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SPORTS
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PREP CROSS-COUNTRY

Panthers runner to join Wildcats

Emanuel chooses short
path to Chico State with
hopes to go the distance
By Nick Woodard
nwoodard@chicoer.com
@nwoodard25 on Twitter
CHICO >> For an athletic program
equipped with a long-standing rep-
utation as a force on a national scale,
it’s a rather uncommon occurrence
to find a recruit in its own backyard.
Yet that’s just what the Chico State
cross-country program has found in
Jack Emanuel.
Emanuel, a senior distance runner
at Chico High, signed his national
letter of intent Thursday to run for
Chico State. Emanuel is set to be-
come the first homegrown Wildcat
since Phil Graber’s senior campaign
in 2013.
Emanuel, fresh off a cross-coun-
try season where he placed second at
the Northern Section championships
and 11th at the state meet, will join
a Chico State squad that has thrived
under head coach Gary Towne’s 21-
year tenure. And even that is a bit of
an understatement.
Seventeen different men’s teams
have finished in the top 10 nationally
under Towne, and the men have won
15 straight California Collegiate Ath-
letic Association titles, which stands
as a record for consecutive titles in
any sport. This past year, Chico State
took fourth at the NCAA Champion-
ships.
Emanuel, a homegrown Chico
talent, was well aware of the team’s
string of success when deciding
where he wanted to run. And while
he originally thought it would be a
good idea to leave town and expe-
rience something new, meeting the
team made his decision that much
easier.
“Gary Towne is a very personable
guy. And all the people on the team
greeted me like I was already on the
team,” Emanuel said. “That influ-
enced my decision a lot.”
Emanuel, who plans to enter the
construction management field at
Chico State, said he will likely red- EMILY BERTOLINO — ENTERPRISE-RECORD
shirt during his freshman campaign. Chico High track and cross country standout Jack
He’ll have five years in the program if Emanuel signs his letter of intent to join the Chico State
that’s the case, and he said he hopes cross-country program with his parents Jill and Kevin on
EMANUEL >> PAGE 2 Thursday at Chico High.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL SIDELINES

’CATS OPEN SERIES Orland’s

Flynn
WITH UC SAN DIEGO earns CIF
award
Staff Reports

Orland High’s Aileen Flynn was

one of four student-athlete recip-
ients of the California Interscho-
lastic Federation Spirit of Sport
Award for winter and spring.
Flynn, along with Arroyo
Grande High’s Brendan Foster,
Granada Hills Charter High’s Bi-
anca Peña and Marysville High’s
Chase Tarr, received an award,
a patch, a $500 scholarship and
was recognized at the year-end
CIF Federated Council dinner on
April 7, in Ontario.
The CIF Spirit of Sport Award
recognizes student-athletes who
have demonstrated the 16 princi-
ples of Pursuing Victory with Ho-
norism, are active in school and
community service and exhibit
leadership qualities.
“Aileen is truly a leader
amongst her peers and proves
that athletes can be great on and
off the field,” Orland Athletic Di-
rector Jerrod Lloyd said.
Flynn is a three-sport athlete
participating in basketball, vol-
leyball and track. Off the field,
she is a member of the FFA, Key
Club and the California Scholar-
ship Federation and spends time
volunteering with various organi-
zations in her community.
“I have developed a lot through
high school sports, and the most
important aspect of that develop-
PHOTOS BY BILL HUSA — ENTERPRISE-RECORD ment were the people who I was
Chico State’s Ari Marsh enters the series against UC San Diego hitting .364 and ranking fifth in the conference with 35runs batted in. exposed to along the way,” Flynn
SIDELINES >> PAGE 2
No. 13 ranked Chico State starts 4-game home
series at 1 p.m. Friday, with 2nd twin bill Saturday
OUTDOORS

High school
Staff Reports The four-game series begins with a
doubleheader Friday at 1 p.m., fol-
CHICO >> The regular season is enter- lowed by a Saturday twin bill start-

ing its home stretch, and though the
Chico State softball team has po-
sitioned itself for postseason play,
the Wildcats know that now is not
the time to ease the foot off the gas.
With 12 games remaining, head
coach Angel Shamblin’s squad will
attempt to continue its winning
ways to ensure a California Colle-
giate Athletic Association Cham-
pionship Tournament berth and
strengthen its chances of being in-
vited to the NCAA Championship
Tournament.
The Wildcats will be faced with
a major challenge this weekend,
when they host the UC San Diego
Tritons at University Softball Field.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
students get
ing at 11 a.m.
Chico State, which returns home
after playing its last 12 games on the
road, enters the series with the Tri-
tons sporting a 29-8 overall record
and occupying second place in the
own tourney
CCAA with a 19-7 conference mark.
The Wildcats, needing to finish High school students who
among the conference’s top four to like to catch bass have an op-
earn a CCAA Championship Tour- portunity to participate in a
nament bid, took three of four last neat tournament
weekend against Cal State San Mar- at Lake Oroville
cos before splitting a doubleheader at the end of this
Monday versus Humboldt State. month, but they’ll
Rain washed out the series’ two have to act fast to
other scheduled games between the Rachel DeHart signals one out after she and Kristin Worley get registered.
Wildcats and Lumberjacks. make a play on a forced out at second base during a game The Alabama-
John
SOFTBALL >> PAGE 2 earlier this season. Johnson based Bass An-
glers Sportsman
Society (B.A.S.S.),
which operates the country’s top
professional circuit, announced
Wednesday that it’s added the

Wildcats welcome Cal State L.A. for 3 games
Staff Reports
CHICO >> Chico State head coach
Dave Taylor’s theory of good
baseball centers around three
things: Pitch, play catch, and
apply pressure.
The Wildcats have performed
well in all three facets this sea-
son yielding a nationally ranked
28-7 overall record and atop the
California Collegiate Athletic
Association standings at 21-3.
What they have done better than
anyone else, however, and have a
chance to do better than any other
NCAA team in history, is play catch.
The Wildcats currently rank
No. 1 in the nation in fielding
percentage at .986. The Division
II record is .984, set by UC San
Diego in 2010. The Tritons’ 2009
team that fielded .982 is the only
other Division II team that has
fielded in the .980s.
Chico State’s team record of
.977 in 2014 is the 11th highest
in Division II history. The Wild-
cats also led the nation in field-
ing in 2000 at .970.
The top fielding percentage in
the history of the NCAA is .985,
set by the 2011 Division I Uni-
versity of San Francisco squad.
The Wildcats still have 14 regu-
lar-season games to play, and what
they hope will be a long and fruit-
ful postseason. If they keep play-
ing catch like they have through
the first 35, there’s a good chance
they’ll get what they hope for.
The defending CCAA Cham-
pions currently lead UC San Di-
ego by 3.5 games in the race for
the conference crown. And they
have a seven-game lead over Cal
State Monterey Bay in the North
Division standings.
The Wildcats’ magic number
to clinch a CCAA Tournament
berth is down to six games, and
BASEBALL >> PAGE 2
Western High School Open to its
tournament schedule. The event
will take place April 29 and the
registration deadline is Sunday.
One out of every 10 two-an-
gler teams that compete will
qualify for the Bassmaster Na-
tional High School Champion-
ship. The dates and location for
that tournament are still to be
announced.
Hank Weldon, senior tour-
nament manager for the high
school division at B.A.S.S., said
in a phone interview Thursday
that the Oroville event was put
JOHNSON >> PAGE 3