice close helped him to become Chico's 8th fastest 2 lapper to date. The next sub 1:50 for a Chico athlete will put the all time list all under 1:50.
Sidney Garcia drew a solid heat in her 800 and was pulled to an even paced 2:13 seasonal best. Although she's still a bit off her 2:11 from last year's JC State meet, she's clipping off time with each passing week. Sienna Bianchi also enjoyed a solid run, notching a low 2:14 PB on Day 1 at Clay.
1500m Highlights:
Damian once again steals the show here. Running in a deep invitational field with mostly DI athletes Damian kept himself attached to a lead pack that rolled through 800m in 1:59. A few dropped from the peleton in the third lap, but Damian maintained his position among the leaders. From the bell Damian began to make a move around the pack and by 1200m he'd assumed the lead and was making a clear bid to win the race. A 57 final revolution gave the Turlock native a clear victory, and a shiny new 3:42.01 PR. The new personal best places Damian just .22 seconds off Kyle Medina's school record mark, and .03 ahead of Scott Bauhs' 3:59.81 mile conversion. Alex Lamoureux ran a seasonal best 3:57 at Laverne leading much of the race through 60/2:02.9 splits in the early going. Teammate Michael Torres followed in 3:58.
On the women's side true frosh Kaya Scuba became the school's fastest true frosh in the 1500 while racing to an evenly splitted 4:32 at the Clay Invite. Teammate Sienna Bianchi nearly matched Scuba's time to the hundredth of a second in a completely different heat.
3k Steeplechase Highlights:
Senior Hunter Dougherty knew that he'd need to run in the low 8:50's to secure a spot on the line at the NCAA Championships. Going into the Laverne Invite steeple he was the fastest seed and just one of two who'd run under 9 minutes before. Thankfully Hunter was prepared to lead the race, knowing that leading in the steeple can oftentimes play to an athletes' advantage, given the clear line and view of each barrier. Hunter's run was a thing of beauty, leading every step, the front group dwindled with each lap, until Hunter had separated himself completely from his closest competitor in the final kilometer. Over the final 2 laps it was a race against the clock, and thankfully the Chico HS alum would win this battle, hitting the tape in a massive 8:51 PR! Not to be outdone was RS frosh Adrian Hipolito. Adrian ran a very gutsy race, and a solid close brought him home with a 9:07 PR and NCAA provisional mark. Also having a solid day was Anders Beil, who's 65 second close was the fastest in the field, and got him to the line in a nearly PR tying 9:20. Running at the Mathis Invite in SF was red shirting junior Joseph DePascale who ran a 9:33 PR.
On the women's side Olivia Beschorner dropped under the 11 minute threshold in her 3rd steeple ever, narrowly missing our school's Top-10 with her 10:57 finish time. Olivia is only a RS frosh, so my guess is that she'll be joining that list soon enough. Tue frosh Zoe Aitken ran a massive 30 second PB in her second try at the endurance hurdle event, crossing the line in a swift 11:26. Zoe now ranks #8 in the CCAA as we enter championship week.
5,000m Highlights:
Given how difficult it is to get into night races at Clay these days we decided to put all of our guys in the 5's at Laverne. This decision ended up working out quite well as all had good fields to work with, and perfect conditions. The 'Cats had 4 men in the fastest heat.. Brayden McLaughlin, Travis Selby, Jesus Villarreal, and Devin Pereira. Everyone in the fast heat went through 1600 in 4:34-4:35, and all four 'Cats were along for the ride. The second mile brought predictable splitting of the field, and Selby and McLaughlin covered all of the gaps that formed in front of them, reaching 3200 in 9:08-9:09. Pereira and Villarreal hit 3200 in 9:16 with noticeable pain on their faces. For Pereira tonight's pace was uncharted territory, as his PR was only 14:45 going into the race. With 1200m remaining in the run Travis Selby seized the lead and pressed for home. The move didn't necessarily shatter the front, but several athletes did fall from the pace and soon it was a three man battle between the two Chico athletes, and Cal Poly's Colton Swinth (HS State XC Champ while at Maria Carillo). Brayden would close the best over the final 200m sprinting to the tape in a new 14:14 PB. Swinth would follow in 14:15, as did Selby who lowered his PB from 14:27 at Sac, to 14:15 on this night. Pereira would employ major damage control over the final mile to salvage a 14:39 PR. Villarreal sustained a bad side stitch and faded badly to the line, well off his pb. In Heat 2 Sophomore Nicholas Guzman (who's finally having a complete season) dipped under 15 for the first time with a 14:56 run.
At Johnny Mathis two red shirting true frosh enjoyed solid PR's, with Mason Mullen scoring a 14:45 win, while Xander Schulte-Sasse would follow closely with a 14:54.
In an interesting twist, the twins were both entered for Clay 5k's, but they landed in different heats. No worries, as both would smash their personal bests in their own races. Iresh led off with a very impressive 16:21 second place finish in her heat. Each of her splits along the way were ripping as she recorded 5:11, 10:28, 15:45 times at each 1600 point. Had a timing matt been placed at the 3k mark, Iresh's split would have been an A.T. CSUC mark (9:49 approx).
Given that Iresh raced first, her 16:21 made her the 'Cats second fastest 5k runner in school history (behind only Marissa D'Atri's 16:14 in '23). Of course sister Della would step to the line 30 minutes later and push her twin back a spot.. Della's splits were also quite impressive as she hit 1600 in 5:11/12, and 3200 in 10:25 (pr!), and 3 mi in 15:45. As per usual, Della found a very strong closing gear down the final straight to stop the clock with a new 16:17 PR.
Over at Laverne Jasmine Fletcher led the 5k ladies with a big seasonal best 17:28. Teammate Megan Malloy battled hard for a 17:39 pr. Despite feeling a bit under the weather Senior Sophie Pelletier managed an 18:01 seasonal best. At the Johnny Mathis meet red-shirting true frosh Kira Forsberg just missed her PR with an 18:00 run.
Next Up: CCAA Championships
May 1,2,3 , Turlock, CA
