LA JOLLA – Ask Chico State Head Coach Kirk Freitas, and he’ll tell you that hoisting the conference championship banner never gets old. For the seventh consecutive year, the Wildcat men’s track and field team took top honors at the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships, finishing the three-day event Saturday at Triton Track and Field Stadium with a flurry of outstanding performances and once again solidifying Chico State’s reputation as one of the top track and field programs in the nation.
The Wildcats – ranked seventh in the country – easily outdistanced the CCAA field, scoring 290.5 team points to beat second place UC San Diego by 150.5.
Saturday’s full slate of track and field events was full of Chico State highlights. Ryan Bertucci eclipsed his personal best and grabbed an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships with a winning leap of 7-feet-00.25 in the high jump; it ranks as the third highest jump in the event in Chico State history. Derek Nichols took first place in the discus toss with a throw of 152-feet-10.
The Wildcats dominated the distance events Saturday, with Beau Rogers winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:06.13. Jordan Fairley finished second in the event, posting an NCAA provisional mark of 9:09.57. Miles Dunbar came in third in the steeplechase – his time of 9:09.65 improving his existing provisional mark. Michael Wickman notched first place finishes in both the 800-meter run (1:51.96) and 1,500-meter run (3:54.26), while the Wildcats claimed the top six finishers in the 5,000-meter run – Jimmy Elam finishing first with a time of 14:55.24.
Talor Fulfer just missed a provisional mark with a second place finish Saturday in the javelin, tossing a personal best 193-feet-05, which is the ninth best throw ever by a Wildcat. J. Patrick Smith placed third in the 110-meter hurdles (15.73); Isaiah Haywood was third in the 100-meter dash (10.95); Jerome Kendricks notched a third place finish in the 400-meter hurdles (54.25); and the team of Haywood, Damaris Greer, Nick Lonnegren and Dwight Aitkens finished third in the 400-meter relay with a time of 41.81 seconds.
Fourth place finishers in Saturday’s CCAA Championships included Aitkens in the 400-meter dash (a personal best 48.55 seconds); Lonnegren in the 200-meter dash (a season-best time of 22.13 seconds); Chad McCammon in the pole vault (14-feet-09.50); and Lonnegren, Aitkens, Matt Sloggy and Robert Nagle in the 4x400-meter relay (3:18.73).
FINAL RESULTS – CCAA Track & Field Championships
Following the meet, Smith was named the CCAA's Freshman of the Year, Brent Handa received the conference's co-Newcomer of the Year award, and Freitas was named CCAA Coach of the Year for the seventh straight season.
Now with the conference championship safely tucked away for another year, the Wildcats will travel to Stockton this Friday to compete in the Stanislaus Twilight Invitational, the final regular season meet before taking part in the NCAA Championships May 27-29.
