LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – Brent Handa is redeemed. Isaac Chavez is a revelation. And the Chico State men’s cross country team is just plain relentless. The freshman phenom Chavez finished fifth and Handa capped his career by crossing the line in seventh to lead the Chico State to its seventh top-five finish at the NCAA Championships in the past nine seasons at Louisville, Kentucky’s, E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park Saturday.
The top-five teams in the national rankings coming in finished that way Saturday. Adams State ruled the day with 57 points, followed by Western State (102), Grand Valley State (135), Colorado Mines (161) and Chico State.
Helping to seal the deal was Joey Kochlacs, who finished 44th, just four spots shy of All-America honors. Adrian Sherrod (70th) and Alan Campos (71st) worked together to tie a bow around the day’s festivities and secure a bit of revenge for the Wildcats, who annihilated an Alaska Anchorage team that had stopped their streak of eight straight West Region titles only two weeks ago. The Seawolves finished well behind the Wildcats in eighth place with 262 points.
Senior Manny Mejia wrapped up his collegiate cross country career with a strong 77th-place finish and Anthony Costales finished 90th, as the Wildcats’ entire seven-man roster crossed the line in the top half of the 24-team, 182-runner field.
Only Scott Bauhs, with his 2008 National Title and third-place finish in 2006, has finished higher than Chavez on the biggest stage in a Wildcats uniform. And only Bauhs, Chavez and Charlie Serrano (sixth place in 2006) have finished higher than Handa did Saturday.
“I’m extremely proud, said Wildcats’ Head Coach Gary Towne, who has now guided the Wildcats to 12th straight National Championship finishes of ninth place or better. “Isaac and Brent ran extremely well up front. Both of them are really neat stories. On one hand you have a guy in Brent who had an awful race last year (finishing 136th at the NCAA Championships) who was looking for redemption. On the other hand, you have Isaac, who lacks the experience and lifetime miles, but has just an amazingly cool head on his shoulders and a ton of raw talent.”
Handa had been speaking of a day like Saturday all season and Chavez delivered the goods.
“Isaac is just so amazing. I’ve been telling him all year long that I can’t wait for him to roll up on me with like a mile to go and just stick it to me and leave me behind,” said Handa. “And that’s exactly what he did today.”
Chavez credits Handa for the push that got him into the top five.
“I felt like once Brent and me got together we knew we had something good going and we could do something great by pushing each other over the last few miles,” said Chavez. “Once I got near the finish line I knew I had a good strong kick in me.”
The freakishly good freshman proved it by passing a number of runners over the last 500 meters.
“He was around 10th when he passed me with 300 meters to go,” recounts Towne. “I wasn’t standing where I could see the finish line so after our guys all passed me I ran down to see the scoreboard flashing results. I saw Isaac and Brent in fifth and seventh and thought: ‘are you kidding me?’”
Handa made a nice move down the stretch as well.
“Crossing the line knowing that I had given everything I had felt really awesome,” said Handa. “It felt good to get some redemption today and to, in a way, say thanks to Gary for all he’s done for me.”
Towne kept smiling and scoreboard scrolled on.
“We were so solid today one through seven,” he beamed. “We’ve never done that. We’ve never even had a number seven finisher crack the top 100, though we’ve been capable of it in the past. This team brought it today on the biggest day of the year and I couldn’t be more proud.”
Click here for complete race results.
