Panther Men Victory Shows Improvement at Lou Vasquez
The annual September trip to Golden Gate Park for the Lou Vasquez Invitational proved to be fruitfall for the Lady Panthers as six women placed inside the top eleven overall. The ladies easily outdistanced potential regional foes College of Sequoias (60) and American River College (69) with their low score 29 points. The Panther men enjoyed much of the same success putting seven runners in the top 14 overall for community college runners and nearly matched the ladies point total with their own winning 32 points. American River College was second with 74 points followed by Diablo Valley College with 101 points.
The duo of freshmen Patrick Olson and Ricky Esqueda are quickly becoming two of the quickest developing top pairs in the state. They finished only one second a part at the Fresno Invitational on September 9th. Last week in Livermore, Olson traded placed and finished first overall with Esqueda second six seconds back. At San Francisco, Olson would notch his second individual victory after Esqueda made his own bid for victory with a half mile remaining. Olson would complete the four mile course in 20:38 followed by Esqueda in 20:42. Olson moves to eighth best all-time with Esqueda now in twelfth. A top three sweep nearly materialized with sophomore Sergio Coronel coming up for fourth overall in the final quarter mile. Coronel recorded a time of 20:49 with only D'vyd Lawson (20:44) of College of Sequoias preventing a sweep. Coronel joins the top 15 all-time performers for the Panthers at thirteenth. Christian Aldape (21:24) and Alfredo Mejia, Jr. (21:25) eleventh and twelfth in the team scoring to complete the Panthers total of 32 points. For added insurance they were followed in succession by sophomores Jonathan Saldana (21:32) and Jaime Garcia (21:34). Freshman Jacob Niles (21:43), sophomore Adam Alnazer (21:55) and Luis Perez (21:55) also enjoyed sub 22:00 clockings for the first time this season.
The Lady Panthers continue to be lead by a strong dual threat in freshman Arlene Diaz Leal and sophomore Yvette Tavarez. Last week in Livermore, it was Tavarez who lead the pair across the finish line only to see Diaz Leal take her turn this week. Diaz Leal would take third overall in 19:45 with Tavarez in a close sixth at 19:48. Their marks make the pair the twelfth and fourteenth best ladies at Golden Gate Park in sixteen years of competition there. Sandwiched in between the pair were regional threats Jewel Jasso of College of the Sequoias and Mariah Smither of College of the Redwoods. The race was won by Alyssa Block of College of the Sequoias in 18:06. The Lady Panthers would dominate the remaining top 10 places with Leslie Oseguera (20:10), Maria Aceves (20:12) and Olivia Jimenez (20:18) completing the team scoring. The socring five would all cross the line within 33 seconds with a sixth just 42 seconds from Diaz Leal. Sophomore Jocelyn Cervantes continued to improve narrowly missing the top 10 with her 20:27 over the 5k course at Golden Gate Park. Cervantes would place eleventh and freshman Monica Ruelas (21:10) in twentieth completed the placing seven. Coincidently, Oseguera, Aceves, and Jimenez all ran faster or comparative marks to the 3-5 runners that last year's state runner-up team from College of Sequoias team recorded in this meet. Elizabeth Hernandez (21:24) Tanya Campos (21:59), Christina Shimabukuro (22:20), Nina Arias (22:29), Alessandra Filtti (22:43) and Veronica Aguilar all recorded season best marks. Freshman Lauryn Orozco, the third scoring lady at the Fresno Invitational, bypassed this competition in preparation for the Northern California Preview Meet at Toro Park in two weeks.
Dyestatcal Runnerspace Interviews:
Lou Vasquez Men's Team Champion Interview-Hartnell College
Lou Vasquez Women's Team Champion Interview-Hartnell College
The Panthers will enjoy a bye week in preparation to host the Toro Park Invitational which will serve as the Northern California Championship Preview Meet. The meet will be held on Friday, October 6th at Toro Park.
