Chico State Athletics

Amy Schnittger put together her third consecutive outstanding race of the season Saturday, finishing second at the 37th Charles Bowles Invitational hosted by Willamette University at Bush’s Pasture Park. The junior from Santa Cruz's Aptos High School covered the five-kilometer course in 17:52, finishing just two seconds behind All-American teammate Alia Gray to help lead the Wildcats to an impressive team title. The Wildcats finished with 43 points, easily outdistancing Division I programs Santa Clara (72 points) and the 11th-ranked D-I program in the West, Portland (85). Schnittger, this week’s Wildcat of the Week, had never finished higher than sixth on the team in any event prior to this season, but she's been the second Wildcat across the line in each of the season's first three events.

Schnittger opened the season with a second-place finish, behind only Gray, to help lead the Wildcats to victory at the Humboldt Invitational. She was also the second Chico State athlete and Division II athlete across the line at the Stanford Invitational on Sept. 24, finishing 39th overall and beating 2010 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) runner up Tiffany Dinh of Cal Poly Pomona by seven seconds.

Schnittger will be taking aim at her second straight All-CCAA honor when she next hits the trails at the CCAA Championships in Santa Rosa on Oct. 22.

Race	2011 Place (Time) Team	2010 Place (Time) Team	2009 Place (Time) Team
Humboldt	2nd (21:46) 2nd	Did not run	Did not run
Stanford	39th (21:45) 2nd	68th (22:45) 6th	102nd (23:21) 9th
Willamette	2nd (17:52) 2nd	40th (18:20) 8th	25th (18:21) 6th
CCAA	Oct. 22	7th (22:16) 6th	23rd (23:51) 9th

*The "Team" category denotes where she finished among her teammates.