Blanco and Panthers Men Take Second at Historic Mt. SAC Invite

The Hartnell College men's cross country team continued its impressive streak of top 3 team placings at the Mt. SAC Invitational in Walnut, CA. Billed as "The Largest Cross Country Meet on the Planet, the unique Southern California course on the campus of Mt. San Antonio College, features classic hills named "Switchbacks", "Poop-Out" and "Reservoir". In this year's edition, the Panthers were able to place three individuals in the top 13 overall and earned themselves a second place team finish, second only to host school and State #1 Mt. SAC.

Sophomore Jesse Blanco is slowly emerging as Hartnell's threat to the overall Norcal title. Blanco sat back from an early fast pace set by Emmanuel Hernandez of Mt. SAC and was as far back as 15 seconds at the halfway mark. As the runners descended "Reservoir Hill", he had cut the lead to just five seconds. With onle last trip up the challenging four turn "Swithcbacks" hill, Blanco showed his strength and caught Hernandez. The two would descend off the hill together with Blanco edging ahead by a step or two as the pair entered the final 600 meters of the course. Unfortunately, having worked to close the 15 second gap over the course of the race, Blanco wouldn't be able to summon up a final kick but did manage to place second. He is now the third consecutive runner-up finisher since Hartnell returned to competing at the famous Socal meet. His time of 20:53 was just three seconds shy of the win and moves the Salinas High School grad to third fastest in Hartnell history. He trails only state champion Diego Leon (20:30) and two-time All-American Edgar Bonilla (20:49). Sophomore Elijah Melchor ran as high as fourth entering the third mile but would slip back a few spots but finish ninth (21:40). Frosh Alvaro Ruelas remained a solid third runner for the Panthers and placed thirteenth in 21:56. A pair of freshman finished out the scoring five with Giancarlo Mendo (22:07) and Aaron Eldredge (22:26) placing 20th and 25th. Ivan Martinez-Galindo (22:54) and Gabriel Clemente Altamirano (22:58) rounded out the top 7.

The Panthers will look to retake the Coast Conference men's team title on Wednesday, October 30th at Crystal Springs. 

Hartnell Men's Results

20:53 Jesse Blanco
21:40 Elijah Melchor
21:56 Alvaro Ruelas
22:07 Giancarlo Mendo
22:26 Aaron Eldredge 
22:54 Ivan Martinez-Galindo
22:58 Gabriel Clemente Altamirano
23:12 Galen Okamoto
23:28 Nathan Emerson
23:31 Leyder Hernandez
24:00 Jacob Duff
24:13 Juan Gonzalez
24:31 Carlos Rangel
24:56 Jason Garcia
25:15 Kevin Ramirez
26:13 Christopher Rincon
26:50 Edgar Javier Soto
27:41 Ernesto Martinez-Luna
27:48 Francisco Vargas
28:04 Marcus Serrano
28:05 Erik Luna Bedolla
30:39 Joel Sosa