Chico State Athletics

There's no way to know if Remington Breeze would have elevated his running to All-America level in one more season with the Chico State cross country team. Frankly, Breeze isn't too concerned about it these days.
 
He sees no need to have his head in the clouds when he's so excited about what's right in front of his face: his new job; his girlfriend and their two cats; and an exciting future. The Wildcat of the Week doesn't seem to have many regrets.
 
Breeze was admittedly bummed when what was meant to be his senior cross country campaign was canceled in the fall. But the decision to hang up his spikes was not all that complicated for the product of Vista Del Lago High School in Folsom. Along with a job he is thrilled about taking up his time, he had the race of a lifetime to go out on.
 
The NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 23, 2019, in Sacramento (basically, Breeze's hometown) turned out to be his last race as a Wildcat. It was also the two-time All-Conference and 2019 All-West Region runner's best. Breeze finished 50th in the nation (missing a top-40 finish and All-America honors by less than 15 seconds) while helping the Wildcats lock up third place, matching their best NCAA Championships effort ever.
 
"When I told (Chico State Cross Country Coach) Gary (Towne) I was going to be done running, as tough as it is, I told him how happy I am that I went out on a high note. I wouldn't have wanted to end it any other way," Breeze said. "Everybody wants to go to nationals. For four years I was fighting to go to nationals and I'm glad I got that opportunity. To have it, basically, in my hometown was really cool, too."
 
Breeze's spring track and field campaign was canceled due to COVID-19. The same fate eventually befell cross country in the fall. What could have been? It's a question that still tugs at Towne.
 

"COVID changed career experiences. We'll never know what may have happened and that's what really hurts," he explained. "You spend years setting yourself up mentally and physically for your moment to maximize your abilities. Remington has done that really well. Just as it's time to cash in on that work, things were kind of swept away. On the positive side, thankfully he had that great year."
 
Breeze also has this:
 
"He's a great guy. Very genuine. He'll be missed. He was a coaches' dream in terms of his work ethic. When you talk to him in meetings about training and goals you could tell he was always engaged and listening and learning," said Towne.
 
And this: Academically, Breeze remained on track, even accelerating a bit, graduating with his bachelor's degree in Computer Science in the spring of 2020.
 
And this: He started an internship at Intuit in the summer, began graduate school at Chico State in the fall, and recently accepted a full-time job at Intuit that he is thrilled about. It begins in early January.
 
Right now, Breeze is more tuned into what is than what could have been.
 
He and his girlfriend, Anna, got an apartment in Chico and adopted two cats from the Butte Humane Society. Pi is the shy one. Ollie is outgoing, often assuming the role of alarm clock by jumping on the bed and sitting on Breeze.
 
Breeze says his personality is a bit more like Pi's. "Quiet with people before I get to know them and then as I get closer I'm definitely more talkative and, I guess, outgoing. I'm pretty easygoing in general. I just take some time to warm up."
 
He's definitely warmed up to Chico.

"I'm really glad that I had that gut feeling and came here," Breeze said. "The community here is just great. It even extends beyond running and athletics. The whole community is just great. You can't go into the park without seeing someone you know. It's pretty special. I absolutely love it. Even the Safeway cashier is nice to you. That's not the case everywhere.
 
"I've come to really like Chico so I'm going to take advantage of working from home and stay here as long as I can."

 
While his feet remain firmly planted in Chico, Breeze's work is on the web as a software engineer at Intuit (the makers of TurboTax, Mint, QuickBooks and more). Like running, he's obviously very good at it. After extending his internship, his supervisors offered him a full time job working with an open-source community building tools used to help deliver applications.
 
(If that sounds a bit confusing to you, it's probably because it's confusing to this author as well. His LinkedIn page doesn't help the uninitiated: "Strong background in C/C++ and Swift, and comprehensive knowledge of object oriented program design. Experience designing UX and developing with modern web technologies including Node JS, HTML5, and CSS3. Well-versed full stack developer.")
 
What is crystal clear is that he's thrilled about his new job.
 
"I'm super grateful I have had so much freedom to be creative in this project. It's a very unique situation that I feel really grateful for," he said, his smile asserting itself even over the phone. "Everything I do is in the public domain and everybody can see it. It's great that the company sees value in something that is non-proprietary. It's a really cool thing to have that be a part of my community and be valued by my employer too."
 
As for his time at Chico State (which continues as he pursues his master's degree while attending part time), Breeze expressed gratitude for the help he's had from many along the way, but especially Dr. Tyson Henry, the Chair of the Computer Science Department, Dr. Bryan Dickson, undergraduate advisor and professor; and Towne. Together, he says they helped teach him the biggest lesson he learned in college—patience.
 
"All the good things that you want to happen will happen but they take a little time," Breeze says. "I saw it in my running and my degree and now I'm seeing things pay off and it's cool.
 
"When I first got here I was very impatient and wanted to be on the national squad at the top as quick as I could. I was trying to figure out what I could different—sleep more, eat different food, almost trying to find the extra thing that would push me over the edge. But I realized that if you just do what Gary says, it's eventually going to work out."
 
Even though Breeze is through with collegiate running, it is still part of his life and part of his future. In fact, he aspires to follow in the footsteps of many Wildcats before him.
 
"I'd love to make the Olympic Trials in the marathon someday," Breeze said.
 
For today, at least, he'll stick to what's right in front of him, his fingers purring over the keys as Ollie and Pi lounge in the shafts of sunlight streaking through the window on another sunny Chico morning.

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