TURLOCK, Calif. – The road to Sacramento for the NCAA Cross Country Championships began not too far from the site on Saturday as the Chico State men's squad opened the 2024 season in dominant fashion with seven Wildcats taking the top 10 at Stanislaus State's Kim Duyst Invitational.
 
It was a true twilight race as the start gun fired at 8:45 p.m. By the end of the 8K meet, it was Chico State that dominated the scoring, recording 15 points. Host Stanislaus State took second with 53 points, future CCAA member UC Merced had 80 points for third place and San Francisco State logged in 119 points. De Anza College and PacWest Conference newcomer Jessup rounded out the top six.
 
Although an unattached runner crossed the finish line first out of 90 individuals with a time of 23:20.5, Damian Garcia was took second at 23:23.3, shattering his previous best of 1:30.3 at the Cougar Challenge last year.
 
Mario Giannini placed fourth overall at 23:28.9 and right behind him were Dylan White, Matthew Gordon, Daniel Hernandez, Hunter Dougherty and Devin Pereira. All runners finished under 24:26.
 
Mason Mullen and Jesus Villarreal, although on the roster, raced unattached and placed 10^th and 11^th respectively. Anders Beil took 15^th place and Travis Selby finished 19^th to complete the top 20 runners.
 
The Wildcats will head to the Pacific Northwest September 28 for Western Washington's Bill Roe Classic, held at Hovander Park in Bellingham.
 
KIM DUYST INVITATIONAL
Hosted by Stanislaus State
Chico State Results
 
Individual Results
2. Damian Garcia, 23:23.3
4. Mario Giannini, 23:28.9
5. Dylan White, 23:37.0
6. Matthew Gordon, 23:49.7
7. Daniel Hernandez, 23:55.6
8. Hunter Dougherty, 24:23.4
9. Devin Pereira, 24:26.0
10. Mason Mullen (Unattached), 24:28.1
11. Jesus Villarreal (Unattached), 24:28.9
15. Anders Beil, 24:52.2
19. Travis Selby, 24:57.4
21. Nicholas Guzman, 25:00.8
22. Alex Lamoureux, 25:08.9
24. Wes Selby, 25:14.9
25. Sean Alliegro, 25.18.9
27. Joseph DePascale (Unattached), 25:23.2
29. Blake Webster, 25:29.5
32. Emmanuel Wallace (Unattached), 25:39.9
35. Andrew Stephens, 25:47.8
42. Charles Brennan (Unattached), 26:10.8
44. Jacob Camacho (Unattached), 26:14.6
 
Team Scoring
1. Chico State, 15 Pts.
2. Stanislaus State, 53 Pts.
3. UC Merced, 80 Pts.
4. San Francisco State, 119 Pts.
5. De Anza, 126 Pts.
6. Jessup, 167 Pts.