CHICO – With less than three weeks to go before the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships, the Chico State women's track & field team are showing all the signs necessary to defend its title and win a fifth straight conference crown. The Wildcats once again impressed Saturday with several outstanding individual efforts at their own Chico Twilight Invitational at University Stadium, notching four NCAA Provisional Qualifying marks and a healthy handful of personal best performances.
Running in ideal weather conditions Saturday, it was a big day for the Chico State women's sprinters. Amilia Santos took top honors and scored an NCAA Provisional Qualifying mark in the 100-meter dash – her personal-best time of 11.94 seconds clocking in as the fourth-fastest 100 in Wildcat history. Santos also matched her PR time of 25.35 seconds en route to a third place finish in the 200-meter dash.
Kasey Barnett turned in another productive day. She won the long jump, bettering her NCAA Provisional Qualifying mark with the fourth-best jump (19-feet-10.25) in Chico State history. Barnett also finished third in the 100-meter run with an NCAA Provisional and PR time of 12.04 seconds, which places her seventh on Chico State's top 10 list.
Brooke Whitburn lost a tiebreaker to Barnett in the long jump, but her second place leap of 19-feet-10.25 was good enough for an NCAA Provisional Qualifying mark and a share of fourth place on the all-time Wildcat top 10 list. Whitburn also finished second in the triple jump (36-feet-11.50).
Ashley Jones reached the all-time Wildcat top 10 in two different events. Jones won the 200-meter dash with a PR time of 24.81 seconds (fifth-fastest in Chico State history) and placed fourth in the 100 with the eighth-fastest time (a personal best 12.07 seconds) ever by a Wildcat.
Lora James was first to cross the finish line in the 1,500-meter seeded event, notching a personal best time of 4:50.64. Ayla Granados was the first of three top five Chico State finishers in the 1,500-meter invitational, delivering a winning time of 4:37.12. Olivia Watt placed second (4:38.17), while Quetta Peinado came in fifth with a PR time of 4:44.75.
Aja Erskine (56.79 seconds) and Erica Arenas (57.77) finished 1-2 in the 400-meter dash, with Kym Crosby placed fifth in the event with a time of 58.69 seconds.
Kapri Madrid notched a personal best of 150-feet-06 while placing second in the hammer throw, and finished sixth overall in the discus (123-feet-09). Maddie Allen secured a PR on the way to a fourth place finish in the shot put (39-feet-04.50).
Other top five Wildcat performances included:
- The Chico State 4x400-meter relay team of Crosby, Erskine, Castro-Kahn and Tori Mason (second place, 3:55.30)
- Jessica Mixon and Dominique Powell (tied for third in the high jump, 5-feet-03)
- McCall Habermehl in the 1,500-meter seeded run (fourth place, 5:00.27)
- Rose Stephens-Dileo in the 400-meter hurdles (fourth place, 1:05.82)
- Emily Denton in the 100-meter hurdles (fifth place, 15.34 seconds)
- Karlie Castro-Kahn in the 400-meter hurdles (fifth place, 1:05.84)
FINAL RESULTS - Chico Twilight Invitational The Wildcat women's track & field team is back in action next week, competing in two different meets. Chico State will take part in the Mt. SAC Relays Thursday and Friday in southern California, with members of the 'Cats in Hayward Saturday for the Cal State East Bay Legacy Meet.
