Sophomore Trio Leads Panthers to Second at Oxnard Invite

August 31, 2016

The Hartnell College cross country team traveled south to Oxnard College for the OCC Invitational held on the campus and adjacent College Park last Friday. Competing against schools from the Western State Conference plus Coast Conference rival DeAnza College, the men came away with a second place team finish and the ladies a solid fourth.

In the men's four mile race, the Panthers were lead by a three sophomores in Jorge Sanchez, Oscar Mora, and Andrew Martinez. Sanchez, a state championship qualifier last spring at 10,000 meters, lead most of the race until slipping to fifth overall (21:18) behind four runners from team champion Glendale College. Oscar Mora, a Norcal all-region honoree from last fall, placed ninth overall (21:44) followed by teammate Martinez in tenth (21:48). The race was won by Shane Thompson of Glendale College in 20:57. Freshman Jonathan Saldana (22:13), sophomore Jose Ruiz (22:14), frosh Jaime Garcia (22:17) and fellow frosh Christian Aldape (22:22) rounded out the scoring seven for the Panthers. Hartnell College easily outdistanced conference foe DeAnza College scoring 57 points to the Dons with 154. The Panthers were without All-American Edgar Bonilla along with former King City teammates Eduardo Orozco and Williams Ordaz but will look to plug in the trio for the remainder of the season.

For the ladies, sophomore Yvette Felix assumed the top position for the Lady Panthers with the departure of All-Americans Malena Grover and Rachel Shimabukuro along with Nancy Rodriguez, Lizette Garcia, and Maria Rodriguez from last year's Northern California Championship squad. Felix placed 19th overall (20:12) out of 82 women and second among Coast Conference competitors. She trailed only Michelle Perez-Lopez of DeAnza College was crossed the line in 13th. Fellow sophomore Beatriz Duarte also assumed a leadership role as the second finishing Lady Panther in 24th place (20:57). Thanks to the performances of Alyssa Sanchez (21:24), Yvette Tavarez (21:31) and Jocelyn Cervantes (21:32) the Lady Panthers maintained their advantage over conference rival DeAnza College by tallying 129 points to the Dons 140 points. The remaining Panthers Adriana Jimenez (21:58), Leslie Oseguera (22:24), and Tanya Campos (22:40) also competed well.

The Panthers will travel next to the ARC Invitational/Northern CA Preview Meet on Friday, September 2nd at Sierra College. The Lady Panthers are the two-time defending regional champions with the Panther men last year's team runner-up.