CHICO, CA -- 34 high school teams, 13 middle school teams and five (middle, grade) school clubs came together at Hooker Oak Recreation Area Friday morning for the tenth running of the Chico Autumn Invitational in what would be the largest assembled field since the meet's inception in 2015. Weather conditions were again ideal starting out with temperatures in the lower 60s for the opening race and mid 70s for the final race on the day as skies remained sunny and winds light.
Like past years the varsity races were split up with team's top 3 runners contending in one race and while the rest of the varsity crew would mix it up in the 4-7 race. This was done for both the girls and boys to give the better mid pack runners a chance at winning a race. Afterword the results of the two races are combined to determine the overall boys and girls team champion. Beside these four varsity races, there were 3 middle school shorter races of 1.3 miles (2 boys & 1 girls) in addition to a frosh/soph boys top 8 race and two JV/Open races (one boys, one girls) at 3380 meters (or 2.1 miles).
On paper the varsity races would have the Northern Section's top teams with the notable exception of the larger Redding schools (Shasta, Foothill) with the addition of some good teams and/or individuals out of the San Joaquin Section. In fact, the quality of the varsity girls 1-3 race was exceptional with six girls having broken 19 minutes at least once on 5K or 3 mile courses previously this fall. The top seed in the girl's race had to be PV freshman Julie Plummer who was coming off a gob-smacking performance at the prestigious Clovis Invitational where she won the varsity D3 race in 17:51.9. Chico senior Taylor Wellersdick also ran well at the same meet (in a different race) by placing third in the D4 race in a time of 18:27 on the state cross country course. This was a time unrivalled in Panther school history and a very pleasant surprise after she missed two weeks of training in September after coming down with pneumonia.
The other top contenders were CORE Butte senior Brianna Hayes, Cosumnes Oaks senior Brianna Williams, U Prep sophomore Rogue Cutler and Nevada Union teammates, senior Eleni Keriotis and junior Leah Krason.
Team-wise Chico was a heavy favorite to win the varsity girls race despite missing no. 5 runner Phuong Le while in the varsity boys race promised be a toss-up between West Valley, Trinity and University Prep although a young Del Oro team (with no seniors) can't be overlooked.
The varsity boys ran first. U Prep looked to be in the best shape after the 4-7 race by placing two runners in the top five even though West Valley's Derek Rulon, riding a strong late race surge, won the heat impressively. Unfortunately, his closest teammate came in a distant 34 places (& nearly 3 minutes) later. In the varsity 1-3 race, a large lead pack containing all the favorites developed as the contestants moved down the levee for the first time. The pack split into two groups by the time the leaders came through the brisk opening mile in around five minutes flat. Nine runners were still in the lead pack, headed by Del Oro teammates Ethan Kelly and Alden Reck. Looping around the softball and baseball fields, before heading back toward the western end of the levee, saw the lead and chase packs splinter with the Del Oro duo still running 1-2 to hold a 10 meter gap over a reconstituted chase group that contained Jackson Poburko, Justin Plummer, Florin's Daniel Cazares and Nevada Union's Rowan Henry as the racers approached the halfway mark. A few meters behind U Prep's Noah Gaddy had caught NU's Finnegan Good while a little further back WV's Elijah Anderson was running with Yuba City's Christopher Camolinga, Trinity's Ethan Straatman and Del Oro's third man in the race Connor Perry. At this point in the race, it appeared the young Del Oro team was in the driver's seat for the win. But how things changed after the contestants ran past the two mile mark on their way to reversing their way along the levee.
With a final loop around the softball field (roughly a half mile) to go, Kelly was still leading but now was followed by Gaddy with Poburko, WV's Isaiah Larveval, Cazares, Plummer, Good and Reck strung out behind. NU's Henry was likely among the top five coming off the levee but he came to abrupt stop shortly afterward suffering from an upset stomach. This final loop, largely unseen by most spectators saw Poburko (4:11 1600PR) surge into the lead after passing both Gaddy and subsequently Kelly to come home victorious. Kelly, Gaddy followed, Larceval stayed in fourth, Good moved into fifth to edge Cazare. Anderson held off Plummer to take seventh. Rounding out the top ten was Nigro ninth and Straatman tenth.
University Prep, running with a full team, won the boys title. Del Oro was a close second with West Valley a more distant third and Chico fourth. West Valley, who a week previously had edged U Prep at the West Valley Coed Invite, was missing their number 5 runner Lane Carruth while Chico top runner, Kenton Girt was also absent. Trinity, also likely to be a contender for the section team title, was missing their number two runner Bill Kormeier who was replaced by someone eight minutes slower highlighting their serious lack of depth.
The girls 4-7 race was totally dominated by the Chico girls as Providence Christian's Ellie Cleek was the only other runner in the top five not a Panther. Samantha Moreno-Delgado ran away from the field to finish 50 seconds clear of her closest teammate, freshman Neva Bilinski. The domination by the Panthers could have been worse as they were missing number 5 runner Phuong Le.
The opening mile of the varsity girls 1-3 race, saw Chico's Taylor Wellersdick, PV's Julie Plummer come through the mile in a ridiculously fast 5:30 which had opened up a 5 meter gap over chase pack composed of NU's Keriotis, Krason and CORE Butte's Brianna Hayes. A second chase pack 10 meters further back held U Prep's Cutler, CO's Williams, Cordova's Lesly Rojas and Lassen's Kimberlee Mckernan. Due to events unrelated to the race Wellersdick didn't complete the mid race circuit of the course, dropping out somewhere near the race's eventual finish. Now Plummer was all alone up front holding a comfortable gap over the two runners from Nevada Union and a little further back Brianna Hayes as the racers headed back toward the bike path which will lead them back to the levee. At this near halfway point, the rest of the top ten was filled by Cutler, Rojas, Brianna Williams, Mckernan, Shewey and Erickson. Places remain remained largely unchanged as competitors came off the levee the final time with the notable exception of Krason pulling away from her teammate to take firm control of the runnerup position. Hayes opened up a sizeable gap on Cutler while Cutler's lead over Williams expanded even more.
Julie Plummer came home in 18:15, the first of four runners to break the 19 minute mark on the challenging course. The next two runners to do so were Nevada Union teamates Leah Krason, who took second (18:37) and Eleni Keriotis who placed third (18:47) with CORE Butte's Brianna Hayes fourth (18:55). In the history of this course, 19 minutes has only been breached twelve times and never by more than two in any one race. The four who did it at this race are the #2, #6, #8 and #10 on the all-time list on a course that has been around since 2014. Filling out the rest of the top ten were Cutler, Williams, Rojas who all bettered 20 minutes, then came Mckernan, Chico no. 2 Molly Shewey and Hope's Kylie Erickson.
Chico did easily win the varsity girls competition despite the DNF of Wellersdick, the absence of Le and a subpar day of number three runner Ducale. The Panthers 59 points outpaced runner up Del Oro's 87 and Cosumnes Oaks 88. Pleasant Valley was a more distant fourth with 107 but was without their number three runner, sophomore Avery Hankins.
The JV/Open girls race was won by West Valley's Brooklynn Shaw but Chico won the team title by placing four in the top eight and seven in the top 16 to easily defeat West Valley 26 to 55. The JV boys due to a high number of entrants, were split into two races; a top eight Frosh/Soph race and a JV/Open race where junior & seniors could run. Chico easily won both, taking six of the first ten places in the frosh/soph race and five of the first six in the JV/open race.
Next up for the Panthers and Vikings is the second EAL Center meet that will be held at Foothill High School in Palo Cedro on Wednesday.
