Villegas Wins Title, Women Lead Team Battle
The Hartnell College women's track & field team got a boost toward their goal of winning an unprecedented fourth Northern California team title with four point scorers in the second scored event of the championship, the 10,000 meter run, and qualifiers in nearly event to next week's finals at Yuba College. The Panthers have 21 points, seven ahead of second place De Anza College, heading into the final day of the championship on Friday, May 12th.
Sophomore Andrea Villegas was the surprise 10,000 meter runner, despite finishing third at last week's Coast Conference 10,000 meter, after taking the lead with four laps remaining. She would finish 28 seconds ahead of second place finisher Serena Geis in a new lifetime best 39:16.27. She becomes Hartnell's fifth woman ever to win the 25 lap title since the event was added to the championship schedule. Teammate Sofia Camacho finished third (41:07.11), Ashley Ochoa fifth (42:44.95), and freshman Maria Garcia picked up a point with her personal best 45:47.20 in eighth. Lapislazuli Hernandez also competed placing tenth in her first championship in 47:16.28.
The Panthers kicked off qualifying in other events with Katelyn Strader being the top seed in the hammer throw final with a new personal best 48.47m/159-0. That moves the Pajaro Valley graduate into second in the state trailing only teammate Isabella Reimann who was the second overall qualifier at 45.72m/150-0. Freshman Grace Padron will compete in her first Norcal hammer final after throwing a personal best 36.73m/120-6 to place twelfth. Zaira Hernandez (32.08m) was seventeenth, frosh Felicita De Jesus (28.17m) was nineteenth, and freshman Linette Morales Martinez (26.12m) was twentieth. Padron lead Hartnell qualifiers in the discus with a lifeitme best 35.98m/118-0. Reimann advanced in fifth (34.93m). Morales Martinez did not record a fair mark in her three attempts.
Sophomore Clodine Tabernilla just missed advancing the long jump placing thirteenth (4.84m). Lorraine Mankins was eighteenth (4.57m). The pair also competed in the trials of the javelin throw with Tabernilla finishing one spot from advancing with a throw of 28.01m. Mankins was seventeenth (26.79m) with Mercedes Rosales-Rivera twenty-second overall (25.86m). Mankins would qualify in the triple jump in fourth (10.67m), with Rosales-Rivera taking eleventh (9.65m) to also advance to next week. Rosales-Rivera added the high jump to her qualifying resume as she and Isabella Reimann and Daisy Macias also cleared 1.40m to be in the top 12 next week. Aleah Schreiber competed but did not clear the opening height.
The running trials were kicked off with the 4x100 relay team of Tabernilla, Aaliyah Carreras, Roxana Ruelas, and Daisy Macias advancing with the fourth best time 49.48. Carreras would go on to be the top seed in next week's final after running a new school record 11.82 in her 100m trials. She would also run 25.07 in the 200 meters and post the fastest time of the day. Ruelas would run the second best 400mLH time of 66.25. Ruelas was second in last year's final. Daisy Macias advanced with a lifetime best 70.42. Mercedes Rosales-Rivera (77.81), Ilianna Martinez (82.32) and Aleah Schreiber (90.87) all competed as well. Macias competed in the 100mH and was thirteenth (16.67). Lorraine Mankins just missed advancing by one spot but did run her fastest time of the season 16.27. Isabella Reimann advanced to the final in eighth (16.13). Mercedes Rosales-Rivera recorded her second 18 second performance of the season (18.81) in the trials. Ruelas competed in the 400 meters (63.71) but did not advance. Tabernilla competed in the 100m and posted her first sub 13 second performance (12.81) to finish eighteenth overall. She was also fourteenth in the 200 meters (27.76).
In 800 meter qualifying, Andrea Villegas broke 2:20 for the first time to win her heat in 2:19.89. Sofia Camacho advanced in 2:22.11 with freshman Dominique Cervantes-Samudio getting into the final with 2:26.66. The relay team of Villegas, Cervantes-Samudio. Carreras, and Macias head into the final as the third seed after running 4:09.72.
The Panther women head into Friday's Championship with the opportunity to become the first Northern California team to win four consecutive team titles. They will have athletes in every event except in the long jump, 400 meters, and shot put. Field event finals will start at 11am with running at 1pm.