The Dawn of a New Era

Chico was rainy, cold, windy, and miserable, a dismal place to hold the 2009 CCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Despite the first crappy weather we've seen on a meet day all season, the Warriors stepped up their game and showed California how we do.

I'm calling this post "The Dawn of a New Era" because I sincerely believe that a new era in D2 running is upon CSUS. I've looked at the results of the past, and Stanislaus has never been anything special as a whole. Of course we've had a few National Champions, a couple of medal winners, and several All-Americans, but what school hasn't? The difference between most schools and the top programs is depth and consistency. For the last decade, Chico has exhibited both. They've been the CCAA distance squad that has dominated in entirety. We're talking medal stand sweeps of nearly every event, always a winner, nobody in contention.

However, this track season was different. I'm not taking anything away from their performance, they ran fantastic times and deserved the win, I'm just saying that things are shifting. For the first time in program history, Stanislaus had 3 men in the top 9 of the 1500 and 5k, and two men score in the Steeple. Shane's very first 10k didn't score, but his time would've last year. We didn't even have an 800 runner. With 3 men we scored 15 points in two events, and with 5 we scored 20 in 3 events. Chico fielded a team of 15 distance runners in 5 events, so they should be expected to score between 75-85 points. All I'm saying is that the dominance needs to be reexamined.

Further still, the dominance wasn't total. Chico only swept the medal stands on the 800, where only 3 schools fielded runners, and the steeple, where Martin would've placed had he not gotten tripped up by a fallen runner ahead of him on the last lap. In the 15, 5k, and 10k, they only occupied 1 or two places out of 3, thanks to Eric Malain, Joey Nunes, Jersain Torres, and Andrew Sylvester. However, in those races, no one else from Humboldt or Pomona scored, whereas Stanislaus packed in a couple more in the top 9.

Humboldt and Pomona distance both scored 16 points, and had people in every event. Like I said earlier, Stanislaus scored 20 in only 3 events.

I say all this simply to state my opinion that Stanislaus Men's Distance is on the rise. We were 5th at CCAA Cross Country after a couple crappy performances, but now we've proved that we are young, hungry, and properly trained. In a few years, I see a new contention for the top spot in the CCAA, not a one-sided power lurch. Everybody's coming back, so next year is going to be extremely exciting. Congrats to everyone in the CCAA for running well this season, and I'm looking forward to cross.