Mt. SAC Invitational Fruitful for Panthers

Heading into the 2023 Mt. SAC Invitational, the Hartnell College men's cross country team knew a good showing could begin to give them the momentum needed to defend their Coast Conference and Northern California titles. Running in the 75th edition of the historic meet, the Panthers were able to finish second to only host and the top team in the state Mt. SAC. Hartnell College was to upset several Southern California teams in the process as well. 

Sophomore Moises Benito ran an intelligent race moving up through the field over the last three miles. Benito used the famed hills of "Switchbacks", "Poop-Out", and "Reservoir Hills" to show he is rounding into championship form. He would be another of Hartnell's runner-up finishers joining most recently Isaac Gensel in 2021. Benito was just three seconds from the win in 21:11. Sophomore Mario Avila was a member of the 2021 team that won the Mt. SAC Invitational but as an individiual was outside the top 14. In his final run over the course, Mario would place eleventh overall in a personal best 21:55. Freshman Elijah Melchor placed 22nd in his first run at 22:10. Emiliano Ramirez (23:19) and Kaimana Cantere (23:25) finished the team scoring in 41st and 43rd place overall. Alexis Zacharias (23:39) and Ryan Willson (24:04) were a part of the top seven Panthers.

The Panthers will now look to defend their Coast Conference Championship. A ten year streak was broken in 2019 but the Panthers have won back to back championships in 2021 and 2022. 

Hartnell Mt. SAC Results

21:11 Moises Benito
21:55 Mario Avila
22:10 Elijah Melchor
23:19 Emiliano Ramirez 
23:23 Kaimana Cantere
23:39 Alexis Zacharias 
24:02 Ryan Willson
24:11 Carlos Hernandez 
24:15 Juan Gonzalez
24:19 Axel Sanchez
24:22 Gael Godinez
24:25 Jacob Dizon
24:35 Maximo Puga
24:44 Galen Okamoto
25:19 Josue Macias
25:22 Leonardo Diaz
25:37 Carlos Rangel
25:49 Arturo Melgoza
26:03 Carlos Espinoza
26:06 Matthew Santos
26:10 Marcus Serrano
26:57 Noe Torres
27:32 Hugo Jimenez
27:54 Richard Cimientos
30:16 Bernabe Munoz Maravilla