Panther Men Sit Third Heading Into Final Day
In 2022, the Hartnell College men's track & field sat in third with one event to go only to see their position slip to seventh. In this year's edition, the Panthers are looking to place higher than that seventh place and currenlty sit in a tie for third heading into the final day of competition on May 12 at Yuba College. The Panthers were able to grab 13 points in the 10,000 meters before the final day of competition and also put qualifiers into the shot put, discus, hammer, and javelin in the throws and will have athletes competing in the long jump, triple jump and high jump as well. On the track, the Panther men will have potential high point scorers in the 1500 meters, 3k Steeplechase, and 5000 meters.
In the 10,000 meters, freshman Moises Benito was the highest placing Panther in third (32:02.67), matching his ranking going into the event. Ricky Diaz III placed a solid fifth in a State "A" 32:27.09, after running trials of the 1500 meter and 800 meter runs. Jose Velazquez finished seventh a lifetime PR 33:10.07 with Josh Riley right behind in eighth (33:10.42). Jesse Blanco has a State "A" but finished ninth overall (33:17.40). Daniel Pantoja (33:39.31), Miguel Leon-Fernandez (34:01.08), Mario Avila (35:22.60) and Maximo Puga (35:45.34) also competed.
Sophomore Zachary Sims continued to impress by throwing the top mark in the javelin trials and a new personal best 58.60m/192-3. He is currently ranked second all-time in Hartnell history but has the second best mark in Northern California trailing Brandon Smith of Butte College who has a mark of 59.83m. Ramon Duran snuck into the javelin final with a lifetime best 45.21m/148-4 landing tenth overall. Freshman Joshua Shimoda competed in his first Northern California Championship placing eighteenth in the javelin. Sims would also qualify into the long jump final with a second round jump of 6.68m/21-11. Sophomore Elijah Washington also made the final with a jump of 6.32m in the first round. Ethan Lavina placed nineteenth in long jump qualifying. Lavina would get redemption in the triple jump reaching 13.00m in the first round to advance to next weeks' final. Sims placed seventeenth but did not avance. Sims would add the high jump to his workload next week clearning 1.80m/5-10.75 on his second attempt. Ethan Lavina and Elijah Washington did not clear the opening height. Freshman Javin Nair got valuable championship experience in the pole vault but did not advance clearing only 3.50m in qualifying.
In the throws, Orlando Dorado qualified to the finals of the shot put, discus, and hammer throws. Dorado threw 12.68m/41-7.25 in the shot put, the ninth best qualifying mark. In the discus, he found a new personal best 38.50m/126-5 to place inside the top twelve in qualifying. Dorado will also take the ninth best qualifying mark into the hammer final after reaching 42.28m/138-8. Sophomore Hugo Chayres was a surprise qualifier in the hammer throw in eleventh at a lifetime best 40.07m131-5. Edgar Martinez missed qualifying by one spot but had a mark of 39.10m. Freshman Remse Pamintuan gives the Panthers a returner with championship experience after placing eighteenth in this first season of the hammer throw.
Marco Espinoza-Morado equaled his lifetime best in the 100 meters (11.00) but did not advance. He was also twenty-first overall in the 200 meters running 23.11 into a headwind. Ramon Duran ran a lifetime best 57.41 in the 400mIH but finished twelfth overall. Bernabe Munoz will return in 2023 with a new lifetime best 59.52. Marco Barrera also competed (66.87). Duran lead in the 110mHH (16.36) with Munoz scored his first sub 18 mark (17.92) and Barrera placed twenty-fifth in his first Norcal Trials. The 4x100 relay team of Marco Espinoza-Morado, Javin Nair, Fabian Rodriguez, and Zachary Sims finished eleventh with 43.31. The 4x400 relay team of Espinoza-Morado, Duran, Munoz, and Louie Brambila placed fourteenth in 3:35.00.
Sophomore Esteban Deniz will lead a quartet into the 1500 meter final as he was the top mark out of the three heats in 4:04.68. Moises Benito (4:05.69), Ricky Diaz III (4:06.21) and Josh Riley (4:09.06) all advanced. Deniz had the top mark in 800 meter qualfiying (1:57.86) but will focus on the 5000 meters next week. Ricky Diaz III (2:00.99) had the eleventh best mark. Kaimana Cantere (2:04.89) and Liam Pattison both got championship esxperience in their first year as a Panther.
The Panthers will compete next Friday, May 12th in the Northern California Championship final day of competition. Field events will start at 11am and running at 1pm. The Championship will be held at Yuba College in Marysville, California. This is the first time the championship has ever been held at Yuba College.