Alfonso Cisneros’ last two seasons have ended in disappointment as one of the last omissions from Chico State Cross Country Coach Gary Towne’s NCAA Championship roster. But true to his nickname – “Fonz” – Cisneros has been nothing but cool in the face of that frustration. And the way Cisneros has run thus far in 2012, he’s almost certain to be sitting on a plane on the way to the NCAA Championships in Joplin, Mo., in mid-November.
Cisneros sizzled to a 26th-place finish at the Stanford Invitational Saturday in Palo Alto, helping the Wildcats waylay a number of highly regarded Division I programs on the way to an impressive third-place finish. Cisneros covered the eight-kilometer course in 25:04 for his best finish on the course yet, earning Wildcat of the Week accolades in the process.
The junior from McFarland went out fast and mixed it up with a number of talented runners who, as Towne put it: “he was probably reading about in high school.” But Cisneros was not intimidated, and in fact, made up five spots over the last couple kilometers.
Cisneros, a walk-on in 2009, has twice earned All-California Collegiate Athletic Association honors in cross country and won the CCAA 10,000-meter title on the track this spring.
