Paige Henker hunkered down for her best run of the season during the biggest race of the season in the most beautiful setting of the season. Needless to say, this week’s Wildcat of the Week flashed her brightest smile of the season while receiving All-West Region for helping lead the Chico State women’s cross team to the West Region title Saturday in Oahu, Hawaii.
The senior from Chico charged hard over the second half of the race to finish 12th, covering the challenging six-kilometer course in 22:10, to help the Wildcats slip past Alaska Anchorage by five points. In doing so, she cut seven seconds off her previous season-best effort and clocked the second fastest cross country 6K of her career.
Henker’s performance was especially impressive considering it came on the heels of her 19th-place run at the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships two weeks prior.
She’ll try to continue her upward trajectory when the 6th-ranked Wildcats run at the NCAA Championships on Nov. 17 in Joplin, Mo. Henker already has National Championship experience under her belt, having finished 113th at the NCAAs as a freshman and 58th last season.
Henker now has a pair of All-West Region accolades to her credit. She finished 21st at the 2011 regional and 16th in 2009.
