Blanco Takes Victory at Butte

After finishing third as a team at the Norcal Preview Meet last week, the Hartnell College men's team inched a little closer to a potential regional team title by pushing host school Butte College on their home course 40-43. The course which provided a challenging first two miles on a backcountry tractor trail, played well to the Panthers strengths but the host school was able to put three runners between Hartnell's first and second in order to secure the team victory. The Panthers will look to close the gap further in the coming weeks in prepararation for the November 8th championship at Toro Park.

Sophomore Jesse Blanco took control of the race just before the big hill on the course. As the runners raced the downhill return back to campus, Blanco held a slight advantage over the first runner from Butte College. Two miles later, Blanco had extended his lead to five seconds and by the finish grew it to a comfortable 13 second victory in 21:03. That time makes him the second fastest performer on the Butte College course in its five year history. Blanco, a member of the 2022 Northern California Championship team, has experience racing for the team title but has found a new role as the leader of the Panthers heading into the final regular season meet at Mt. SAC next week. Elijah Melchor rebounded from last week's disappointed Norcal Preview Meet with a sixth place finish and fifth amongst two year athletes only in 21:43. That mark also moves him onto the top 10 all-time for the course. Freshamn Alvaro Ruelas earned a top 12 medal in eleventh overall (22:12). Freshman Gabriel Clemente Altamirano (22:27) lead a trio of Panthers with his fourteenth place finish and was followed by Giancarlo Mendo (22:28) and Aaron Eldredge (22:34). Sophomore Juan Gonzalez enjoyed his best top 7 performnace in 22:40. The team gap for 1-5 was just 1:25, the smallest its been for the Panthers all season. 

The Panthers will head south for the Mt. SAC Invitational and tackle the challenging four mile version of the history course that included famed segments named "Valley Loop", "Switchbacks", "Poop Out Hill" and "Reservoir Hill". The will compete on Friday, October 18 starting at 10:00am.

Hartnell Men's Results

21:03 Jesse Blanco
21:43 Elijah Melchor
22:12 Alvaro Ruelas
22:27 Gabriel Clemente Altamirano
22:28 Giancarlo Mendo
22:34 Aaron Eldredge
22:40 Juan Gonzalez
22:57 Ivan Martinez-Galindo
23:03 Galen Okamoto
23:28 Marcus Serrano
23:55 Jason Garcia
24:06 Leyder Hernandez
24:24 Erik Luna Bedolla
24:36 Jacob Duff
24:37 Alejandro Hernandez
24:49 Carlos Rangel
25:10 Christopher Rincon
25:27 Omar Quiroz
26:21 Edgar Javier Soto
28:00 Francisco Vargas
29:40 Ernesto Martinez-Luna
30:26 Joel Sosa