Grover Wins 1500 title, Samms Breaks Hammer record at Regionals

Sophomore Malena Grover remembers being left behind in the 1500 meter run over the final two laps as a freshman to place eighth at the Northern California Championship. A year later, she found herself leading the race for 1300 meters before falling behind into third place in the final stretch run. Maybe it was the memory of last year's race or the countless number of miles she ran in the year since, but Grover found another gear in the final 100 meters that rocketed her to the victory and the best mark in Hartnell College history. Her time of 4:35.47 bested runner-up Erica Ruiz of Santa Rosa JC at 4:36.25 and Mackayla Rennick of American River College at 4:37.47. Grover's time bested her previous school record of 4:38.85 by over 3 seconds and lead the trio to the top three marks in the state this season. The trio will tangle again in the CCCAA Championship final on Saturday, May 21 in San Diego. Grover also added a second regional runner-up finish and third medal of the championship with her 5000 meter mark of 17:46.32. This marks the six time Grover has run under the previous record of 18:04.0 held by Maria Trujillo in her two year Hartnell College career. Grover will run both the 1500 and 5000 meter runs at the state championship.

Hartnell College had three third place finishers in sophomore Dustin Samms, Nancy Rodriguez, Tori Teraji, Jorge Sanchez, and Norman Napolitano. Samms competed up to his ranking and improved his overall state ranking to third after he established a new Hartnell College record in the hammer throw. He became the first ever to toss the hammer over 180 feet with his 184-9. Nancy Rodriguez repeated her bronze medal in the 3000 meter steeplechase from last year as she faced the top two state ranked in the event. Her time was 12:04.34. She was followed by teammate in Adriana Jimenez in fourth (12:17.98). Teraji was third in the discus and advances to state after coming up short as freshman. Jorge Sanchez was third in both the 5000 meter run (15:23.48) and 10,000 meters (31:55.64). Freshman Norman Napolitano will split third place with his clearance of 14-4.

Fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers include Rhett Gonzalez in the 400 hurdles (54.83). Gonzalez also placed sixth in the 110 hurdles (14.92). Paul Koenig(55.34) and Stephanie Powers (66.18) also in the 400 hurdles. Alyssa Pochop picked up sixth place finishes in both the hammer throw (144-4) and javelin (112-8). Her toss in the hammer throw pushed the freshman from North Monterey County into the state championship. Javier Garcia (32:18.56) will also head south the championship with his fifth place in the 10,000 meters.

Andrew Martinez placed seventh in the 3000 meter steeplechase (10:07.46), men's 4x100 relay eighth (42.80), Nathan Bishop twelfth in the pole vault, Adriana Jimenez seventh in the 1500 meters (5:10.45), Nancy Rodriguez seventh in both the 5000 meters (19:16.89) and 10,000 meters (40:14.83).

As a team the men placed fourth overall out of 19 competing teams. The women placed eighth just 10 points out of the top five and among 22 competing team.

For full Norcal Regional Championship results:
https://www.directathletics.com/results/track/46076.html

The CCCAA Championship will be held over two days May 20-21 at San Diego Mesa College.