Panthers Hot at Beat the Heat Invite

Panthers Hot at Beat the Heat Invite
September 1, 2015

The Hartnell College cross country teams kicked off the 2015 season by traveling north to Eureka for the Beat the Heat Invitational hosted by College of the Redwoods. As part of the trip, the Panthers also were able to run amongst the land of the tall trees for an extra day in preparation for the coming meets this month. Both squads picked up where they left off with team and overall individual champion victories.

Sophomore Malena Grover, formerly of Salinas High School, broke the course record for the 5k layout on the campus of College of the Redwoods by 46 seconds in 19:12. Grover, a 2014 All-American, is looking to build on her outstanding first year at Hartnell that saw her win the Coast Conference champion. After a finisher from Santa Rosa JC in second, the Lady Panthers occupied the next eight spots while separated by only 38 seconds with Lizzy Garcia, Nancy Rodriguez, Maria Rodriguez, Yessika Mayo, Cynthia Tovar, Yvette Felix, Carly Zako, and Adriana Jimenez all placing in the top 10. The Lady Panthers scored an almost near perfect 18 points to win the team title. In the 2014, the Lady Panthers placed fourth at the State Championship and are aiming for a top three finish in 2015.

Despite running with out two of the top runners on the team, the men were able to easily win the four mile team competition. Sophomore Javier Garcia was the individual winner at 22:00. He was followed by scoring Panthers Angel Mejia in fourth (22:07), Rene Siqueiros in sixth (22:17), Jorge Sanchez in seventh (22:19), and Mario Perez in ninth (22:37). The Panthers scored 27 points to easily outdistance second place Butte College at 54 points and and Coast Conference rival DeAnza College in third with 78 points. The Panthers are the defending Coast Conference team champions and second place regional team.

Hartnell College will host the Norcal PRE-Preview Meet this coming Friday at Toro Park with the women's 3 mile race at 3:30pm, men's freshmen 4 mile at 4:00pm, and men's sophomore 4 mile at 4:30pm.