SPOKANE, Wash. – The members of the Chico State men’s cross country didn’t feel they received much respect heading into Saturday’s NCAA Championships. The haters can keep their respect. The Wildcats will take the trophy.

Chico State finished fourth in the nation Saturday in Spokane, Wash., with its lowest point total in school history (110). So Sunday, the Wildcats will be bringing home the hardware!

Isaac Chavez finished third, Adrian Sherrod 19th, Johnny Sanchez 34th, and Dayne Gradone 35th to give the Wildcats four All-Americans for just the second time in school history. Joseph Rivera nearly made it five, finishing 42nd and missing the All-America honor that goes to the top 40 runners by just three seconds. Anthony Costales finished 70th and Joey Kochlacs 149th.

Chico State has now finished among the nation's top 10 in 13 straight seasons and on the podium (top-four finish) in six of the last nine campaigns. But the Wildcats weren’t really mentioned among the favorites heading into the race. Trophy talk focused mostly on schools from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and Grand Valley State.

“The guys really put themselves all in,” said Head Coach Gary Towne, who will now focus on finding a spot in his crowded trophy case for the 10th NCAA Championships Trophy of his career. “I really think our guys felt a bit slighted so they used that fire to go out and compete with everything they had.”

That was enough to put the Wildcats on the podium. Western State dethroned three-time defending champion Adams State with a tremendous team score of 27. Adams State was second with 69, and Grand Valley State just nipped the Wildcats with an even 100 points. Colorado-Mines was sixth with 134 points. Alaska Anchorage, Chico State’s bitter West Region rival, finished eighth, well behind the Wildcats, with 290 points.

It was also nearly enough to win a national title for Chavez. He backed up his fifth-place finish as a freshman last season by coming in third this time around, which is the second best result in Chico State history. Chavez found himself fighting two Western State runners over the final few kilometers. The 2-on-1 odds proved too tough to overcome.

“The two of them kind of worked to squeeze Isaac off the back,” said Towne. “I felt like he did everything he could both mentally and physically but just came up a bit short.”

Still, with fifth and third place finishes over this first two years, Chavez and Scott Bauhs are the only two runners in Chico State history with two top-five finishes to their names. Bauhs won the national title in 2008 and finished third in 2006. No Wildcat has ever come close to accomplishing what Chavez has in consecutive seasons.

“He does an amazing job of raising the level of his running,” said Towne. “The bigger the race, the better he runs. Unlike last season, he was facing a ton of pressure this time. When you do what he did as a freshman the expectations are there and you’ve got to back them up. That’s one of the things that makes great athletes special, regardless of the sport. Isaac’s got that knack for handling the pressure.”

The Wildcats backed up their leader with four more tremendous performances. Sherrod stood tall with his 19th-place performance. He left the security of the Chico State pack to pick up a few valuable points. And Sanchez was the fourth fastest freshman finisher in the field. 

But perhaps the race of the day belonged to Gradone.

“Dayne didn’t have a great regional race and has never really finished a season off well dating back to high school,” said Towne. “Honestly, in the back of my mind, it was a real concern. But he really stepped to the plate and did a good job of executing and battling. He was so emotional at the end. It was really cool to watch a guy break through some of his personal demons.”

Maybe it was the moustache.

As awesome as it was to see Gradone’s triumph, it was excruciated to see Rivera drop a few places near the end of the race and fall out of All-America contention.

“He may not have made All-American, but he is in my book,” said Towne. “What a gutsy race he ran. He battled. I’m really proud of him. He finished his career by leaving it all out there on the course.”

Costales and Kochlacs also ran their finals races in a Chico State cross country uniform. Costales was a two-time All-Region runner, but never performed to his potential on the NCAA Championship stage due in part to injuries. Kochlacs finished 44th at last year’s championships and 60th the year before, but wasn’t fully healthy heading into Saturday’s race and dropped out of scoring contention very early on.

The careers of those three may be over, but the four set to return – the freshman Sanchez, sophomores Chavez and Gradone, and the junior Sherrod – will do so with high expectations.

“This great experience should help us out as we move ahead from here,” said Towne.

The Wildcats will almost certainly garner a little more respect heading into next season’s race. If they can run a little faster as well, they might just be raising a different kind of trophy next season, one that reads “National Champions.”

Men's Team Scores – 1. Western State (Colo.) 27, 2. Adams State 69, 3. Grand Valley State 100, 4. Chico State 110, 5. Colorado Mines 134, 6. Augustana 210, 7. Southern Indiana 267, 8. Alaska Anchorage 290, 9. Metro State 318, 10. Western Washington 324, 11. East Central (Okla). 325, 12. Edinboro 342, 13. Ashland 364, 14. Western Oregon 374, 15. Eastern New Mexico 388, 16. Lock Haven 393, 17. Shippensburg 413, 18. Queen's (NC) 432, 19. Colorado – Colorado Springs 464, UMass Lowell 476, 21. Stonehill 609, 22. Mount Olive 678, 23. Alabama – Huntsville 680, 24. Tampa 702.

Individuals (Top 10) – 1. Ryan Haebe, Western State, 30:45.1; 2. Tyler Pennel, Western State, 30:48.1; 3. Isaac Chavez, Chico State, 30:56.1; 4. Matt Bond, Adams State, 31:00.8; 5. David Goodman, Western State, 31:05.1; 6. Tabor Stevens, Adams State, 31:06.4; 7. Gabriel Proctor, Western State, 31:11.7; 8. Barak Watson, Northwest Nazarene, 31:19.5; 9. Tyler Emmorey, Grand Valley State, 31:25.0; 10. Alex Monroe, Lock Haven, 31:30.0.

Chico State Results – 3. Isaac Chavez (30:56.1); 19. Adrian Sherrod (31:44.1); 34. Johnny Sanchez (31:58.7); 35. Dayne Gradone (31:59.0); 42. Joseph Rivera (32:06.4); 70. Anthony Costales (32:50.7); 149. Joey Kochlacs (34:32.4).

Chico State’s History at the NCAA Championships
2011: 4th
2010: 5th
2009: 8th
2008: 3rd
2007: 6th
2006: 4th
2005: 3rd
2004: 4th
2003: 4th
2002: 5th
2001: 9th
2000: 8th
1999: 6th
1995: 10th
1973: 6th
1972: 15th
1969: 3rd