Hartnell men and women's blaze to wins at Tour de Cuesta
Panther Men Victorious at Tour de Cuesta
SAN LUIS OBISPO - The Hartnell College men's cross country team has patiently waited 20 months to return to normal competition. With the opportunity to kick off the return to competition at the Tour de Cuesta in San Luis Obispo last Friday, the men's team took advantage and won the team title with just 23 points to easily outdistance the other competing schools host Cuesta College, Saddleback College, and Allan Hancock College.
Leading the men were sophomores Isaac Gensel and Francisco Maciel along with freshman Esteban Deniz. The trio lead a pack of nearly eleven Panthers through half the race which essentially sealed up the team victory at that point. Gensel would make one final push for the overall win but come up three seconds short in 22:30. Deniz would place third in 22:43 and Maciel one second behind in fourth at 22:44. Freshman Eli Ainsworth ran amongst the leaders the entire race and was rewarded with a sixth-place finish in 22:57 in his collegiate debut. Fellow freshman Jose Velazquez rounded out the scoring five in eighth place at 23:13. The Panther pack continued with Miguel Leon-Fernandez at the same time in ninth place, also in his first collegiate cross country race since his entire first-year competition was suspended. Freshman Joshua Riley completed the top seven in tenth place at 23:38. The Panthers continued to stream across the line adding six more in the top 17.
The Panthers will compete next at Norcal Preview Meet hosted by Sierra College on Friday, September 10th. This will be the first time the Panthers see traditional cross country foes American River College and College of the Sequoias. The Panthers are returning to competition after placing fourth in Northern California and seventh at the CCCAA State Championship in 2019.
Panther Women Win First Meet of 2021
SAN LUIS OBISPO - In 2019, the Hartnell College women's cross country team dominated their competition nearly all season culminating in a Northern California title and fourth-place finish at the CCCAA State Championship. With three returning members of that squad and strong newcomers, the Panthers showed early at the goals will look to continue their string of excellence in 2021. Competing at the Tour de Cuesta last Friday for the first time since 2018, the Panther women easily took home the team title tallying just 22 points. The women placed five runners in the top eight and all scoring seven in the top 12 overall.
Sophomore Valeria Gomez-Lozano won her first cross race ever by reeling early race leader Dulce Esquivel from host school Cuesta College and stopping the clock at 20:30. Gomez-Lozano added 26 seconds to her advantage over the last 1000 meters of the course that climbs a challenging switchback to the finish line. Frosh Karla Herrera, a graduate from Marina High School, enjoyed the best outing of her cross country career moving up steadily and crossing the line in second place just 16 seconds behind her teammate. Fellow first year Panther Sofia Camacho also competed well staying within the top four for the entire 5k course and finishing in 21:18. CSU Monterey Bay transfer Jazmin Mora showed what she learned from a year of competing against four year athletes by placing seventh in 21:39. Andrea Villegas jumped into the race after a summer of working and managed a respectable eighth place. Faith Mora and Mariah Changco placed eleventh and tweflth overall to complete the top seven. Freshman Ashley Ochoa just missed out on top 14 medal but was seventeenth in her first collegiate race.
The Panther women will compete next at the Norcal Preview Meet hosted by Sierra College on Friday, September 10th. The women are coming off a repeat regional title in 2019 and a victory in 2021 would make them just the second team ever in regional history to win three team titles in a row. Valeria Gomez-Lozano will go head-to-head with other top individuals and see if she will add her name to a short list of potential Norcal individual contenders.
(Hartnell College Athletics)