Brubaker Good to the Panther Women
The Hartnell College women traveled 8.5 hours south to Irvine for the Brubaker Invitational hosted by Santa Ana College at Irvine Regional Park. This would be the first test for the #2 state ranked team since they placed second at the Fresno Invitational. Since then, they have scored no more than 19 points in winning the Las Positas Invitational, Modesto Pirate Invitational, and the Norcal Preview Meet. The Brubaker meet would allow the Panthers to face #4 Riverside and #5 Saddleback head to head prior to the state championship. Despite blustery Santa Ana winds which brought temperatures close to 90 degrees by race time and winds gusting up to 20 miles an hour, the Panther women produced a 28 point team performance to easily win their first Southern California meet in program history. They finished 43 points ahead of Riverside with Saddleback one point behind their conference foe.
A foursome of Daniela Salazar, Shantal Martinez, Valeria Gomez-Lozano, and Isabelle Torres found themselves controlling the pace through the mile mark on the uphill section of the race. With five runners already in the lead pack at half way into the race, the question to be answered would be what order would the Panthers finish in and if any could contend for the overall win. Daniela Salazar pushed the pace into the 2 mile mark to string out the field and was followed by teammate Martinez. The field repeated the opening segment of the course and when the pack emerged it was a three runner battle with Salazar, Martinez, and Dana McGrath of Saddleback College. McGrath who hid within the field the entire race used her 2:13 800m speed to close 3 seconds faster than Salazar for the win. Salazar and Martinez would finish in second (19:30) and third (19:31). Freshman Valeria Gomez-Lozano ran much more aggressive and worked her way into fourth over the final mile (19:41) with Torres holding on for fifth (19;47). Nerina Campos who ran in the lead top 10 after the hill was able to hold position well for fifteenth overall and the final medal spot. Joanna Macias (20:57) and Mariah Changco (21:04) both finished inside the top 21. Running very close to Macias and Changco for nearly the entire race was freshman Faith Mora who placed 26th as the eighth Panther to cross the line.
Next up for the Panthers is the 2019 Coast Conference Championship at Toro Park on Wednesday, October 30th. The women's 3 mile race will be at 2:30pm followed by the men's 4 mile at 3:30pm.
