Heading into this past weekend's Fresno Invitational the Hartnell College cross country teams knew they capable of outperforming their early season state rankings. Coming into the competition, the ladies were ranked fifth and the men sixth statewide. Despite a dark haze from the Rough Fire, the Panthers surpassed their expectations as both men and women placed third as a team and bested last year's defending state champions Mt. SAC for the women and College of the Canyons for the men.
In the women's five kilometer race, sophomore Lady Panther Malena Grover solidified herself 
as one of the top individuals in the state with her second place finish in 18:52. The time was just six seconds away from her Hartnell College school record for the Woodward Park course. Fellow sophomore Nancy Rodriguez ran the ninth best time in school history at 19:29 to place eleventh overall. Rachel Shimabukuro (19:52), Cynthia Tovar (20:17), and Maria Rodriguez (20:30) completed the Lady Panther scoring. The ladies tallied 82 points to place third overall behind only Cerritos College with 70 points and Glendale College the team winner with 60 points. Of note, the Lady Panthers had their first seven finishers cross the line before any team including the top two. Lizette Garcia (20:31) and Yessika Mayo (20:40) finished as the sixth and seventh runners for the Lady Panthers.
Hartnell College cross country will next compete September 24 in the Lou Vasquez Invitational at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
