The Chico State sister act
Hand in hand, Della and Iresh Molina make CCAA history.
Photo by Scott Durham
(Author’s note: This was published in the Sept. 25 DII Newsletter from TNT Sports — which is different than this DII Report. However, both are curated and written by me, Wayne Cavadi. This is a wonderful story that I wanted to share with all my subscribers, so please enjoy this free content!)
Meet Chico State cross country stars Della and Iresh Molina. You may have noticed that they share the same last name. That isn’t simply because they are sisters, but twins. The duo just made CCAA history by being the first sisters to win the conference’s co-runners of the week honors for winning their first race of the season.
That’s right. They both won, and they did it in a way that Hallmark movies only dream of capturing. The twins crossed the finish line hand-in-hand, sharing the time of 20:38.1 to win the 77-person-field race. It was Della’s personal best, while Iresh narrowly missed her personal best by a mere two seconds.
“It was awesome,” Iresh said. “We always joked about holding hands as we crossed the finish line, but this was the perfect opportunity to actually do so! We planned it like five seconds before we actually did it, Della just said, ‘Let’s hold hands,’ and I said ‘OK,’ and then we grabbed each other's hand at almost the exact same time nearing the line, which was cool.”
“That was the most fun I have ever had in a race, and the finish was even more so,” Della added.
The Molina sisters are legends in Chico, California, first going to high school at Chico High and then taking their talents to Chico State. Both had many accolades on the high school level and are now, obviously, cleaning up in their collegiate years.
“Chico State seemed like a wonderful choice for college, because first of all, the cross country team,” Della said. “Iresh and I both went to watch XC nationals in our sophomore year of high school in 2019 — the last time it was held in Sacramento — at our high school coach’s encouragement, and it was inspiring even though I hadn’t even really considered running in college at that point. Also, Chico State has lots of trees and I love being surrounded by foliage.”
Iresh agreed and added she “loves the walkable, nature filled campus. I also absolutely love Bidwell and Upper Park for running every day. The trails are hard to beat in my opinion when it comes to everyday running in nature. You can also get some pretty decent elevation gain in Upper Park.”
So, racing with each other must have forged some sort of friendly rivalry, right? It can’t be all sisterly love all the time. It starts right when you ask their ages.
“Della is technically older, as she likes to mention almost as much as she likes to mention that she is 1-inch taller than me… on a good day,” Iresh Molina said.
“We are technically less than five seconds apart by C-section if you count that as an age difference,” Della added.
But obviously, this little competition continues on the course as well. “There is most DEFINITELY sisterly competition between us and if you asked any of our teammates, they would tell you the same thing,” Della said. “Our competition is honestly really helpful for training and especially races because if Iresh is ahead of me, I know I’m physically capable of being up there with her, and only my mind is a barrier. Also, we are competitive in random things that don’t have to do with running at all.”
“I love having a perfect match for a training partner because if she can do it, then I can,” Iresh was sure to add.
So, how well do these twins know each other? I had to find out.
