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Alcala Nips Record At State Championships

Sophomore Victoria Alcala has improved leaps and bounds in just a year's time since her arrival from Everett Alvarez High School. The true measure of this improvement came as she eclipsed the Hartnell College women's individual course record at the state championship in Fresno. In 1996, then sophomore, Alyssa Flores set the course record at 19:03 for the 3.1 mile course at Woodward Park. Alcala would shave a full second off the record running 19:02 to crack the top 20 overall out of 207 females. Her time was over two minutes faster and over 110 places better than her freshman season. Her performance also jumped Alcala from seventh individual at the Northern California Regional to the third best performance for north region females.

Also exhibiting substantial improvement in just one year was sophomore Amy Johnston. Johnton's time of 19:14 was good enough for 29th place and ties her for the third best performer all-time at Woodward Park. She also improved over two minutes from last year's state meet and placed over 120 spots higher. As a team, the Lady Panther were able to sneak into the top 10 teams placing ninth in the field of twenty eight. The ladies also moved up from fourth at the regional meet to second regional team at the state championship. Rosita Uriostegui (20:08), Sofia Martinez (20:44), and Lupita Zaragoza (22:22) rounded out the scoring runners with Victoria Carranza (22:41) and Liza Carrasco (22:55) also competing.

For complete results from the State Championship:
http://www.directathletics.com/results/xc/3747.html

Johnston and Alcala First Team All-Region

Although the women'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.

Sophomores Amy Johnston and Victoria Alcala placed outside the top 14 in this championship last year as freshmen, but in this year's edition both jumped into the top seven overall. Amy Johnton's fifth fastest all-time mark of 18:41 was good enough to earn the former Notre Dame Spirt fifth place overall in the field 86 runners. Teammate Alcala took the seventh place spot in 18:51. Rosita Uriostegui (19:35), Sofia Martinez (20:42), and Victoria Carranza (22:20) rounded out the scoring five. The Lady Panthers placed fourth as a team behind Coast Conference Champion DeAnza College, American River College, and Modesto Junior College.

Both teams 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

Women Take Runner-up at Coast Championships

Sophomores Victoria Alcala and Amy Johnston picked the right day to run personal bests on the Crystal Springs course despite just a small field of 37 female runners. Both Alcala and Johnston upset Oddyssey Tapia of DeAnza College, who had beaten the pair in the previous three meetings, to place second and third overall. Alcala clocked 18:40 to lower her time on the course by a significant 28 seconds followed by Johnston at 18:50, a 13 second improvement. They now are the fourth and eighth best performers in school history on the landmark cross country course.

Sophomores Rosita Uriostegui (19:29) in eighth and Sofia Martinez (20:37) in fourteenth earned all-conference honors for the second year in a row to join Alcala and Johnston in this year's group. Victoria Carranza (21:46), Lupita Zaragoza (22:13), Liza Carrasco (22:59), Victoria Mandujano (23:52), and Abigail Molina (24:41) rounded out the competing Hartnell ladies. As a team, the Lady Panthers placed an expected second to top Norcal and state ranked DeAnza College. DeAnza was victorious for the second year with 24 points to Hartnell's 37 points.

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.

Sophomores Lead at Mt. SAC Invitational

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 metropolitan colleges in the Los Angeles area.

The sophomores were the story for the Lady Panthers as Victoria Alcala, Amy Johnston, and Rosita Uriostegui lead the women to a fourth place team finish behind just Cerritos College, Moorpark College, and host Mt. SAC in the field of 23 teams. Alcala moved steadily up through the field to place a very impressive second overall in 18:39, by far her best effort of the season. Not too far behind Amy Johnston finished fifth overall also dipping under the 19:00 mark with her 18:47. Uriostegui placed 27th overall in the field of 200 with a lifetime best 19:27. Also competing well were Sofia Martinez (20:25), Haley Land (21:28), Victoria Carranza (21:48), Lupita Zaragoza (22:19), Victoria Mandujano (23:13), and Liza Carrasco (23:17).

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 Ladies Take Second at Home

On Friday, the men's and women's cross country enjoyed a rare home competition while competing just down the road from the college at Toro Park. This year's Toro Park Invitational attracted several of the top Coast Conference programs as well as some visitors from the Big 8 Conference.

With the championships looming near, competing at home gave the Lady Panthers a chance to run with extra confidence and it showed with three ladies placing in the top five and narrowing the gap to the top ranked team. Sophomores Victoria Alcala placed third (19:14), Amy Johnston fourth (19:24) and Rosita Uriostegui fifth (19:49). Alcala produced the third best time in school history on the Tor Park three mile layout with Johnston now tied in the fourth position. Also competing well was Haley Land (21:15) and Sofia Martinez (21:33). Although the Lady Panthers did not beat the Lady Dons, they inched just a little closer with the final weeks of the season coming. The Dons were victorious with 28 points to Hartnell's 42 points.

For complete results of the Toro Park Invitational
http://www.directathletics.com/results/xc/3968.html

The Panthers were travel south to the Mt. SAC Invitational for the first time in over five years. They will compete on Friday, October 12th.

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.

In the women's race, sophomores Amy Johnston and Victoria Alcala produced two of the best early season marks in school history on the historic Crystal Springs course. Johnston placed sixth overall (19:03) with Alcala right behind in seventh (19:08) out of 100 women. Their marks make the duo the eighth and ninth best performers in school history. Also racing well were Rosita Uriostegui (19:56), Sofia Martinez (20:16), and Haley Land (20:42). The team's combined time of 99:05 for the first five women to finish was in fact faster than last year's Norcal runner-up squad. The women placed second with 68 points behind Norcal top ranked DeAnza College's 32 points. American River College was third at 75 points and Modesto with 91 points to round out the top five teams. Other lady Panthers who competed were Lupita Zaragoza (22:29), Victoria Carranza (22:47), and Victoria Mandujano (23:27).

For complete results: http://www.directathletics.com/results/xc/3721.html

The Panthers will compete on their home course at Toro Park on Friday, October 5th in the annual Toro Park Invitational. The three mile collegiate women's race will start at 3:30pm with the men's collegiate four mile at 4:15pm. Teams currently scheduled to compete are DeAnza College, Las Positas College, College of San Mateo, San Jose City College, College of Sequoias, Santa Rosa College, Diablo Valley College, and West Hills College.

Alcala Bests School Record in San Francisco

In eleven years, the Hartnell women's course record for the 5k layout at Golden Gate Park has gradually become faster with each passing season. In 2009, the record was bested by Ellie Herrera and then again in 2010 by Mayra Garcia. Last season, it got a scare from Zaira Guzman coming with seconds of besting the 19:35 time. It was anticipated that this year's race edition would finally produce another lowering of the mark. Sophomore Victoria Alcala lead the Lady Panthers for the third consecutive week besting the former time by 15 seconds lowering it to 19:20. Her time placed her seventh overall in the race. Not only did Alcala best the previous mark but so did sophomore Amy Johnston, enjoying her best season of running so far, with her 19:26 personal best good for tenth overall. The duo now stand alone as the two fastest Panther ladies to ever run at Golden Gate Park. Sophomors Rosita Uriostegui (20:06-21st) and Sofia Martinez (20:43-32nd) along with frosh Haley Land(20:56-36th) rounded out the Panthers team scorers. The ladies placed third overall behind #4 state ranked Cerritos College and Norcal top ranked DeAnza College.

For complete results: http://www.directathletics.com/results/xc/4073.html

Next week,the Panthers will travel north to Belmont for the College of San Mateo Crystal Spring Invitational on Friday, September 28th. This meet will serve as both the Coast Conference and Northern California regional preview meet.

Sophomores Lead Lady Panthers

Sophomores Victoria Alcala and Amy Johnston gapped the field early in the three mile race to score a 1-2 finish. Alcala took the individual victory with a time of 19:33 followed by Johnston in 20:07. Sophomore Rosita Uriostegui placed sixth, freshman Haley Land eleventh, and sophomore Sofia Martinez twentieth to round out the scoring five. The Lady Panthers scored 40 points to take the team title over last year's Big 8 conference champion team Modesto Junior College.

Complete Women's Results Here:
http://www.fordtiming.com/Results/2012/DVC1/WOMENOVERALL.HTM

The Panthers will have a short week heading into the Lou Vasquez Invitational at Golden Gate Park on Thursday, September 20th.

Monterey Herald College Athlete of the Week

Sophomore Victoria Alcala (Everett Alvarez HS) named Monterey Herald College Athlete of the Week for her individual performance at the Fresno Invitational on Saturday, September 8th. Alcala placed 9th overall and was the 3rd Northern California female out of 155 runners. Alcala's finishing time of 19:31 ties her for the fourth best performance in school history on the 5k course at Woodward Park. Her performance helped the Hartnell Lady Panthers place fifth out of seventeen teams. Victoria is majoring in Psychology and has already been contacted by Southern Oregon University and Cal State University Los Angeles prior to the start of her second season in cross country and track&field.

Hartnell Cross Country Record a Fifth Place Finish in Fresno

Over the last two years, the men's and women's cross country teams have established themselves as one of the best combined programs in Northern California. The men have enjoyed back to back regional runner-up finishes with the women bettering them with a regional title in 2010 and runner-up in 2011. With the start of the 2012 season, the Panthers have their eyes set on placing no lower than second again this season. The Fresno Invitational served as this year's debut and both teams recorded identical team finishes placing fifth overall.

For the ladies, sophomore Victoria Alcala picked up where she left off this past spring which saw her win three Coast Conference track titles and earn a trip to the state championship. Alcala ran amongst the leaders the entire 5k in Fresno earning a ninth place overall finish with a time of 19:31. The former Everett Alvarez Eagle jumped way up on the Hartnell all-time list moving into a tie for the fourth best mark ever and within sight of the 19:03 school record set by Alyssa Flores in 2006. Sophomore Amy Johnston made a name for herself moving from 66th place in 2011 all the way up to 13th this year. Her time of 19:46 moves her into a tie for the ninth best mark ever. The Lady Panthers upset #3 state ranked Mt. SAC but finished behind top ranked Glendale, second ranked Orange Coast, sixth ranked Moorpark, and defending Norcal champion DeAnza College. With Alcala and Johnston up front, the Lady Panthers have a very lethal duo at the regional level. Also running for the ladies were Rosita Uriostegui (20:13), Victoria Carranza (21:16), Sofia Martinez (21:40), Haley Land (21:57), Victoria Mandujano (23:36), Lupita Zaragoza (23:44), Liza Carrasco (23:54), and Abigail Molina (25:44).

Complete results can be found here: http://www.proracegroup.com/xcresults12.html

The Panthers will head to the George Brooks Memorial Cross Country Invitational hosted by Diablo Valley College on Friday, September 14th. The meet serves the Big 8 Conference preview meet and is new for the regional calendar this year.