Chico State Athletics

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Gary Towne recently moved into a bigger office. It’s a good thing, because it was getting hard to find him among all of the trophies. Towne, Chico State’s cross country coach, embarks on his quest to have the same problem in his new, larger office this Saturday when the Wildcats toe the line at the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Evansville, Ind.

Chico State’s men’s and women’s programs are each making their 10th straight trip to the NCAA Championships, hosted this season by the University of Southern Indiana. The Chico State men are coming off their eighth straight West Region title and ranked No. 4 in the nation. The Chico State women finished second at last week’s Regional Championships and are ranked No. 5.

The top four teams in Saturday’s race will bring home a trophy, and the first 30 U.S. citizens to cross the finish line will earn All-America recognition. The gun will go off for the women’s race, a six-kilometer trail, at 10 AM PST. The men’s championship, which will cover 10 kilometers, will follow at 11.

Links of interest:

NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships Home Page

Printable and interactive course maps

Chico State Cross Country Postseason History

The Women’s Race
Led by seniors Tori Tyler and Julie Shaw, the Wildcats will be gunning for their eight straight top-10 national finish. Tyler, Alia Gray, Kara Lubieniecki, Shannon Rich, and Stephanie Consiglio were all part of the team’s seventh-place finish last season. Shaw, a competitor at the 2005 and 2006 National Championships, and freshman Paige Henker round out the squad.

The Wildcats hope to continue their streak of brining home the hardware on the last three odd years, having finished fourth (their best finish ever at the National Championships) in 2003, 2005, and 2007. Their main competition will likely be 2008 national runner-up Grand Valley State, Missouri Southern, Alaska Anchorage, and Adams State.

Grand Valley State returns four All-Americans from last year’s squad and is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation. Missouri Southern, ranked No. 2, handed six-time defending National Champion Adams State its first loss in many years earlier this season. Third-ranked Alaska Anchorage bested Chico State for the West Region title two weeks ago. Adams State, ranked No. 4, is after its seventh straight National title.

Seattle Pacific, featuring two-time defending individual National Champion Jessica Pixler, Western State College, Shippensburg University, Augustana, and Southern Indiana are the sixth-through-tenth ranked teams in the nation entering the weekend and will also be in the mix for a podium finish.

The Wildcats
Tori Tyler – Tyler seemed to be well on her way to the best individual National Championship finish ever by a Wildcat before falling and breaking her foot and rib last year. She was running among the top 10 overall when she slipped on a snow-covered turn.  Despite the fall, the broken bones, and the lost places, the gritty junior held on to finish 16th overall (Jill Symons’ 14th-place finish in 1979 is the best in Wildcats history.) while earning her first All-America honor. This season, Tyler has again been fighting the injury bug. but she seems to be hitting her stride at just the right time and will undoubtedly leave it all out on the course in her final collegiate race.

Alia Gray – Gray finished 69th at last year’s National Championships as a freshman and has been the team’s most consistent runner in 2009 with four top-15 finishes, including her second straight All-West Region honor two weeks ago with a 13th-place finish.

Kara Lubieniecki – Lubieniecki was 64th at the National Championships as a freshman and the second Wildcat to cross the line last season, in 43rd. The junior two-time All-West Region performer was the first Wildcats finisher in three of the five races she competed in this season and will likely work with Gray, Shaw, or both of them through the early stages of Saturday’s race. An All-America performance Saturday would make her just the third repeat All-American in the program's history.

Julie Shaw – Another Wildcat with two All-West Region honors to her name, Shaw is coming off perhaps the best race of her career – an eighth-place finish at the Regional Championships. Saturday will mark the final cross country race of this fifth-year senior’s career, and an All-America honor would certainly be a terrific way to cap it off.

Shannon Rich – In her second year at the NCAA Championships, Rich finished 104th overall last season. The sophomore finished eighth at the CCAA Championships and 21st at the Regional Championships earlier this month.

Paige Henker – Possibly this season’s biggest story has been the emergence of Henker, a redshirt freshman who started the season outside of the program’s top-10 runners, but was the team’s fifth finisher at the Regional Championships, crossing the line in 16th.

Stephanie Consiglio – After battling through a season of setbacks due to injuries and illness, Consiglio earned a spot on the roster with an impressive run at the recent Almond Bowl run. Consiglio finished 95th as a freshman at last year’s National Championships.

The Men’s Race
Anything short of their eighth straight top-six finish (and 11th straight top-10) would certainly be a disappointment for the veteran Wildcats’ squad, currently ranked No. 4 in the country. Seniors Jimmy Elam, Beau Gradone-Rogers, and Michael Wickman will be running their final collegiate cross country race, while juniors Brent Handa, Alan Campos, and Brendan Scanlon and sophomore Joey Kochlacs round out the squad.

The team is coming off a third-place showing at last year’s National Championships, which matched the 2005 team for the best showing in the history of the program. Wickman, Gradone-Rogers, and Scanlon all played key roles, finishing 32nd, 35th, and 53rd, respectively. Wickman and Gradone-Rogers became the 24th and 25th All-Americans in Chico State history as a result.

This season the field Chico State is up against might be the toughest ever. Many have called top-ranked Adam State, the defending National Champions, potentially the best team in the history of Division II. The Grizzlies thoroughly dominated second-ranked Western State at the Central Region Championships, placing four runners inside Western’s top finisher. Four of No. 2-ranked Western State’s runners return from last season’s National Championship runner-up finish. Grand Valley State, ranked No. 3 in the nation, finished fifth last year with five freshmen on the roster who all return.

Along with Chico State, other threats to finish among the top four include Colorado School of the Mines, Western Washington, Queens University, UMass-Lowell, Missouri Southern, and Shippensburg.

The Wildcats
Jimmy Elam – After sitting out last season due to inter-conference transfer rules, the transfer from Humboldt State has absolutely shined during his senior year. He claimed the CCAA individual title earlier this month, and then placed fifth at the regional final, which actually marked the first time this season he wasn’t the first Wildcat to the finish line. This will be his first time on a National Cross Country Championship stage, and how he responds could go a long way in deciding the Wildcats’ fortunes Saturday.

Brent Handa – Called into duty just before the CCAA Championships (the plan was for him to redshirt before that), Handa has taken full advantage of his opportunity to run in the postseason, finishing second at the CCAA Championships and fourth at the West Region Championships. The transfer from Cal State Fullerton is a true 10-kilometer runner, so Handa should enjoy the National Championship layout.

Beau Gradone-Rogers – As was the case last season, Gradone-Rogers seems to be peaking at just the right time heading into the National Championships. He finished fourth at the CCAA Championships, and sixth at the Regional Championships. Another All-America honor Saturday would make him just the sixth repeat cross country All-American in Chico State history.

Michael Wickman – Wickman, who often runs with Rogers throughout the early stages of these competitions, is also out to repeat as a cross country All-American. A definite key for the Wildcats this weekend will be how the 800-meter specialist reacts to the grueling 10-kilometer layout. He’s coming off a sixth-place finish at the CCAA Championships and ninth-place finish at the Regional Championships.

Brendan Scanlon – Like Wickman, Scanlon’s race Saturday will go a long way in determining the Wildcats’ fate. As a redshirt freshman two seasons ago, Scanlon enjoyed a breakout 20th-place finish at the National Championships. However, an assortment of setbacks and illnesses has made for a frustrating season in 2009 for Scanlon, who was the final Wildcat to cross the line at the Regional Championships.

Alan Campos – Campos, whom Towne refers to as one of the hardest working runners in his program, will be enjoying his first National Championship experience Saturday. The former walk-on has finished among the top 10 at the CCAA Championships twice, and crossed the line in 18th at the recent Regional Championships.

Joey Kochlacs – Kochlacs will also be running the National Championships for the first time. The redshirt sophomore has been as steady as any Chico State runner this season and finished 19th at the recent Regional Championships.