Felix and Duarte Lead Lady Panthers to Fourth Title

October 31, 2016

The Hartnell College cross country men's and women's team have held a stranglehold on the Coast Conference team title in recent years and on Friday the current streak was extended to seven consecutive years for the men and to a fourth consecutive year for the women. The men's team has now won nine of the last eleven team championships with the women following suit with six out of the last eleven on their side. Due to the Soberanes Fire, this year's championship was moved from Toro Park to the Crystal Springs cross country course in Belmont.

Former King City High School standout Edgar Bonilla won his second consecutive conference championship pulling teammate Jorge Sanchez to an identical time of 21:44 for the 4.195 mile course. Bonilla becomes the third Panther in the last eleven years to repeat as champion joining Enrique Lopez in 2006-07 and Daniel Tapia in 2008-09. The Panthers have had ten of eleven of the individual champions since 2006. Hartnell College was lead by all sophomores with Andrew Martinez in fourth (22:12), Oscar Mora, Jr. in fifth (22:14) and Mario Perez, Jr. (22:20) in seventh. Angel Mejia, Jr. (22:49) and Williams Ordaz (22:56) completed the top seven. The Panthers tallied just 19 points to take the team title over Las Positas with 56 points and DeAnza College at 62 points. Freshman Christian Aldape (22:58) in fourteenth will lead next year's squad as the highest placing freshman. The men, ranked second in the region, will look to break an eight year streak of championships held by American River College at the Northern California Championship.

Sophomore Yvette Felix entered this year's championship as the favorite for the individual title and fought off an early challenge from Michelle Perez-Lopez of DeAnza College for a decisive 39 second victory. It was her second individual victory of the season and makes her the fourth consecutive Lady Panther to win the overall title.Teammate Beatriz Duarte made a move late in the race to grab second place in a personal best 19:45. Yvette Tavarez (8th), Tanya Campos (9th) and Alyssa Sanchez (10th) ensured the team victory as they all finished in front of DeAnza College's fourth runner. The Lady Panthers managed a 10 point victory 24 to 34 for their fourth consecutive team title. The team is currently ranked second in Northern California to College of the Sequoias heading into November 4 and the Northern California Regional Championship at Sierra College.
--