You’d have to go back a long way to find a Chico State men’s track & field sprinter who turned in as productive a two-day stretch as Vincent Rinaldi delivered at the CCAA Track & Field Championships. The sophomore speedster from Carpinteria not only helped account for 25 team points for the Wildcats at the conference competition, he set a new program record in the 200-meter dash while adding his name to Chico State’s all-time top ten in two other events. Rinaldi’s success in San Marcos—and his assault of the record books—makes him the latest Wildcat of the Week.
On Friday’s second day of the CCAA Championships, Rinaldi qualified for the finals of both the 100- and 200-meter dash. In the 100 preliminaries, he won his heat and finished second overall with a time of 10.71 seconds. Rinaldi was second in his heat and fifth overall in the 200, stopping the clock at 21.22 seconds.
During the meet’s finale on Saturday, Rinaldi was at his absolute best. Though he came up just short of the awards podium and an NCAA Provisional mark, Rinaldi placed fourth in the 100-meter dash finals—but his time of 10.58 seconds resulted in the fourth-fastest time in the event in Chico State history. In the 200-meter dash finals, Rinaldi notched a Provisional mark and All-CCAA accolades with a second place showing of 20.98 seconds—the fastest 200 in program history.
Rinaldi teamed up with Colton Cummings, Demetre Coffey, and Bryan Payne to finish third in the 4x100-meter relay, stopping the clock at 41.26 seconds—the seventh-fastest time ever by a Wildcat 4x100 relay team. He wrapped up Saturday’s competition, combining with Coffey, Calvin Igbanoi, and Ty Thomson for a third place finish in the 4x400-meter relays with a time of 3:14.45…just three-one-hundredths of a second shy of earning a spot in the Chico State top ten for the 4x4.
Rinaldi will be among a handful of Chico State men’s track & field athletes competing this weekend at the APU Franson Last Chance meet in Southern California.
