The Women’s Cross Country Team completed yet another successful race on Saturday, Nov. 5, at the California’s Collegiate Athletic Associations Championship in Carmel. 

The team placed second overall, following their rivals Stanislaus State, however this progression in the season clearly shows the Wildcats are rapidly improving.

The team had a notably exceptional runner this meet. Senior Marissa D’Atri placed fourth overall, a great accomplishment for the team. Comparatively, D’Atri came in with a time of 21:20:9, compared to rival Kaela Dishion of Stanislaus State, who placed first with a time of 20:54:4. 

“Lately we’ve been focusing on really being competitive in the second half and not being complacent,” D’Atri said. “I wanted to be in front of the girl ahead of me, I wasn’t focused on who was behind me, I was trying to continue to close the gap to the next girl.”

Other girls came up admirably in this race, having great times and running strong for the team in a giant cluster. Iresh Molina placed 10th, followed by Gracie Dupuis in 11th, Hannah Tiffany in 12th, Jaclyn Denham in 15th, Hannah Ryan in 16th and Katie Hawley in 17th. 

The team is highly encouraging toward each other and wants the best for everyone. Now they’re set on working hard at overcoming different terrain, like what they encountered in Carmel. The Molina twins described the course as “unique,” with hills and grass.

“This course was really cool because it was designed for cross country, some of them you just get a random park and there’s pavement that you have to run over your spikes with,” Della Molina said. “It was pretty perfect, perfect as can be while being super painful, but really cool.” 

They described one of their last practices as intense, running in the pouring rain and gelid temperatures at 6:30 a.m.

The team is pushing themselves everyday to be better, and their hard work shows in their races. 

The team proudly put this race under their belts to prepare for the next big one, the NCAA West Regional Championships in Billings, Montana on Nov. 19. This race is highly important because the top three teams will get their ticket to the NCAA championships in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 2. 

Charts sourced from Chico State Athletic Website 

Team Results – CCAA Championships

  1. #7 Stanislaus State—39

  2. #15 Chico State—52

  3. #29 Cal State East Bay—83

  4. Cal Poly Pomona—130

  5. Cal State San Marcos—137

  6. Cal Poly Humboldt—163

  7. Cal State San Bernardino—187

  8. Cal State Monterey Bay—197

  9. Sonoma State—208

10. San Francisco State—297

11. Cal State LA—356

Individual Results – CCAA Championships

(Top 10 and all Chico State finishers out of 95)

  1. Kaela Dishion (Stanislaus State)—20:54.4

  2. Gianna Bomarito (Sonoma State)—21:11.1

  3. Najwa Chouati (Stanislaus State)—21:20.9

  4. Marissa D’Atri (Chico State)—21:29.5

  5. Rosa Granados (Cal Poly Humboldt)—21:39.7

  6. Chase Worthen (Cal State East Bay)—21:48.1

  7. Kayden Legan (Stanislaus State)—21:53.6

  8. Leza Cassidy (Cal State East Bay)—22:00.6

  9. Yahaira Zuniga (Stanislaus State)—22:03.0

10. Iresh Molina (Chico State)—22:08.1

11. Gracie Dupuis (Chico State)—22:16.5

12. Hannah Tiffany (Chico State)—22:19.3

15. Jaclyn Denham (Chico State)—22:30.2

16. Hannah Ryan (Chico State)—22:35.5

17. Katie Hawley (Chico State)—22:39.1

18. Della Molina (Chico State)—22:41.7

19. Jacqueline Cascione (Chico State)—22:46.6

45. Sophia Pelletier (Chico State)—24:02.8

Julia Travers can be reached at [email protected]