Successful Trip South for Panther Distance Men

With much of Northern California track & field being limited due to the recent atmospheric rivers hitting the state, a small group of Panther distance runners was able to escape to Southern California and compete in the Occidental College Spring Break Distance Carnival. With the opportunity to compete, the Panther men were able to secure three State "A", two State "B" marks, and some important improvements before heading into the second half of the 2023 track & field season.

Fresh off his 10,000m record, sophomore Esteban Deniz used the opportunity to compete against four year and Socal two year competition to record two lifetime bests. His first event of the meet was the 1500 meters were he was the second fastest community college athlete at 3:56.81. The time makes him the top mark in Northern California by three seconds and on pace to replicate the regional title in the 1500 meters won by his older brother Eduardo Orozco. Deniz returned to the track two hours later for the 5000 meters and running in the fast heat, lowered his personal best to 14:39.86. That improves on his fourth all-time mark and came with two tenths of a second of passing state champion Daniel Tapia. 

Also running in the 1500 meters was freshman Liam Pattison. Pattison entered the meet with a 4:14.53 best set back on February 18. Running comfortably with the leaders for three laps, Pattison unleashed the fastest last 200 meters and was the heat winner in 4:06.22. The mark catapaults him to ninth in Northern California. 

Sophomore Daniel Pantoja made his 3000 meter steeplechase debut at 9:56.09, good for 12 seconds faster than last year. Pantoja placed third at last year's Northern Callfornia Championship and is now the regional leader. Freshman Kaimana Cantere had not run beyond 2000 meters in this event and despite a mishap on lap three with a barrier opened his collegiate steeplechase career at 10:15.28. That mark moves him to second in the region behind teammate Pantoja.

Freshman Moises Benito lead all other Panthers in the 5000 meters netting a time of 15:20.19 to achieve the State "B". He also ran 4:09.23 in the 1500 meters. Freshman Jesse Blanco posted the next fastest 5000m mark for the Panthers debuting in 15:31.88. Ricky Diaz III was 15:35.43, Joshua Riley 15:48.10, Jose Velazquez 15:58.51, Miguel Leon 16:15.18, Jesus Martinez 16:48.23, Maximo Puga 16:56.81, and Liam Pattison 17:08.33. 

The Panthers will compete next at the annual Wildcat Cup. The meet brings together the California Community College programs that have close ties to the CSU Chico Cross Country/Track & Field programs. This year's meet will take place Friday-Saturday, March 17-18 at Yuba College.