Rarely do Division II athletic programs get a chance to measure themselves against some of the top Division I teams in the nation. Even more unusual is the program that measures up quite nicely, earning the right to run with the big teams again and again. Such a rare jewel exists in the athletics department at Chico State: It’s Head Coach Gary Towne’s cross country program.
The Wildcats will compete in the 38th annual Stanford University Cross Country Invitational this Saturday morning – a race anticipated by the team perhaps more than any other outside of the NCAA Championships. The competition will offer a stiff test for the once again highly ranked Chico State teams, both coming off dominant performances at the season opening Humboldt Invitational. The men's eight-kilometer race starts at 10:50 and the women's 6K race gets going at 11:30.
The women, currently ranked No. 1 in the west and No. 2 in the nation by the U.S. Track & Field & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), sent twelve of the first 13 collegiate runners across the line and scored a perfect 15 in the win. Fourteen of the first 15 men to cross the line represented Chico State (No. 1 in the west and No. 5 in the nation), which also netted a perfect score of 15.
Towne recently released his Stanford squads, which feature a healthy mix of race veterans and newcomers. Division II Cross Country All-Americans Alia Gray and Shannon Rich and fellow seniors Stephanie Consiglio, Katie Spencer and Brooke Bergesen will lead the women into action. Consiglio has finished 51st at the last two NCAA D-II Championships. Spencer and Bergesen placed fifth and seventh, respectively, at the season-opening Humboldt Invitational. Juniors Jonah Weeks and Amy Schnittger are the team’s other veteran competitors. Weeks finished 53rd at the 2010 NCAA Championships. Schnittger is coming off perhaps her best cross country race after placing second behind only Gray at Humboldt. Freshmen Emily Stickney (11th at Humboldt), Tiffany Heflin (14th), and Jessica Varela (competing for the first time as a collegiate) round out the Stanford roster.
Sophomore All-American Isaac Chavez (fifth at last year’s NCAA D-II Championships) leads a deep men’s team into action. Seniors Anthony Costales (51st at last year’s Stanford Invitational), Joey Kochlacs (44th at the 2010 NCAA Championships), Joseph Rivera (70th last year at Stanford) and Joshua Linen (healthy for the first time in his Chico State cross country career) will provide veteran savvy. Junior Adrian Sherrod will try to improve on his placing in Palo Alto last season (40th), as will sophomores Alfonso Cisneros (56th) and Dayne Gradone (80th). Johnny Sanchez (second in Humboldt) and Jeremy Brummitt (ninth) will get their first taste of big-time collegiate running.
The Wildcats opened last season in Palo Alto. The men finished sixth out of 26 teams, besting five teams that wound up among the top 12 in the final USTFCCCA West Region D-I rankings. Six runners on this year’s Stanford squad were part of the team’s 10th straight top-six finish at Stanford, a streak that includes second-place finishes in 2004 and 2005 and third-place finishes in 2003 and 2006. The women, featuring five of the 10 runners on the roster for this year’s race, finished ninth. They bested three teams that wound up among the USTFCCCA’s regional top 15. The Chico State women have finished among the top 10 at Stanford eight years in a row, including a second-place finish in 2005, third place in 2004, and fifth place in 2009.
Many of the same teams the Wildcats have faced in the past – including Stanford (boasting a men’s team ranked No. 3 in the nation and a women’s team ranked No. 6) – will be running on Saturday.
Joining the top-ranked Cardinal in the women's event are 10 Division I teams ranked among their region's top 15, including eight o fhte West Region's top 12. The Wildcats will be competing against 20 Division I teams in all. Challenges will also come from CCAA foe Cal Poly Pomona (ranked No. 3 in the West and No. 19 in the nation), Division III school Claremont Mudd Scripps (ranked No. 1 in the West and No. 4 in the nation) and the top-ranked NAIA program in the land - Azusa Pacific.
Chico State's men's team will be battling 17 Division I programs, including Stanford (ranked No. 1 in the West), UCLA (No. 7), Cal Poly (No. 8), Cal (No. 10), UC Davis (No. 12) and UC Santa Barbara (No. 14). Utan Valley, ranked No. 14 in the Mountain Region, is also competing. Cal Poly Pomona is the only other nationally-ranked Division II team in the meet at No. 5 in the West and No. 25 in the nation. Pomona Pitzer and Claremont Mudd Scripps, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the West among Division III schools, aill also compete, along with NAIA foe Azusa Pacific, among those teams receiving votes in last week's NAIA National rankings.
All of that tough competition will allow the Wildcats to once again measure where they rank among the very best programs in the west.
Chico State at Stanford - Through the Years
|
Men |
|
Women |
|
| Year |
Place |
Points |
Place |
Points |
| 2010 |
6/24 |
176 |
9/24 |
239 |
| 2009 |
4/18 |
158 |
5/22 |
187 |
| 2008 |
4/28 |
122 |
6/33 |
227 |
| 2007 |
5/32 |
208 |
6/28 |
205 |
| 2006 |
3/19 |
79 |
T7/17 |
182 |
| 2005 |
2/13 |
66 |
2/32 |
136 |
| 2004 |
T2/20 |
79 |
3/19 |
98 |
| 2003 |
3/22 |
92 |
7/26 |
256 |
| 2002 |
6/30 |
197 |
12/33 |
347 |
| 2001 |
6/? |
177 |
12/? |
339 |
Individual Top-10 Finishes at Stanford:
Women
Jen James - 7th - 2004
Men
Scott Bauhs - 1st - 2007
Scott Bauhs - 2nd - 2006
Scott Bauhs - 5th - 2005
Steven Springhorn - 6th - 2004
Charlie Serrano - 6th - 2007
Patrick Boivin - 10th - 2003
Jimmy Elam - 10th - 2008
