Pair Earn All Region at Norcal Championship

The Hartnell men have had a challenging fall trying to find their identity as a team. They were the third Northern California team at the early State Preview Meet in Fresno and even won the Chabot Invitational. The rest of September and October were not so kind to the Panthers as they would lose to conference foe DeAnza College at the Modesto Pirate Invitational, the Norcal Preview Meet, and Coast Conference Championship. With one last chance in regional competition only, the Panthers hoped to perform better than their fifth place ranking. Early on in this year's championship, the Panthers held the third place team position heading into the hills at Toro Park. Unfortunately they would slip to fith just a little over three quarter mile later before rallying for a fourth place overall finish. It would again be the Dons of DeAnza College spoiling the day as they would best the Panthers 97 to 109 for the final regional trophy. This broke a nine year streak of placing in the top three in the region dating back to 2010. This was the first time since 2012 that the Panthers placed lower than third overall as a team. 

Sophomore Jesus Avalos and freshman Isaac Gensel were bright spots for the Panthers. Avalos, who did not compete in the regional meet last fall and who only placed thirteenth back on October 4 over the same layout, would run as a high as fifth overall heading into the final loop of the course. He would better his conference winning time by 32 seconds by placing sixth overall in 20:32. He earns his first all-region honors in cross country to add to his Hartnell College resume that include a all-Coast Conference as a freshman and this year's Coast Conference Champion. He placed as the top Panther in every meet minus the Norcal Preview Meeet. Freshman Isaac Gensel placed tenth overall in 20:56 stayingg in line with his consistent performances all season. Gensel started the race in fifteeth before moving up to twelfth before the final 1.5 miles. Using a similar finsh that took him to the CIF CCS title as a senior at Monterey High School, Gensel moved up two more spots to finish as the second highest freshman. Gensel becomes eligible to become one of the rare Panthers who earns all-region both years. He will be called upon to lead the Panthers in 2020 as the second fastest returner. Freshmen Rigo Garcia placed 21st (21:26) and Jiovanni Garcia 32nd (21:41) completed the scoring Panthers. Alexis Ojeda 40th, Frankie Maciel 42nd, and Joseph Loredo 46th also competed for the Panthers.

The Panthers will compete in the 2019 CCCAA State Championship at historic Woodward Park in Fresno on November 23rd. The men will enter the meet as one of the top 14 ranked teams.