SPOKANE, Wash. – Freezing temperatures and falling snow made for a brutally cold day at the 2011 NCAA Women’s Cross Country Championships Saturday in Spokane, Wash. So the Chico State women decided to snuggle up during the race. Now the Wildcats are all feeling warm and cozy inside following a seventh-place finish. Alia Gray eventually broke away and came in 38th and a five-pack of ’Cats followed, all finishing between 52nd and 61st over a 12-second span, providing the program with its fifth straight top-seven finish and 10th straight top 10 at the national championships.
“We went out as a group and then just went to work,” said Wildcats Head Coach Gary Towne. “They did a phenomenal job of just packing in together and running a really solid race. This ranks right up with ou
r best (national championship) performances ever. Having our top six runners in the top 61 is really impressive.”
Seventh place might have disappointing finish for the Wildcats a few seasons back, but the landscape of women’s collegiate cross country has changed, making it tougher each season to finish among the nation’s best. In fact, the team’s 213-point total ranks among it’s best finishes ever.
Senior Katie Spencer’s 61st-place finish is the best in school history. If not for Colleen Joyce’s 54th-place finish last season, Spencer’s would have been faster than any fifth runner in school history as well.
Amy Schnittger led the big pack of ‘Cats and finished 52nd. Shannon Rich was right behind her in 53rd, followed by Jonah Weeks (55th), Paige Henker (58th) and Spencer. Tiffany Heflin had a rough day, but still finished 19th among freshmen in field in 117th overall.
It was Gray, now used to being under the weather after battling sickness for three straight weeks heading into the race, who led the way for the Wildcats. She fought through her illness to become just the fifth Wildcat ever to earn a second All-America honor. She finished 34th as a sophomore in 2009 and this year joined her good friend Kara Lubieniecki, Tori Tyler, Missy Lendl and Jennifer James on that short list.
“I’m really happy for Alia,” said Towne. “She’s done a lot for the program through the years. She would have been an All-American a year ago if she would have been healthy and that would make her the only
one who has ever accomplished that, so that just goes to show what an amazing athlete she is. It was really nice to see her bounce back and have the year she did.”
Schnittger, the second Wildcat across the line in each of her races this season, kept that streak intact as the engineer of the train of Chico State runners that followed Gray.
Shannon Rich wrapped up her illustrious Chico State career one spot later. An All-American last season, Rich has run in each of the last four NCAA Championships, posting a score in the last three.
Weeks, 53rd at last season’s championships, was 55th Saturday after a relatively rough regular season.
Henker had perhaps the day’s best run for the Wildcats with her 58th-place finish. Arguably the team’s 12th-best runner during the regular season, Henker has always been a big-race runner and was again on Saturday.
“That was a heck of a run,” said Towne. “She was just starting to catch her stride heading into the late season. I took a chance to add her to the roster for the regional and I’m really glad I did.”
Spencer capped her career with a run that would have meant a nice fifth-runner score in any other season.
Alia Gray finished 38th to earn All-America honors and lead the Chico State women's cross country team to a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships Saturday at the Plantes Ferry Sports Complex in Spokane, Wash.
Neely Spence of Shippensburg successfully defended her individual title in a 6,000 meter time of 20:53.8.
Spence led wire-to-wire and finished 13.6 seconds ahead of Alicia Nelson of Adams State.
Augustana won its first ever team title, upsetting Western State 75-79. Grand Valley State came in third (104), Adams State fourth (12), the University of Mary fifth (131) and Alaska Anchorage sixth (152) in race weather like none seen before by Towne in his 15-year career.
“Oh my God. As much as we’ve run in the snow now, it’s never actually been snowing this hard during a race,” said Towne. “They had snow built up on the side of their face from the side the wind was blowing from. It was not a Chico-like day. But we’re kind of getting used to that.”
At the same time it was a Chico-like day – Another NCAA Championship race, another amazing finish for the Wildcats.
Women's Team Scores – 1. Augustana, SD, 75; 2. Western State 79; 3. Grand Valley 104; 4. Adams State 120; 5. Mary 131; 6. Alaska Anchorage 152;
7. Chico State 213; 8. Ferris State 220; 9. Shippensburg 256; 10. Queens, N.C. 372; 11. Midwestern State 373; 12. Western Washington 390; 13. Saginaw Valley 399; 14. Bloomsburg 406; 15. Pittsburg State 422; 16. Tampa 429; 17. Alaska Fairbanks 436; 18. Ashland 467; 19. Stonehill 488; 20. Lock Haven 508; 21. Minnesota Duluth 519; 22. Bentley 545; 23. West Florida 736; 24. Montevallo 756.
Individuals (Top 10) – 1. Neely Spence, Shippensburg, 20:53.8; 2. Alicia Nelson, Adams State, 21:07.4; 3. Lauren Kleppin, Western State, 21:16.6; 4. Kate Griewisch, Lenoir-Rhyne, 21:26.8; 5. Kelly Lamb, Adams State, 21:28.0; 6. Dakota Wolf, Mary, 21:28.5; 7. Christina Muir, Ferris State, 21:28.5; 8. Brenae Edwards, Mansfield, 21:32.6; 9. Ruth Keino, UAA, 21:35.0; 10. Katie Spratford, Shippensburg, 21:35.3.
Chico State Individuals – 38. Alia Gray (22:18.5); 52. Amy Schnittger (22:46.3); 53. Shannon Rich (22:47.4); 55. Jonah Weeks (22:50.0); 58. Paige Henker (22:51.8); 61. Katie Spencer (22:58.2); 117. Tiffany Heflin (23.56.6).
Chico State’s History in the NCAA Championships
2011: 7th
2010: 5th
2009: 6th
2008: 7th
2007: 4th
2006: 9th
2005: 4th
2004: 6th
2003: 4th
2002: 5th
2001: 18th
2000: 9th
1998: 16th
1997: 17th
