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Freshmen Lead Panthers to Top 10 Finish The 2012 Panthers managed a 10th place showing out of 28 teams at the California Community College State Championship in Frenso.. They maintained their third place regional team finish lead by freshman Michael Ramirez in 43rd place (21:18). Two more Panther freshmen followed right behind in 44th and 45th as James Palaniuk (21:21) and Said Hernandez (21:22) kept pace with Ramirez. Eddie Guzman (21:39) and Michael Young (21:44) rounding out the scoring Panthers. Ramirez, Palaniuk, and Hernandez all produced top 20 all-time performances. Guillermo Cuevas (21:53) and Omar Vasquez (22:24) also competed. With five of the top seven returning, next fall could be the Panthers best shot at a top three finish at the state championship. For complete results from the State Championship:
http://www.directathletics.com/results/xc/3747.html Ramirez Leads Panthers to Third Place in Region Although the men's team fell just short of their regional goal this weekend in Belmont, they will advance to the California State Championship in Fresno on November 17th. The Northern California Championship meet was highlighted by some notable individual performances.  Freshman Michael Ramirez has steadily improved over the course of the season with the help of his teammates. Ramirez, who came into the season having never run cross country and only one season of track while at Salinas High School, raced his way to the top spot for the Panthers and earned his first All-Region honors for his 10th place finish in the field of 100 runners. Ramirez recorded a time of 21:53 for the 4.195 mile course at Crystal Springs making him the 25th best performer in Hartnell history. He was also the top Coast Conference performer after finishing just sixth last week. Also earning top 14 all-region honors were sophomore Eddie Guzman (21:58) at eleventh and Coast Conference Champion James Palaniuk (22:07) in thirteenth. Hartnell College was the only school other than American River College to place more than two runners on the All-Region Team. Also competing for the Panthers were Michael Young (22:29), Omar Vasquez (22:38), Guillermo Cuevas (22:38), and Said Hernandez (22:58).  As a team, the Panthers placed third behind top ranked American River College and #8 state ranked College of Sequoias. The third place trophy marks third year in a row Hartnell College has placed in the top three at the regional championship.  The men will compete against the best teams from Southern California in the State Championship to be held at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday, November 17. For full results from the Northern California Champoinships: http://www.directathletics.com/results/xc/3723.html P  Crystal Springs cross country course in Belmont. In an even more impressive streak, the overall winner remained a Hartnell runner for the eighth straight year as freshman transfer James Palaniuk took top honors in 21:59 for the 4.195 mile course. Palaniuk prepped at York High School where he was the CCS Division V Champion on the high school version of the course at Crystal Springs.  After Palaniuk, the Panthers demonstrated amazing depth placing eight other runners in the top 12, all earning All-Coast Conference honors. Sophomore Eddie Guzman took runner-up honors in 22:03 with Omar Vasquez fourth (22:05), Michael Ramirez sixth (22:07), Said Hernandez seventh (22:16), Guillermo Cuevas eighth (22:23), Michael Young tenth (22:29), Robert Valencia eleventh (22:33), and Andres Guerrero twelfth (22:36). All told, the Panthers placed 21 runners in the race of 63. As a team, Hartnell scored a very low 20 points to runner-up Las Positas College at 57 points and DeAnza College at 73 points. It was the fifteenth conference title in last 25 years and third in a row. Palaniuk, Vasquez, Ramirez, Hernandez, Young, Valencia, and Guerrero all return next year to look to extend the streak to four titles in a row.  For complete results: http://www.directathletics.com/results/xc/3722.html?athlete_hnd=3624413 The Hartnell College cross country team will compete at the Northern California Championship on Saturday, November 3rd also at Crystal Springs. Palaniuk and Panthers Storm Through A fall storm preceded the arrival of the Hartnell College cross country teams to the 65th Annual Mt. SAC Invitational in Walnut, CA. Just as quickly as the storm came and went, the Panthers ran over the legendary hills named "Switchbacks, Poop-Out, and Reservoir" to impressive team finishes in just their third appearance in school history at the historic cross country competition. In a rare appearance south of the Grapevine, the Panthers demonstrated that they can compete with the larger colleges in the metropolitan Los Angeles area.  Inspired by the women's team finish, the Panther men worked a large group of seven runners through the field and stunned the Southern California dominated field with a second place team finish. The men placed only behind #2 state ranked Cerritos College and edged out #5 San Bernadino Valley College along with Saddleback College and El Camino College to round out the top five teams. Freshman James Palaniuk lead the charge with his top 15 finish at 13th in 21:34. The pack of Panthers were not too far behind with Said Hernandez 16th (21:37), Robert Hernandez 17th (21:39), Omar Vasquez 20th (21:41) and Guillermo Cuevas 33rd (21:57). Also running well were Michael Ramirez 34th (21:59), Eddie Guzman 47th (22:19), Andres Guerrero 58th (22:29), and Michael Young 59th (22:29).  For complete results: http://events.mtsac.edu/ccinvite/results.htm#CommunityCollegeDivisionResults The Panthers will compete on Wednesday, October 24th at the Coast Conference Championships hosted by College of San Mateo at the Crystal Springs Cross Country Course. The men will look to defend their conference title while the women will aim to improve on last year's team runner-up performance. Panthers Victorious at Toro Park Invitational  On the men's side, three freshmen lead the Panther charge to victory by placing third, fifth, and sixth overall in the field of 89 runners. Robert Valencia (21:17) just narrowly missed taking second over and was followed by James Palaniuk (21:20) and Said Hernandez (21:23). The Panthers dominated on their home course placing seven runners in the top 15 overall. Also competing well were Michael Ramirez (21:29), Omar Vasquez (21:41), Andres Guerrero (21:49), Guillermo Cuevas (21:51) and Eddie Guzman (21:58). Valencia, Palaniuk, Hernandez, and Ramirez all moved on the top school's all-time performance list for the four mile course at Toro Park. The Panthers took the team victory with a score 29 points to the pesky team from Las Positas with 61 points. They were followed by Diablo Valley (80), DeAnza (95), San Joaquin Delta (142), Santa Rosa (151), West Hills (187) and the non-scoring San Jose City College team. Former Hartnell All-American Miguel Gallegos was the overall winner of the race at 20:53.  For complete results of the Toro Park Invitational http://www.directathletics.com/results/xc/3968.html The Panthers will travel south to the Mt. SAC Invitational on Friday, October 12th. It will be the first time the Panthers have competed at Mt. SAC since 2007. Panthers Improve at Crystal Springs Invite  With the Crystal Springs Invitational signaling the end of the first month of the cross country season, the Hartnell College Panthers raced with the goal of showing marked improvement toward Coast Conference and regional trophies in November. This year's Crystal Springs Invitational hosted by College of San Mateo served double duty as the preview meet for both the Coast Conference Championship as well as Northern California Regional. With ten women's and fourteen men's team in attendance, the meet exhibited the championship feel of a late season race. In both races, the Panthers scored team runner-up finishes behind the top ranked regional teams. Freshman James Palaniuk was a double Central Coast CIF Division 5 cross country champion while a prep at York High School. One of those titles came on the 2.95 mile version of the Crystal Springs course. It was of no surprise that Palaniuk found the longer 4.195 mile college version to his liking as he lead the Panthers to a second place team finish. Palaniuk crossed the line in thirteenth at 22:14 with teammate Robert Valencia following next at 22:17. The Panthers were the only other team outside of top ranked and event winner American River to place five runners in the top 27. Michael Ramirez (22:24) was 20th followed by Eddie Guzman (22:29) in 21st. Guillermo Cuevas rounded out the team score in 27th (22:37). Those five along with Omar Vasquez (22:41) moved on to the school's all-time list for Crystal Springs. The Panthers first five runners tallied 89 points to trail American River College's 29 points but upset Norcal #2 Fresno City College with 111 and #3 College of Sequoias at 92 points. Also competing well for the Panthers were Andres Guerrero (23:05), Daniel Vasquez (23:39), Luis Romero (23:49), and Geo Oseguera (24:00). Valencia Leads Panthers at Lou Vasquez The Panther men demonstrated excellent group at the Lou Vasquez Invitational at Golden Gate Park. The men placed eight runner within just a scant 35 seconds of each other. Frosh Robert Valencia (21:09) was the top placing man in eighteenth with sophomore Guillermo Cuevas (21:13) right behind one spot later. Cuevas bettered his All-Coast Conference mark from last October's run at Golden Gate Park by 17 seconds. Freshmen Said Hernandez (21:20-23rd), James Palaniuk (21:28-28th), Omar Vasquez (21:33-30th) rounded out the team scoring for the men. The Panthers placed tied for third with Fresno City College based off the first five runners combined time but bested the Rams by 12 points under normal scoring. Top ranked American River College was upset by Southern California #1 Cerritos College. Also running well for the Panthers were Andres Guerrero (21:39), Eddie Guzman (21:42), Michael Ramirez (21:44) and Omar Pelayo (22:05). In total, 20 men toed the line for the Panthers with 19 running season bests for four miles.
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