Blaha and Grover Lead Panthers at MPC Open

The MPC Open saw freshmen Taylor Blaha show her athletic talents with fellow frosh Malena Gover achieving the first state automatic qualifying mark for the Lady Panthers. The meet was attended by host MPC, Hartnell, Diablo Valley College, City College of San Francisco, DeAnza College, and Fresno City College.

Blaha, who prepped at North Monterey County High School, was a double event winner in both the long jump (16'5") and triple jump (33'0") with marks meeting the provisional qualifying distance for the regional championship. She also competed in the 100 hurdles (17.71) and ran the 4x100 relay. Grover dipped under the state qualifying mark of 18:32.60 in the 5000 meters her winning time of 18:27.59. Grover also placed second in the 800 meters in 2:28.14. Linda Delgado was a winner in the 200 meters (26.80) with fellow former NMC HS Condor Tori Teraji taking top honors in the discus with a toss of 125'9". Others who achieved regional qualifying marks were Brandi Hobson(19:09.03), Rachel Shimabukuro (19:36.52), Cynthia Tovar (20:08.74), and Maritza Ruelas (20:12.39) in the 5000 meters. Kim Gilmour (31'11.50) joined her teammates Eva Joachin and Tori Teraji with a shot put mark for regionals.

Sophomore Quentin Minor joined fellow sophomore Diego Leon as an event winner. Minor won the 200 meters in 22.20 and also ran 11.12 in the 100 meters. Leon easily won the 800 meters (1:57.64) and 5000 meters (15:21.50). Nathan Bishop soared higher than all others in the pole vault (12'11"). Chase Pacheco placed second in the 100 meters (11.05). Rene Siqueiros got qualifying marks in the 1500 meters (4:09.55) and 5000 meters (15:40.55) as did Justin Carrancho (15:44.03) and Javier Garcia (16:07.47).

For full MPC Open results:
http://www.directathletics.com/results/track/37673.html