Results
MCKINLEYVILLE — The Alaskan Twins were well decorated with awards, medals and ribbons growing up as distance running stars in Seward, Alaska. Now they each have another to add to their trophy cases.
Twin sisters
Denali Foldager and
Rubye Foldager both earned All-CCAA honors on Saturday when they finished in the top 15 at the 2009 California Collegiate Athletic Association Cross Country Championships.
Placing four runners in the Top 10, the Chico State womens cross country team posted an impressive victory at the event that were contested at Beau Pre Golf Course in McKinleyville and hosted by Humboldt State.
Denali, who has been the team's leader all season long as the top finisher in each race, finished 10th in 23:09.1 in the women's 6k run. Rubye was just steps behind in 12th place in a time career-best time of 23:23.1. They led the team to a fifth place finish as they edged host HSU by four points.
"Denali and Rubye did a great job leading the team. Everyone came out and took care of business and did a great job up here," head coach Diljeet Taylor said.
In high school, Denali was a top-five finisher in the state of Alaska each of the four years including winning a state title in 2005. Rubye finished in the top three three times and won the state title in 2004 and 2006.
The Chico State Wildcats, who were led by senior Julie Shaw, totaled 33 points to finish ahead of second-place UC San Diego, which posted 84 points. Cal Poly Pomona (91) was third and followed by Cal State L.A. (101), Cal State Stanislaus (142), Humboldt State (146), San Francisco State (162), Cal State San Bernardino (162), Sonoma State (270), Cal State Dominguez Hills (290) and Cal State East Bay (334).
The team championship marked the second straight for Chico State and sixth in the last eight years.
For the second year in a row, Cal State L.A. senior Vivien Wadeck captured the individual title after completing the six-kilometer course in a time of 21:52.6 to out-pace UC San Diegos Bre Schofield who finished in a time of 22:13.5.
Wadeck became only the second female in the history of the CCAA Championships to repeat as conference champion. Amy Harper of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo won back-to-back titles in 1982 and 1983.
Chico State rounded out the top five as Shaw (22:21.6) placed third and was followed by teammates Alia Gray (22:22.9) and Kara Lubieniecki (22:27.6).
Other Cal State Stanislaus top finishers were
Chelsea Deerinck (30th, 24:09.8),
Mary Courtwright (52nd, 25:04.5),
Alyssa Thiele (56th, 25:15.0),
Lindsay Garcia (63rd, 25:39.5) and
Andrea Johnson (74th, 26:23.8).
"I am proud of both teams. We have an extremely tough conference and both of our teams battled hard today," Talyor said.
Wadeck was named Runner of the Year while Chico States Jonah Weeks was Newcomer of the Year and Tiffany Dinh of Cal Poly Pomona was Freshman of the Year. Weeks placed 13th overall while Dinh finished 17th.
Chico State head coach Gary Towne was named Coach of the Year for the second year in a row.
2009 All-California Collegiate Athletic Association
Vivien Wadeck (Cal State L.A.)
Bre Schofield (UC San Diego)
Julie Shaw (Chico State)
Alia Gray (Chico State)
Kara Lubieniecki (Chico State)
Tiffany Turner (Cal Poly Pomona)
Megan Rolland (Humboldt State)
Shannon Rich (Chico State)
Amber Hebb (Cal Poly Pomona)
Denali Foldager (Cal State Stanislaus)
Lorena Banda (Cal State L.A.)
Rubye Foldager (Cal State Stanislaus)
Jonah Weeks (Chico State)
Paige Henker (Chico State)
Alyssa Flores (Chico State)
Runner of the Year: Vivien Wadeck (Cal State L.A.)
Newcomer of the Year: Jonah Weeks (Chico State)
Freshman of the Year: Tiffany Dinh (Cal Poly Pomona)
Coach of the Year: Gary Towne (Chico State)