Chico State dominates conference finals again, extending winning streaks to 17 years in a row for the men and 11 straight seasons for the women

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

To no one’s surprise, Chico State dominated Saturday at the California Collegiate Athletic Association Cross Country Championships, sweeping its way to a 17th consecutive men’s title and 11th consecutive women’s crown.

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But there were still some small surprises within the races. And for the Wildcats men, that meant going above and beyond their own expectations.

Chico State won easily on the men’s side, positioning all 10 of its runners in the top 12 in the conference finals at Cal State San Bernardino. The Wildcats tallied 19 points, Cal State San Marcos was second with 63 and Cal Poly Pomona placed third with 97.

Chico State’s women also prevailed with 24 points. Cal State Stanislaus was second with 70 and Cal State San Marcos was third with 87.

Senior Eddie King withstood a challenge from San Francisco State senior John Lawson to win the men’s 8-kilometer race in 24 minutes, 9.8 seconds. King is Chico State’s 11th consecutive conference individual champion.

Senior Karlie Garcia was a breakaway winner in the women’s 6-kilometer race in 20:58.1.

King ran with the lead pack until moving ahead in the third mile on a dry, 80-degree morning at the bottom of the Cajon Pass.

“It was a lot tougher than I expected,” King said. “I wasn’t expecting it to be such a fast race today, but we were all prepared going into it. It turned out well.”

A tight pack dwindled throughout the race, with it being down to five runners by the third mile. As King moved ahead, Lawson stayed within striking distance but couldn’t close the gap. He finished second in 24:12.7.

“It’s really special,” King said of his first collegiate cross country victory. “And to keep the streak alive, too, means a lot.”

A herd of Chico State runners followed Lawson. Senior Jason Intravaia (third, 24:15.1), freshman Jack Emanuel (fourth, 24:27.3), junior Luis Ortega (fifth, 24:28.1) and sophomore Wyatt Baxter (sixth, 24:33.0) rounded out the Wildcats’ scorers.

The win was especially sweet for Ortega and seventh-place finisher Jhavahn Holston in a homecoming of sorts for both.

Five years ago, Ortega was an integral part of an improbable high school team from nearby Jurupa Hills in Fontana, which upset Brea to win a California state title. Holston, a freshman, prepped at Serrano High in Phelan, just up the freeway from Cal State San Bernardino.

“It’s so awesome,” said Ortega, whose Wildcats graduated their top three runners from a year ago.

“We were a little scared because we lost a couple of big dogs last year, but at the beginning of this year, we had pretty good returners. We’ve been sticking to some pretty good training.”

Garcia ran as if she didn’t want to leave a single detail to chance. After an initial slow start, she moved well ahead by the halfway point and maintained the advantage to win by 28 seconds over runner-up and teammate Alexandria Tucker.

Garcia said she had no worries, even as she appeared to be a in full sprint around the soccer fields on the course six minutes into the race.

“I think it’s more mental than physical for me,” she said.

Cal State Stanislaus was actually inside of 20 points at the race’s first split, but the Wildcats turned it on late for a 46-point victory.

“We’re a second-half team,” Garcia said. “We just charged in the second half, and it worked out for us.”

The women’s race wasn’t quite as startlingly dominant.

Cal State San Marcos senior Lisa Flora did her best to chase Garcia and ran second for much of the way before finishing third behind Tucker in 21:31.9.

“She went out pretty hard,” Flora said of Garcia. “And I was like, ‘Should I go? Should I not?’ I decided to make the move and go with her, knowing that it might be my one chance to be running with her. It went out pretty fast.”

Juniors Nora Pizzella (fourth, 21:34.5) and Kayden Carpenter (fifth, 21:38.1) were next for Chico State, followed by Cal State Los Angeles senior Ericka Taylor, sixth in 21:39.6.

Chico State coach Gary Towne, in his 23rd year heading the program, marveled at what is now 28 consecutive conference championships overall. His teams, as well as the conference’s other qualifiers, move on to the NCAA Division 2 regionals Nov. 17 in Billings, Mont.

“We have quite a tradition now,” he said. “Honestly, when I started this coaching thing, I never would’ve dreamed that we would be where we are today.

“Every year is a different challenge, different group of people,” Towne added. “We just have such a great culture within the group. They just find a way to kind of keep the ball rolling, regardless of who exactly the personnel is.”