Chico teams dominate at their own invitational
Chico's Charlies Giannini, UPrep's Grace Gaddy top the varsity fields

Friday October 12, 2018
By Will Denner , Chico Enterprise-Record with significant editing by Tom Cushman

CHICO, CA -- A glorious fall afternoon was the setting for Chico High's Autumn Invitational held at Hooker Oak Recreation Area in Bidwell Park. Eight races (5 boys and 3 girls) were held using the unique format of the invitational where mid pack runners get the opportunity to win a race as the varsity top seven is broken into two groups with the remaining varsity and JV runners left to run in eiither Open, Frosh/Soph or Rising Stars races.

Grace Gaddy of University Prep, relentless pace first separted her and PV's Faylinn Berkowitz from the chase pack then dropped the Viking freshman over the final mile, to come away with a reasonably comfortable win in a time of 19 minutes, 28.94 seconds. Meanwhile Bundy closed the remaining gap with Berkowitz just prior to rounding the course's final turn and the two then sprinted alongside each other toward the finish chute at Hooker Oak Recreation Area with the Chico senior just edging out the upstart Viking. Bundy was able to muster an extra ounce of energy and lean into the finish mark in 19:35.98, ahead of third-place Berkowitz (19:38.26). For Bundy, her move into second from as far back as seventh helped her regain some confidence she had been missing during her senior cross country campaign. "I've kind of gone through lack of confidence lately," Bundy said. "Today was a day where it just clicked again. I could see that. I could look forward and see (Berkowitz) and set goals better than I have been recently this season."

Berkowitz, a freshman running in only her third 5,000-meter race of high school, showed she belonged with the upperclassmen throughout the race. She wasn't afraid to push Gaddy for first place on much of the course. "I knew I should stay with that lead pack, because if I didn't I would've fallen behind and not been able to catch back up," Berkowitz said. "I just kept telling myself that I had to keep going." Bundy's late effort helped the Chico girls take first in the varsity competition with 28 points. Junior Nahkia Clements (fifth), plus freshmen Sophie Sims(sixth) and Priscilla Ward (9th & winner of the 4-7 race) all placed in the top 10 as did three runners from University Prep. Gaddy, Hannah Cusworth (7th) and Serena Tate (8th). The Chico contingent managed the win by having their final scoring runner (freshman Liberty Bronson) finish before UPrep's fourth did.

Elsewhere in the girls' division, Hamilton senior Alicia Murillo set a season- best time, 20:42.09, and claimed 10th place. Durham freshman Mikaela Murasko won the girls' 3,380-meter race in a time of 13:48.39. In the only other girls race on the day, the Panther girls also claimed the JV/Open race team title.

The Panthers' boys had no serious challenge team-wise and had a much easier time finishing atop their division with 21 points, ahead of second-place PV (104) and third-place Fortuna (113). For the varsity boys race, Chico senior Charlie Giannini took the lead early with Pleasant Valley senior Kyle Johnson and Paradise senior Gabriel Price following just a couple steps behind. But as the race wore on, Giannini extended the distance between himself and the rest of the field. His time of 16:12.07 was well ahead of Price, who finished second in 16:47.88.

Still, as Giannini led by a fairly comfortable margin, he admitted he "lost focus" in the final two miles of the race and didn't get the time he wanted. "It's not what I was hoping for; I was hoping to be a little stronger in those last (couple) miles," Giannini said. "I wore a watch to check my splits. I got out (to) a nice 4:50 first mile split so I was feeling good about that . Everybody's strongest races are when they have someone to hang on to." His ultimate goal is to break the course record at Hooker Oak Park of 15:37, and he will have two more opportunities to do so this season.

Chico will compete at the same venue Wednesday in a regular season league meet, and again for the Eastern Athletic-Sacramento River League Championships on Nov. 1. The Panthers also saw senior Bretten Farrell place third among all boys varsity competitors with a time of 16:54.50. Senior Jaxon LeDuc took fifth (17:04.13), while seniors Kaleb Traficante, and Rory Monninger, and junior Alan Nava all turned in top-10 finishes.

Chico senior Devan McClung set the open course record in winning the boys open race in 11:18. The Chico boys easily won the open team title as did the Panthers in the Frosh/Soph and Rising Stars races.