Panther Women Take Third at Norcal Championship

The 2024 Hartnell College women's cross country team managed a third place team finish at the Northern California Championship despite having to compete with one its top four runners in Yareli Meza. Despite a new line-up the women managed to come within one point of placing second. This marks the eighth time in the last nine years the womens' squad has placed in the top three at the regional championship. 

Sophomore Roselyn Olivo joined a pack of four at the half way mark that included Coast Conference runner-up Ericka Dorn, Big 8 conference champion Alejandra Magana-Ramirez, and Central Valley Conference champion and undefeated runner Rhiannon Walker of Clovis Community College. Also running inside the top 14 overall was freshman Janai Orozco and sophomore Jimena Hernandez-Tejeda. Olivo unfortunately would not run her characteristic strong middle porition of the race and would fall back to fourteenth  at the finish. Orozco managed to in the top 8 and would be rewarded with her effort with her first top finish for the Panthers in a Toro Park personal best 19:42. Olivo would cross next in fourteenth to earn her second all-region honors to go with her runner-up finish as a freshman. Hernandez-Tejeda just missed out on all-region finishing in eighteenth in 20:12, two spots ahead of last year's finish. Freshman Lucero Benigno-Ramos crossed in 45th in a season best 21:51. Cristal Baeza was 60th in 22:54 with Isabelle Rocha (23:06) 64th in her first regional championship. Karen Perez rounded out the seven in 24:38. The women tallied 117 points just one point behind American River College's 116. Clovis Community College was the winner with 50 points. 

The Panther women will have two weeks to prepare for the 2024 3C2A State Cross Country Championship at Woodward Park in Fresno.