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Bio

Under the leadership of Coach Anderson (1995 to present), the Beaver’s cross-country teams have won:
• 18 Conference Championships (1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006-2016, 2018, 2019, 2021)
• 11 Northern California Championships (1998, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010-2015, 2018, 2019)
• 5 State Championships (2005, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015)

Anderson has also coached individual state champions in 2011 (Garrett Seawell – Woodward Park course record holder – transferred to Arizona State), 2012 Matt Airola (2013 1500m state champion and school record holder – 3:45.80, 2nd in the 800m at 1:49.70 – transferred to University of Alabama), and 2013 (Luis Luna – ran 13:54 5k at Eastern Kentucky). Will Reyes, who went on to be Chico State’s #1 runner, was another runner coached by Coach Anderson who went from a high school cross country state championship’s non-qualifier in high school cross country to the school record holder in the 5k (14:27) and 10k (29:52) at American River. Coach Anderson was also California Community College Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2004, 2006, 2011, 2013, and 2015. He also received the 2011 Community College Track & Field Coach of the Year.

Coach Rick Anderson was a 1982 graduate of Cordova High School, lettering in cross-country all three seasons. Upon graduation, he competed at American River College in Cross Country and Track & Field for one season in each sport before enlisting in the US Navy for six years. In 1993, he enrolled once again at American River College. While at American River, he also received the "Pepsi Scholar Athlete of the Year" award and was voted captain of both his track and cross country teams. During the process of attaining his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at California State University, Sacramento, he joined the coaching staff as an assistant as well as assisting in coaching the men's and women's track & field teams. His bachelor’s degree is in Physical Education – Teaching and his Master’s Degree is in Kinesiology – Sport Performance (Cum Laude). In 1995, Coach Anderson was hired as the Head Coach for the Men's Cross Country team, and in 2001 was hired full-time as the Head Men's Cross Country Coach, Assistant Track & Field Coach, and Physical Education Instructor. He took over the Head Men’s Track & Field position in January of 2002. He has also served as the California Community College Cross Country and Track & Field Coaches Association President from 2005-2009.

During the last several years, the following student-athletes have transferred to these 4-year colleges (this is just a partial list):

Matt Airola (Bret Harte HS) University of Alabama
Garrett Seawell (Woodcreek HS) Arizona State University
Will Reyes (Monterey Trail HS) Chico State University
Sean Gregg (El Dorado HS) Northern Arizona University
Luis Luna (Piner HS, Santa Rosa) Eastern Kentucky University
Zach Done (Wodcreek HS) University of Oregon
Ian Hecox (SMOSH founder, Del Campo HS)CSU Sacramento

UC Davis
Anthony Sanchez
Brad Needles
Steven White
Will Melton
Cristian Morinico
Hamid Naemeh

Chico State
Conor Wells
Christian Woolfolk
Chris Kigar
Anthony Costales
Tom Witt
Steve Bjork
Luis Mora

San Jose State University
Sam Wambugu
Josh Boedecker
Chris Hart
Josh Courtney

CSU Long Beach
Chris Walden
Alex Chorn

Cal State Stanislaus
Xavier Weaver
Anthony Fagundes
Tomas Evangelista

Sac State
Over 35 transfers after ARC