Ayla Granados put in grinned some days and grimaced others. But she always put in the mileage training for the 2013 cross country season, and more to the point, for the NCAA Championships. And for all the miles she put in, she’s going out an All-American.
Granados, this week’s Wildcat of the Week, finished 26th at the NCAA Championships Saturday in Spokane, Wash., to earn the honor, bestowed upon just 40 runners.
The senior from Castro Valley covered the six-kilometer course in 21:39.9, 30 seconds faster than she had at the NCAA West Regional Championships just two weeks prior, to secure the ninth-best NCAA Championships finish in the history of the program.
Granados, who will finish her athletic eligibility running track for the Wildcats in the spring, led the Wildcats in each of the six events she competed in this fall and won two, including the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship. She’s the school’s fifth CCAA Champion.
Granados is also the only runner in Chico State women’s cross country history who can boast two top-five finishes at the NCAA West Regional.
