Panthers Victorious at George Brooks
Last November at the Northern California Championship held at Hidden Valley Park in Martinez, the Panthers came up just four points shy of winning the team title. The Panthers returned to Hidden Valley Park for the 2024 George Brooks Memorial Invitational and came away victorious thanks in part to four men placing in the top 7. This was the Panthers first team victory of 2024 as they march toward a hopeful regional team title at home in November.
Sophomores Elijah Melchor and Jesse Blanco closed the gap between themselves to just four seconds running 22:26 and 22:30 over the challenging 4.09 mile course. The pair placed third and fourth overall. Alvaro Ruelas, a freshman from North Monterey County, continued to impress in his first year by placing sixth overall in 22:38. Giancarlo Mendo was just thirteen seconds behind Ruelas in seventh place and 22:51. The top four Panthers were only separated by 25 seconds for the first time this season. Freshman Gabriel Clemente Altamirano was thirteenth (23:41) and Juan Gonzalez (24:08) sixteenth. Freshman Leyder Hernandez (24:11) was one spot back in seventeenth to complete the top seven. The Panthers scored a low 32 points to easily outdistance second place Santa Rosa Junior College.
Hartnell Men's Results
22:26 Elijah Melchor
22:30 Jesse Blanco
22:38 Alvaro Ruelas
22:51 Giancarlo Mendo
23:41 Gabriel Clemente
24:08 Juan Gonzalez
24:12 Leyder Hernandez
24:14 Galen Okamoto
24:18 Ivan Martinez-Galindo
24:28 Adrian Hernandez
24:57 Alejandro Hernandez
25:17 Jacob Duff
25:32 Kevin Ramirez
26:04 Omar Quiroz
26:49 Carlos Hernandez
28:10 Edgar Javier Soto
28:18 Francisco Vargas
The Panthers will travel north to Santa Rosa Junior College for the annual Twilight 3k/5k on Friday, September 27.
