Published 2008-03-12T00:00:00Z”/>

Christian Del Razo

The track team had a field day during Saturday’s Wildcat Relays.

In 80-degree weather the Wildcats ran against Humboldt State, Oregon Tech, Santa Clara University, Sacramento City, Butte and Shasta colleges.

It was a strong showing for the Wildcats. The team will be away for a little more than a month, including stops in Sacramento for the Hornet Invitational, Berkeley for the Multi Invitational and Palo Alto for the Stanford Invitational before returning home in mid-April.

Saturday’s meet saw prominent men’s and women’s teams that managed to snatch up a combined 15 first place spots out of 40 events.

“There were a number of standout performances today. I mean, every time I turned around we were winning something it seemed,” men’s head coach Kirk Freitas said. “I saw the vaulters clearing great heights and the shot-hammer – we won that. We even had some (personal records) from some freshmen.”

Among the freshmen who achieved personal records are Thomas Pickering who finished second in the high jump by clearing 1.98 meters and Clayton Francis, who finished first in the triple jump with a jump of 14.41 meters. Francis’ twin brother, Gary Francis, was California’s only seven-foot high jumper last year while attending De La Salle High School, but an injury to his ankle has sidelined him since the start of the season. There has been no date set for his return.

On the women’s team there were close victories such as Johntay Cokley’s narrow .24-second win against Humboldt’s Megan Rolland in the 800-meter run. There were also some split-second losses during the women’s 400- and 1600-meter relays.

“Our girls went out and gave it all they had. I know they were super nervous in the beginning and they ran some awesome times,” Rebecca Moyneur said of her and her teammates’ loss in the 1600-meter relay. “(Sacramento) City has some good sprinters. Overall we fought really good as a team even though we didn’t win it.”

Moyneur cheered on her relay teammate Katrina Rodriguez during the final lap of the event, but Rodriguez was unable to maintain the lead and was passed by Sacramento City’s runner during the fourth and final turn. The Wildcats missed a first place finish by 1.18 seconds.

“Our 4-by-(100) was super close, too. We barely lost to Santa Clara,” Moyneur said. “Overall though, I’m happy with my performance. Everyone seems to be getting better as well.”

In the women’s 400-meter relay, Sierra Owens tried to close the gap between her and her opponent during the last stretch, but lost by a fraction of a second with a time of 50.63 seconds to Santa Clara’s Jennifer Hinds.

Other notable finishes include Chico State high jumper Ryan Bertucci who cleared 2.03 meters, about 2 inches ahead of his nearest opponent. Senior and national 10-kilometer champion Scott Bauhs throttled past the competition during the 3000-meter run, finishing more than half a minute ahead of teammate and second-place finisher, Jeff Wilson. Bauhs’ 8 minutes, 13.49 seconds performance broke Steven Springhorn’s 2005 school record by six seconds.

“We see great improvements across the board, and a lot of our athletes are setting their marks early this season,” Freitas said. “As long as we can get through the meets without the sacrifice of working them too hard, I think we’ll be on a good track.”

The team has a week to train and recharge before heading to Sacramento on March 22 for the Hornet Invitational. Its next home meet is April 11, when it will host the Chico Invitational/Distance Carnival. Christian Del Razocan be reached at<a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>