Blanco and Melchor Lead Panthers to Third Place Finish

Sophomore Elijah Melchor follows the early leader of the Clovis Crush Invitational.

September 7, 2024

The 2024 cross country season has begun with the Panthers and after having to cancel their first meet in Eureka, they descended on Fresno and Woodward Park to test their potential against seventeen others schools. Lead by two top 14 finishes from Jesse Blanco and Elijah Melchor, the Panthers placed a respectable third overall to last year's second place state team San Diego Mesa and fifth place team San Bernadino Valley College. The Panthers were the top placing Northern California team with 131 points, 20 points ahead of American River College.

After sitting out a year, Jesse Blanco made a triumphant return as the Panthers top runner over the four mile layout at Woodward Park. He would place seventh overall in 21:06, a new lifetime best on the course and an improvement over his 2022 state championship performance. The mark moves him into a three way tie for the 25th best mark in Hartnell College history. Blanco was also the top placing Northern California individual just ahead of 1500m champion Adam Solari of Diable Valley College. Fellow Sophomore Elijah Melchor ran amongst the leaders for nearly three quarters of the race and managed an eleventh place finish in 21:18. His time was 47 seconds faster than his debut last fall on the course. Freshman Alvaro Ruelas would cross the line in 24th in 22:06, the fourth best Norcal mark by a freshman. Giancarlo Mendo would be next in 22:35. Another freshman Gabriel Clemente Altamirano surprised himself with a debut of 22:46 to be the fifth scoring Panther. Aaron Eldredge (23:09) and Ivan Martinez-Galindo (23:11) rounded out the top sevent.

Hartnell Men's Results

21:06 Jesse Blanco
21:18 Elijah Melchor
22:06 Alvaro Ruelas
22:35 Giancarlo Mendo
22:46 Gabriel Clemente Altamirano
23:09 Aaron Eldredge
23:11 Ivan Martinez-Galindo
23:27 Juan Gonzalez
23:54 Galen Okamoto
23:56 Leyder Hernandez
24:02 Alejandro Hernandez
24:06 Adrian Hernandez
24:25 Jason Garcia
24:49 Kevin Ramirez
24:59 Jacob Duff
25:20 Marcus Serrano
25:36 Omar Quiroz
26:01 Christopher Rincon Hernandez
26:16 Carlos Rangel
26:40 Edgar Javier Soto
28:20 Francisco Vargas
30:14 Ernesto Martinez-Luna
30:30 Joel Sosa