John Cusick
Sep 27, 20228 min
Edits and additional commentary by Garrett Zatlin
This past weekend, the men of Chico State showed the rest of the country just how good of a team they can be.
The Wildcats placed all five of their scorers inside the top-10, scoring just 32 points! That was 38 points better than Azusa Pacific who finished 2nd as a team with two athletes inside the top-five.
Jack Emanuel took home the silver medal with teammate Omar Alvarez-Hernandez three spots back in 5th place overall. Rory Abberton (7th), Brayden McLaughlin (8th) and Daniel Hernandez (10th) were the final three scorers for the Wildcats, a dominant combination of firepower and depth.
Their time-spread was a preposterous 19 seconds. The Wildcats had all five of their scorers across the line before any other team had three athletes finish.
This was a dominant display of racing from the Wildcats. Chico State took down a team in Azusa Pacific that we thought had the potential to crack our top-10 rankings by season's end. They also took down TSR's top-ranked Division Three team in Pomona-Pitzer, a group that could have been very dangerous given their own elite-caliber depth.
Chico State also sent a message to their CCAA foes, Cal Poly Pomona, that the conference (and likely the region) still runs through them. And while this may seem crazy to say or think, the Wildcats still have room to be better from a scoring standpoint.
We didn't see Dylan White or Charlie Giannini suit up for the Wildcats over the weekend. Both are runners who we expected to be part of this varsity squad in 2022. Instead, we saw Joshua O'Neill (21st) and Bennett Woodward (31st) finish as the final two athletes for Chico State's varsity lineup.
Those are very strong performances for both O'Neill and Woodward, but they don't possess the same scoring potency as White or Giannini could provide. If those latter two men had run this past weekend, then we could realistically be talking about all seven of Chico State's scorers inside the top-10 of this meet and them having an even lower score of 32 points.
While the Wildcats are not lacking in the depth department, it’s always a good thing to get their athletes more experience.
This was the first time we have seen O’Neill and Woodward be part of this varsity lineup for Chico State, but their recent introduction to this top-seven could prove incredibly valuable in November.
If White and Giannini don’t actually suit up for this team later this season, then we could see O’Neill and Woodward step into a critical role during the most important time of the season. This gained experience in September will only make the transition to postseason racing easier if they are indeed called upon.
This all comes with the caveat that it's a race in September. While we are not ready to throw all of our chips on Chico State right now, this is a great thing to see from a team early in the season.
The Winona State superstar made it back-to-back individual titles at the Roy Griak Invitational after another strong performance this past weekend.
Lindsay Cunningham (TSR #3) gapped Division Three superstar Fiona Smith (TSR #2) by 13 seconds when all was said and done. Cunningham ended the 6k race in 21:05. That's an important statistic because, precisely 365 days ago, Cunningham won the same title in 21:44.
That's a 39-second improvement from last year.
Cunningham displayed strong racing tactics as she battled with Smith through 3000 meters before pulling away in the second-half of the race. She wasn't challenged much during her 2021 campaign, but when she was, she responded accordingly.
It's nice to see Cunningham pitted against someone who rivals her talent level individually, making her 13-second victory all the more impressive.
We don't like to get caught up in times on a cross country course, but this is too good not to at least mention. This is the second year of Cunningham's cross country career and it's off to just as good of a start as her rookie campaign in 2021 – if not better.
Cunningham is still young when it comes to competing on the grass. However, there is no indication that her youth or relative inexperience is a liability. When it comes to this Winona State star, there doesn't appear to be any other game plan than go out and see if anyone else can race with her.
Is it fair to say that, after this past weekend, Cunningham could be a contender for the individual national title in December? And while we may have believed that she was at least capable of doing that this preseason, it's incredibly nice to see her actually deliver on that potential.
Okay, so the Lock Haven XC Invitational doesn't exactly bring in the country's best competition, but it's hard to overlook what the Warriors did this past weekend.
The Wayne State men finished 2nd in the team standings behind Division One's Cornell University. Cornell went 1-3-4-5-7 to score 20 points and take home the team title, but Wayne State was a strong runner-up with 44 points of their own.
The Warriors were led by Tyler Buchanan who finished 2nd overall by less than half a second. His performance was so impressive that it garnered him GLIAC "Runner of the Week" honors. Ransom Allen (TSR #17) finished 6th overall as the team's second scorer while teammate Carson Nicoletti was their third option in 8th place.
That meant three Warriors were inside the top-10 and just 23 seconds separated them.
Nicolas Trevino (18th), Antonio Chapa (23rd), Jack Wilson (24th) and Zahid Solodawala (29th) were the final four athletes for the Warriors' varsity squad. The time spread between those four men?
Just 22 seconds.
Their time-spread between their first and fifth scorers was 56 seconds, making it one of the stronger packs that we have seen early in this season.
We likely need to highlight Buchanan before anyone else. This was just the second time that wen saw Buchanan in a Warriors' singlet on the grass, but he's already impacted this team in a major way.
If Buchanan can continue to race like this, then Wayne State's firepower next to Ransom Allen could make this one of the most underappreciated cross country squads in Division Two. That, in theory, changes the dynamic of this team at the national level.
Heck, we haven't even mentioned that Zac Truman didn't suit up for this team this past weekend! We thought he would serve as the second scorer for the Warriors during the preseason.
But regardless of whether or not Truman races this fall -- he is listed as a redshirt / unattached runner on TFRRS -- this team will still be nationally competitive if they continue to race like this in the postseason. Their depth will need to be also make improvements, but there is still a promising core of scorers on this roster.
It's unclear if we will see the Warriors toe the line against stronger competition before the GLIAC XC Championships in October. If this was the best competition that they will face over the next month, then that will likely stop us from getting ahead of ourselves in September.
There's no doubt that this was a strong performance from Wayne State, but we want to see how they perform against some of the better teams in Division Two before we say they've arrived.
The women of Stanislaus State are dangerous.
And we don't say that lightly.
Coming into the season, we listed the Warriors at TSR #8 in our preseason rankings primarily due to their lethal firepower. That was on full display this past weekend at the Cougar Challenge where we saw the Stanislaus State women finish 1-2-3 in the individual results.
Kaela Dishion took home the individual title while her teammates Najwa Chouati and Kayden Legan were behind her in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. Yahaira Zuniga and Haleigh Humble were the final two scorers for the Warriors in 10th and 12th, respectively.
After this performance, there is plenty to like about this Stanislaus State team. Their low-stick trio of Dishion, Chouati and Legan could potentially be one of the best scoring trios in the country. They theoretically have the necessary firepower to compete with the nation's bet squad through three runners and that was on full display at the Cougar Challenge.
The main concern? Their lack of depth.
Yes, Zuniga and Humble are strong fourth and fifth runners in this lineup, but what happens if they (or anyone in this top-five) have an "off" day? Katarina Borchin was the next runner for Stanislaus State, finishing in 64th place overall. She was the only other runner for Stanislaus State runners at the Cougar Challenge.
That's right, just six runners.
Depth was part of our concern for this team heading into this season, but we had anticipated Angelina Ronquillo being part of this team. So far, that has not been the case in 2022, leaving this team shallower than expected.
The Warriors have the potential to finish this season as one of the best teams in Division Two, but it all relies on their consistency moving forward and their ability to limit lineup gaps.
There is still plenty for Stanislaus State to prove to us throughout the rest of the season, but this is a good result in September to make us feel better about their future.
The Minnesota-Duluth women took home the "Maroon" section team title at the Roy Griak Invitational. Three top-10 individual performances led the Bulldogs came from Cailee Peterson (5th), Maddie Verkerke (7th) and Julia Nielsen (9th). Morgan Radel was 12th and Lauryn Renier was 32nd to give the Bulldogs a cumulative 65 points. That was 23 points better than runner-up Winona State. This win also secures head-to-head victories against multiple postseason opponents. This result will surely boost their resume and help them secure a national qualifying spot in November.
The men of Michigan Tech took home the other "Maroon" section team title at the Roy Griak Invitational. The Huskies were led by Clayton Sayen (TSR #19) and Drew Kolodge who finished 2nd and 3rd overall. Samuel Lange was the third Michigan Tech athlete in the top-10, giving them three athletes across the line before anyone else did. They'd finish with 62 team points. That was 15 points better than D3's UW-LaCrosse and 34 points better than Sioux Falls. It's reassuring to see Sayen race well on the grass as his scoring will be necessary for any postseason success. But what's even more encouraging are the races that we saw from Kolodge and Lange. Their individual results will heavily influence how their team fares in the postseason.
The Western Washington women ran well at their annual WWU Bill Roe Classic. They scored 53 points and secured a victory over Simon Fraser by 19 points. They placed six athletes in the top-20 with Mia Crocker leading the team in 4th place. There is still room for improvement, but it's an excellent result from a team that is so young. A few more strong performances like this and we could see the Vikings sneak their way into the NCAA meet come December.
At the same WWU Bill Roe Classic, we saw Alaska Anchorage's Cole Nash (TSR #15) continue his strong running. The Seawolf athlete finished 2nd overall, defeating multiple Western Washington and Simon Fraser athletes. We knew Nash would be a viable individual contender during the postseason and this race reinforces that opinion. Nash can run with anyone in his conference and region, making him a legitimate threat to take home the individual crowns at those levels. His racing savvy combined with his individual talent allows us to believe that he can defeat anyone within the GNAC and the West region.