Lady Panthers Highest Ever Placing at Historic Mt. SAC Invitational

October 19, 2015

It is a long trip from the Salinas Valley to Walnut, California where the Mt. SAC Invitational is held but it's a trip the Panthers have enjoyed taking given the results that they come back with. This year's edition was no different as the women's team came away with their highest overall placing in school history and an individual school record for sophomore Malena Grover. The men's team placed third overall for the consecutive year and marks the third consecutive year on the team podium.

Sophomore Malena Grover moved up from thirteenth in the 2014 to third overall in a new school record 18:09 overall the challenging hills at Mt. SAC. She trailed only last year's state champion Aminat Olowaro of Southwestern College and top Northern California runner Jenica Dodge. This performance moves Grover into position to place in the top three later this fall at top 15 the state championship. Her time lowered the Hartnell College record set by Victoria Alcala by 30 seconds. Also moving up significantly from her performance last year was sophomore Rachel Shimabukuro. Shimabukuro placed tenth overall in 19:03 this year up fifteen places from 2014 and moves to the fourth best performer in school history. Lizette Garcia (19:52), Yessika Mayo (19:57), Adriana Jimenez (20:00), Yvette Felix (20:02) and Maria Rodriguez (20:30) rounded out first seventh Lady Panthers to cross the line. The ladies are still not running at full strength as sophomore Nancy Rodriguez is still recuperating from an injury. As a team, the women placed second overall with 81 points to College of the Canyons 36 points. The Lady Panthers bested host Mt. SAC for the first time this season solidifying their top three ranking in the state. In 2014, the Lady Panthers placed a school record fourth at state.

The Panthers will compete next at the Coast Conference Championship at the Crystal Spring Cross Country Course in Belmont, CA. The men will look to extend their team titles to six years in a row. Sophomore Rene Siqueiros is the top returning male from last year's race. The women will look for their third consecutive team title. Sophomore Malena Grover is the defending conference champion with fellow sophomore Rachel Shimabukuro the next fastest returner.