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Towne earns 12th West Region Coach of the Year honor
11/20/2009 10:54:17 AM
NEW ORLEANS –Chico State Cross Country Coach Gary Towne will have to settle for one U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association West Region Coach of the Year honor this season. Towne, the winner of a dozen such awards in his nearly 14 years of coaching cross country, was recently named the West Region men’s coach of the Year.
Towne has guided the Wildcats to their eighth consecutive West Region title, eighth consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) title, and 10th straight berth in the NCAA Championships this season. His men’s team is currently ranked No. 4 in the nation, and his women’s team is No. 5. They’ll both toe the line at the NCAA Championships Saturday in Evansville, Ind.
The Wildcats kicked off this season by winning the Division-I heavy Asics/UC Irvine Invitational. They also won the Willamette Invitational, the CCAA Championship, and West Region Championship, while finishing fourth in the Division I-dominated Stanford Invitational and fourth in the San Francisco State Invitational with the Wildcats’ “B” team.
Towne, a 1991 graduate of Chico State, also serves as the distance coach for the Wildcats’ consistently successful track & field teams.
In his 13-plus seasons at the helm, Towne has coached 62 track & field All-Americans, including 2007 National Track Champions Scott Bauhs (10k) and Charlie Serrano (5k) and 2008 National Track Champions Bauhs (5K) and Sarah Montez (3K). On the trails, Towne has coached 140 cross country All-Conference runners, 96 All-Region runners, and 33 All-Americans, with Bauhs winning the 2008 National Championship.
Eighteen of Towne’s cross country teams have finished in the top 10 in the nation at the National Championships (his last 10 men’s teams and eight of his women’s teams). Last year, the women’s team finished seventh in the nation for its eighth top-10 performance in the last nine years. The men, meanwhile, finished third in the nation, which marked the program’s seventh straight top six finish and 10th consecutive top-10 performance.
Towne’s teams have collected 13 CCAA cross country championships (eight straight for the men, five for the women) and 12 West Regional titles (eight straight for the men, four for the women).
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Wildcats of the Week
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Women's Basketball
Before the 2009-10 even got underway, Chico State women’s basketball Head Coach Brian Fogel described junior guard Natasha Smith as “the key to our success.” Truer words have never spoken, as Smith has turned her already impressive game up a notch to lead the Wildcats to the NCAA Championship Tournament West Regional title game. Her efforts have netted the Sacramento native her third Wildcat of the Week honor this season.
Smith earned All-NCAA Championship Tournament West Region Team honors by averaging 14 points, 7.7 assists, five rebounds, and three steals per game during the Wildcats’ run to the Sweet 16 and West Region title game.
Friday against third seeded Western Washington, Smith scored 15 points, snared four rebounds, dished out five assists and made three steals as the Wildcats downed the Vikings 79-68. Saturday versus Humboldt State, the All-CCAA first team selection was even better, posting her second career double-double with 15 points and 10 assists, while hauling in a team-high eight rebounds and five steals in Chico State’s come-from-behind 86-76 victory over the Lumberjacks. Monday, in the regional title game against Seattle Pacific, Smith finished with 12 points, eight assists, three rebounds, and a steal while drawing the defensive assignment against Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year Daesha Henderson and limiting her to just five points on 1-of-10 shooting.
Smith, who led the CCAA in free throw percentage (.824) and assists (134), also led the ’Cats in scoring (11.5 points per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.44). She continues to move up the Chico State career records ladder with each contest. With one year of eligibility still remaining, Smith ranks ninth all-time in scoring, sixth in assists, seventh in free throws and 10th in career steals and 3-pointers.
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Baseball
Chico State right fielder Adam Arakawa continued his torrid start to 2010 with four more multi-hit games, finishing 9-for-15, to lead the Wildcats to a series split a four-game series at Cal State San Bernardino over the weekend. The CCAA Player of the Week one week ago, he's been dubbed the Wildcat of the Week this week.
Arakawa doubled twice, scored six times, drove in three runs, and walked three times against San Bernardino. He also recorded the 100th hit of his career and has now registered two or more hits in eight straight games and 12 of the last 13 to raise his average to .493. He is hitting .633 over his past eight games and .571 over his last 13.
In Friday’s 8-5 victory, Arakawa went 2-for-5 and scored a run. He also singled in the 10th as the Wildcats scored three runs to win. He went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored as the Wildcats dropped first game of a doubleheader Saturday. In the second game, Arakawa went 3-for-3 with a walk, double, run and two RBI. His third hit of that game was the 100th of his Chico State career. Arakawa finished the weekend by going 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored, and an RBI in Chico State’s 20-5 win.
Arakawa leads the Wildcats in batting average (.493) hits (37), runs (33) walks (17) total bases (59), slugging percentage (.787) and on-base percentage (.581). His batting average and slugging percentage are both tops in the CCAA.
Arakawa was the West Region Gold Glove recipient last season and an Honorable Mention All-American, and has not committed an error in 44 chances this season.
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11.24.09 | Men's Cross Country
Jimmy Elam could not stand on his own after crossing the finish line in 15th place at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. He was in tremendous pain. It hurt so good. "It was a pretty cool experience knowing that I actually gave it everything I had in my last college cross country race," he said afterward.
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11.21.09 | Men's Cross Country
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – While most of Jimmy Elam’s peers at Humboldt State were mulling over where to get a good, cheap meal, which classes to take, or who to have as a roommate, he was making one of the toughest, boldest, and in some senses, the costliest decision of his young life. After spending his first three years in college at Humboldt State, Elam decided to transfer to Chico State for his senior season.
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11.20.09 | Men's Cross Country
NEW ORLEANS –Chico State Cross Country Coach Gary Towne will have to settle for one U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association West Region Coach of the Year honor this season. Towne, the winner of a dozen such awards in his nearly 14 years of coaching cross country, was recently named the West Region men’s coach of the Year.
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11.19.09 | Cross Country, Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Gary Towne recently moved into a bigger office. It’s a good thing, because it was getting hard to find him among all of the trophies. Towne, Chico State’s cross country coach, embarks on his quest to have the same problem in his new, larger office this Saturday when the Wildcats toe the line at the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Evansville, Ind.
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11.10.09 | Men's Cross Country
Alan Campos styled his hair wildly and colored the tips of three longer rows red before Saturday's NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships Saturday in San Francisco. But every long-time Chico State fan knew better than to get distracted. To truly see Campos, one must look at his heart.
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11.7.09 | Men's Cross Country
SAN FRANCISCO – Golden Gate Park took on a decidedly cardinal hue Saturday. The Chico State men’s cross country team, adorned in the school colors of cardinal and white, dominated the 2009 West Region Cross Country Championships to claim their eighth straight regional title as an estimated 200-plus Wildcats fans, alumni, and family members sporting Chico State t-shirts, sweatshirts, and signs cheered them on with chants of “Cheeeecooo! Cheeeecooo!” and “Che-co! You know!”
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11.3.09 | Cross Country, Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
SAN FRANCISCO – The Chico State cross country team is always looking for a good place to run fast. Speedway Meadow, the site of Saturday’s NCAA West Region Cross Country Championships, surely fits that bill. The Chico State men will head to the heart of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in search of their eighth straight regional title and 11th straight NCAA Championship berth, while the women are gunning for their fifth regional title in the last seven years and their 10th straight NCAA Championship berth. The women’s six-kilometer race starts at 9 am, and the men’s race gets under way at 10 am.
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