The Chabot College men's cross country team was clutch when it counted at the Coast Conference Championships on Oct. 25.
The Glads' top five runners either held their positions in the last 800 meters or passed runners in that span, as Chabot won the first cross country conference championship in school history, Chabot coach Kyle Robinson said.
"They all knew that it was likely going to be very tight between us, Hartnell and De Anza," said Robinson. "Every single point, every person mattered. … All of our guys won those individual battles that needed to be won."
Chabot's winning score of 37 edged De Anza (41). The Gladiators will be aiming to set more school history at the NorCal Championships on Nov. 3 in Martinez, as no Chabot cross country team has ever won a NorCal title, Robinson said.
"There are five teams in the hunt, the closest I've seen since I've been here," said Robinson, who has been on the Chabot coaching staff since 2011. Clovis has not lost to a Northern California school since early in the season, Robinson said. Other contending teams are Chabot, American River. De Anza and Hartnell. The women's race will start at 10 a.m. at Hidden Valley Park. The men's race will begin at 11 a.m.
At the Coast Conference Championships, Daniel Trampe led the way for Chabot with a third-place finish on the four-mile Palo Corona Regional Park-Carmel Valley course with a time of 20 minutes, 55.9 seconds. Other Chabot scorers were Dylan Baptista (fifth, 21:20.��, Brian Kirrane (seventh, 21:42.3), Kyle Galinis (10th, 21:51.5) and Logan Phulps (12th. 21:56.1). Amartya Poovaiah, Chabot's sixth runner who has improved through this season, placed 20th in 22:48.3.
The Gladiators' Savannah Maselli also qualified for the NorCal championships in the women's race with a fifth-place finish in 21:02.7 for the 3.1-mile course.
The Chabot men's team had about a nine-point lead at the mile mark, but with approximately 1200 meters to go, the score was tied between Chabot and De Anza. The final meters of the race would decide the team outcome.
Among the finishes, perhaps Kirrane's was the most impressive. The freshman from California High School in San Ramon passed three runners in approximately the last quarter-mile. Baptista passed De Anza's second runner, which was huge in the quest for the team title, and Phulps caught a Monterey Peninsula College runner for 12th place by .3 of a second.
"We've had some very competitive athletes and some really good teams (in the past) … but what we haven't quite had is depth through five. This year, we have a really good five guys," said Robinson, who has only seven runners on his entire men's squad. "I think the biggest obstacle this year is to making sure we are all healthy."
The Coast Conference championship race was only the third time that Chabot's top five male runners had competed in the same race this season. In the first of those races, the George Brooks Invitational on Sept. 22 at Hidden Valley Park, Chabot placed second.
"It was solid. Honestly, I think we were training through it. The biggest goal was previewing the course," Robinson said. "I think we had some performances that weren't all that great and we still came in second."
A further glimpse of how good the team could be occurred in the Chabot Twilight Invitational on Sept. 28. There were only four Chabot men's runners in the invitational, so it didn't qualify for a team score. But all four of those runners set personal records in the 3.1-mile race on Chabot's track: Trampe (14:56.9), Baptista (15:16.6), Galinis (15:30.6) and Kirrane (15:43).