Hartnell Men Nearly Steal Norcal Title

The 2023 cross country season has not been all smooth sailing for the Hartnell College men's cross country team but on Friday, an almost near perfect team performance almost saw this year's squad win the Northern California title for the third year in a row. Despite having lost the Coast Conference title and only placing third at the regioanl preview meet back in September, this year's squad came within four points of the victory. It was a welcomed consolation to finish second overall and points to even a better performance at the 3C2A State Championship. 

Sophomore Moises Benito attempted to steal the overall title with a quick opening mile but it did not shake many of the main contenders. Benito would earn his second All-Region honors placing eighth overall in 22:20. Freshman Elijah Melchor put together a near perfect race to place tenth overall in his first year as a Panther and earn All-Norcal honors. He was timed in 22:22. Despite missing the conference championship, Mario Avila joined Benito as a rare two-time all-region recipient. Avila placed eleventh in 22:28. The next Panther to cross the line was Alexis Zacharias in 29th (23:17). Zacharias had never competed in cross country until this fall and has shown tremendous potential in just four races this fall. Juan Gonzalez placed 37th in 23:33 in his first regional championship. Kaimana Cantere crossed in 44th (23:52) and Axel Sanchez was 71st (25:08). 

The Panthers finished with 93 points just four points behind top ranked Clovis Community College who had 89 points and two points ahead of American River College at 95 points. The Panthers will compete next on Saturday, November 18th at the 3C2A State Championship at Woodward Park in Fresno, CA. The men's 4 mile championship race will be at 11:00am.