2008 Woodie Awards
Cross country team races off to national championships
By: Julian Williamson
Issue date: 11/12/08 Section: Sports
The men's and women's cross country teams continued their dominance this year when they came away victorious from the 2008 NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships in La Jolla on Saturday.
There was a mix-up in the men's race when the lead bicyclist, who dictates where the course goes, missed a turn and took the pack far off course. It was such a glaring error that the race was stopped a little more than halfway through and restarted again two hours later.
However, senior Scott Bauhs was prepared to run the extra distance, despite the oddity of the circumstance.
"Everybody was tired, but Chico definitely trains to handle something like that, even though we never anticipated anything close to that," Bauhs said.
He took first out of 125 runners with a time of 32 minutes, 15.8 seconds, and secured the seventh-consecutive regional championship for the NCAA's fourth-ranked men's team. It was his first victory in the regional championship, beating Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion sophomore Marko Cheseto of University of Alaska Anchorage by nine seconds in the 10-kilometer course.
Bauhs and Cheseto led the pack by a large margin, running side by side until Bauhs surged in the final kilometer. His previous best was fourth place during his freshman year, but head coach Gary Towne thought this would be Bauhs' year.
"Scott is one of the best distance runners in the United States, let alone one of the best college runners in the U.S.," Towne said. "Not to take anything away from his competition, but we felt pretty confident in him being able to win his first regional title."
Five other Wildcats crossed the line within 12th place after Bauhs: senior Angel Marquez took fourth, junior Beau Rogers was sixth, junior Michael Wickman was seventh, sophomore Manny Mejia took 10th and junior Jordan Fairley posted a 12th place finish.
They all earned All-Region recognition for their top-15 efforts in the decisive win.
With all the high-placing runners, the Wildcats took first overall, beating the University of Alaska Anchorage in a crushing fashion, 28-67.
Despite being a relatively young team, the Chico State women's team came into the meet ranked third in NCAA and it dominated five other top-25 universities.
"We hoped to win it, but I would say our minimal goal was to earn our ticket to the NCAA championships," Towne said. "But honestly, I would say that would be a very minimal goal, given that this group was ranked third in the nation."
The women's team was led by junior Tori Tyler, who placed second out of 160 runners on the 6-kilometer course. Her time of 21 minutes, 33.9 seconds was the second best in Chico State's history.
"That was really good," Towne said. "We felt like she was capable of that kind of performance all year."
She was followed by sophomore Shannon McVannel, who took 10th, redshirt freshman Alia Gray, who was 12th and sophomore Kara Lubieniecki, who was 14th. They beat Seattle Pacific 60-92, which earned the women's team its fourth regional championship in the past six years.
The four Wildcats came away with All-Region honors for their top-15 finishes.
With the win, both teams have qualified for the NCAA
Division II championships in Slippery Rock, Penn., Nov. 22.
Julian Williamson can be reached at
jwilliamson@theorion.com
There was a mix-up in the men's race when the lead bicyclist, who dictates where the course goes, missed a turn and took the pack far off course. It was such a glaring error that the race was stopped a little more than halfway through and restarted again two hours later.
However, senior Scott Bauhs was prepared to run the extra distance, despite the oddity of the circumstance.
"Everybody was tired, but Chico definitely trains to handle something like that, even though we never anticipated anything close to that," Bauhs said.
He took first out of 125 runners with a time of 32 minutes, 15.8 seconds, and secured the seventh-consecutive regional championship for the NCAA's fourth-ranked men's team. It was his first victory in the regional championship, beating Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion sophomore Marko Cheseto of University of Alaska Anchorage by nine seconds in the 10-kilometer course.
Bauhs and Cheseto led the pack by a large margin, running side by side until Bauhs surged in the final kilometer. His previous best was fourth place during his freshman year, but head coach Gary Towne thought this would be Bauhs' year.
"Scott is one of the best distance runners in the United States, let alone one of the best college runners in the U.S.," Towne said. "Not to take anything away from his competition, but we felt pretty confident in him being able to win his first regional title."
Five other Wildcats crossed the line within 12th place after Bauhs: senior Angel Marquez took fourth, junior Beau Rogers was sixth, junior Michael Wickman was seventh, sophomore Manny Mejia took 10th and junior Jordan Fairley posted a 12th place finish.
They all earned All-Region recognition for their top-15 efforts in the decisive win.
With all the high-placing runners, the Wildcats took first overall, beating the University of Alaska Anchorage in a crushing fashion, 28-67.
Despite being a relatively young team, the Chico State women's team came into the meet ranked third in NCAA and it dominated five other top-25 universities.
"We hoped to win it, but I would say our minimal goal was to earn our ticket to the NCAA championships," Towne said. "But honestly, I would say that would be a very minimal goal, given that this group was ranked third in the nation."
The women's team was led by junior Tori Tyler, who placed second out of 160 runners on the 6-kilometer course. Her time of 21 minutes, 33.9 seconds was the second best in Chico State's history.
"That was really good," Towne said. "We felt like she was capable of that kind of performance all year."
She was followed by sophomore Shannon McVannel, who took 10th, redshirt freshman Alia Gray, who was 12th and sophomore Kara Lubieniecki, who was 14th. They beat Seattle Pacific 60-92, which earned the women's team its fourth regional championship in the past six years.
The four Wildcats came away with All-Region honors for their top-15 finishes.
With the win, both teams have qualified for the NCAA
Division II championships in Slippery Rock, Penn., Nov. 22.
Julian Williamson can be reached at
jwilliamson@theorion.com
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