This year's Hartnell College men's cross country team may be the perfect combination of talent, work ethic, and enthusiasm that could take the team to its first regional title since 2006 and a potential top three placing at the CCCAA State Championship in November. After placing fifth at last year's state championship, the Panthers return ten sophomores and four from the regional runner-up squad last year That combination helped the Panthers to a near upset of the defending CCCAA champions American River College on Friday in Rocklin at the Norcal Preview Meet. The scoring five of Jorge Sanchez, Edgar Bonilla, Oscar Mora, Jr., Mario Perez, Jr., and Andrew Martinez came within one point of the upset and is only team to push the Beavers to such a close margin in over six years. The cross country course at Sierra College has not been used for competition since 2003 and has been revived as the host of the Northern California Championship set to be held on November 4. On Friday, the Norcal Preview Meet gave regional schools a chance to run the course that has been dormant for 13 years.
Sophomores Jorge Sanchez and Edgar Bonilla worked together to move up into the top four by the completion of the challenging four mile course. Sanchez finished just twelve seconds from the top spot placing second in 22:16. Bonilla was fourth at 22:32. Oscar Mora, Jr. (22:36) in sixth, Mario Perez, Jr. (22:50) in tenth, and Andrew Martinez (22:53) in thirteenth to complete the scoring Panthers. Freshmen Jaime Garcia of Greenfield High School (23:13) in eighteenth and Christian Aldape of North Salinas High School (23:44) were the sixth and seventh runners. The final score when the dust settled was American River College 35 points with Hartnell College one point behind at 36 points. The teams were nearly the same with the average team time for the scoring runners ending up less than 2 seconds different. The Panthers will see the Beavers again next Saturday at the Fresno Invitational which serves as an early season state championship preview.
Sophomore Yvette Felix, formerly of Anzar High School, was just the seventh runner for the Lady Panthers who won the Northern California title last fall and placed a record second overall at the state championship. That experience taught her how to prepare for her final season at Hartnell College and she kicked off her regional campaign with a stellar third place overall in the women's 5k race. Felix was just 15 seconds off the win with her lifetime best 19:27. Alyssa Block of College of the Sequoias was the winner at 19:12 followed by her teammate JoJo Zorn at 19:17.Her performance spearheaded an inspired team performance that saw the Lady Panthers take second overall despite having only Felix with state championship experience and three new freshmen in the top seven. Fellow sophomore Beatriz Duarte was eleventh overall in 20:28. Three freshmen followed with Leslie Oseguera (20:46), Jocelyn Cervantes (21:20), and Tanya Campos (21:40) to complete the team scoring. The Lady Giants of COS won the team competition with 25 points followed by the Lady Panthers at 70 points. This year's squad is attempting to complete a rare three-peat of the regional title with only West Valley College having completed the feat in 1994. Alyssa Sanchez also completed the course in 23:37. The Lady Panthers were also without frosh Yvette Tavarez who should factor in significantly come November.
