LA JOLLA, Calif. – The unthinkable happened at the NCAA West Region Cross Country Championships Saturday. Officials stopped the men’s 10,000-meter race halfway through and eventually postponed it after the bicyclist guiding the race leaders failed to turn down the correct trail.
That was the end of the surprises.
Tori Tyler's 2nd-place finish led the women's team.
The Chico State women, led by Tori Tyler’s second-place finish, dominated the field en route to their fourth regional title in the last six years. Shannon McVannel finished 10th, Alia Gray came in 12th, and Kara Lubieniecki crossed the line in 14th, giving the Wildcats four finishers before any other team had three across the line. They bested second-place Seattle Pacific 60-92.
The men’s team then went out and crushed its competition for its seventh straight regional championship behind Scott Bauhs’ individual title. Angel Marquez crossed the line in fourth, Beau Rogers was sixth, Michael Wickman seventh, Manny Mejia 10th, and Jordan Fairley 12th, giving the Wildcats six runners inside the overall top-12. They easily handled second-place Alaska Anchorage 28-67.
Both teams advanced to the NCAA Championships to be held in Slippery Rock, Penn., on Nov. 22nd. The top three men’s teams and top five women’s teams from the West Region earned berths in the national championships.
Joining the Chico State men will be Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington. Seattle Pacific, Alaska Anchorage, Cal State L.A., and Western Washington will join the Chico State women in Slippery Rock.
The morning began with sunny skies and a cool breeze greeting the 18 men’s teams at the starting line. Shortly after the start, however, the race took a bizzare turn. The cyclist who rode ahead of the race leaders inexplicably went straight where he was supposed to turn. A few minutes later he would ride up a different part of the trail and tell one of the course officials what happened.
Men's champion Scott Bauhs.
“I think I went the wrong way back there,” he said with a stunned expression on his face. “I knew something wasn’t right but (a different course official) was pointing straight ahead. I thought I was supposed to turn, but I figured she knew so I went ahead. I kept going for a while, but then I stopped and told the guys I thought we were going the wrong way. It couldn’t have been more than a quarter mile.”
The rider’s revelation sent a panic through the field. Suddenly around 50 of the lead runners were dashing back down the hill toward the correct trail. Some even darted through the brush and eucalyptus trees. Soon the two packs converged and got headed in the right direction. By then the fastest runners in the race were forced to navigate through the slower pack. Surprising early-race leader Jordan Welling of Western Washington, who was rumored to have fallen during the mad dash through the woods, though that was never confirmed, lost his lead for good. That was just one of many rumors that quickly spread from the eucalyptus grove to those waiting near the finish line.
Meanwhile, race officials were on the phone with the NCAA looking for some advice and direction. Around five minutes after the mishap, the race was halted.
“I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” said Chico State assistant Pat Boivin, who was encouraging the Wildcats to stay in the shade and stay loose while the coaches met to help sort out what would happen next. “I mean, I’ve seen courses go bad, but I’ve never seen them just stop the race.”
After receiving input from the coaches and the NCAA, the race committee met and decided to run the race over in its entirety following the women’s race. By then, the athletes had already put in five kilometers of hard work.
Some of the other options discussed at the coaches’ meeting were to run the six-kilometer women’s course or quickly put together an eight-kilometer course layout. In the end, though, most everyone seemed satisfied with the committee’s decision.
Angel Marquez leads a pack of five Chico State runners through the Eucalyptus grove.
“Human error happens,” said Chico State Head Coach Gary Towne following the decision. “It’s unfortunate. It sounds like they had measures in place to prevent this. Unfortunately all of those measures went wrong.
“The race was setting up pretty good for us, but everybody’s in the same boat so I don’t think it gives anyone a huge advantage. We will find out which teams have the best fitness, though.”
As it turned out, that team was the Wildcats. Bauhs ran with Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion Marko Cheseto through most of the race before passing him with a little more than a mile to go. He continued to pull away and won his first career West Regional title by almost 10 seconds.
“This is cool,” Bauhs said with a smile. “This race has been a real struggle for me through the years, but today I really wanted to win. Now my roommate Pat (Boivin) can’t hold that over me any more.”
Boivin, who won the 2005 West Regional title, is the only other Chico State athlete who can claim that distinction.
Chesoto was expected to give Bauhs a real challenge, but Bauhs never felt threatened, though the pair ran together well in front of the pack for most of the race.
“I felt really relaxed, but I didn’t know if he felt just as relaxed,” said Bauhs. “With about 1.5 miles to go I picked up the pace a bit just to see if he would go with me. I let him know with my surge how much I had left and he decided not to try to go with me.”
The trio of (left to right) Kara Lubieniecki, Shannon McVannel, and Alia Gray joined Tyler in receiving All-Region honors.
Defending regional champion John Riak of St. Martin’s followed Bauhs and Cheseso across the line, and Chico State’s Marquez was fourth. Perhaps the best race of the day belonged to Wildcats junior Rogers, who finished sixth. The Wildcats’ fifth or sixth-ranked runner for most of the season led Michael Wickman across the line in seventh. Manny Majia came in 10th and Fairley was 12th.
“Wow, what a race Beau ran,” exclaimed Towne. “He ran well. Obviously, Scott ran well. He’s such a tough guy to beat. Michael Wickman missed almost the entire season with Mono and was just awesome today. Manny definitely had his best race of the year, too.”
The Chico State women, six of whom had never competed in an NCAA Championship event, also “wowed” Towne. Tyler, the team’s most veteran runner as a junior, ran her best race of the year to finish second behind defending NCAA Champion Jessica Pixler.
“On paper I was probably picked to finish eighth or 10th, so I’m really happy with how I ran today” said Tyler. “Pixler got out pretty good and she’s pretty hard not to lose, but I’ll try to give her more of a race at nationals.”
The trio of McVanell, Gray and Lubieniecki ran in a pack and crossed the line within 13 seconds of each other to ensure a low Chico State score. McVanell and Lubieniecki are sophomores and Gray is a freshman. Freshmen Stephanie Consiglio and Shannon Rich crossed the line in 22nd and 23rd, respectively.
Chico State's No. 5 or 6 runner, Beau Rogers, finished sixth overall.
“They were so impressive today,” said Towne. “They’re really young but they executed really well on the biggest stage most of them have ever been on.”
The women got special inspiration from alumna Laura Dockery and Heather Newcom, who were part of Chico State’s first women’s team to qualify for the NCAA Championships in 1997. They spoke words of encouragement to the team before the race, and Dockery, the original author of the team cheer that still takes place before every race, led the pre-race cheer at the request of the team.
“That was pretty cool,” said Tyler. “It definitely gives you a little extra incentive to know you’re running for more than just yourself and your team. There are a lot of runners who have gone before us and who really care about how we’re doing.”
Tyler, McVanell, Gray, Lubieniecki each earned All-Region honors for their efforts. Tyler’s second-place finish tied for the second best in the history of the program. Jill Symonds won the race in 1979. Mary Torres (2006) and Katie Lee (2005) each finished second.
Bauhs, Marquez, Rogers, Wickman, Mejia, and Fairley garnered All-Region status on the men’s side.
Complete Men's Results
Complete Women's Results