Panthers Return From Mt. SAC With Runner-Up Finish

The Panther men have enjoyed successful trips south to the Mt. SAC Invitational taking home several team runner-up finishes. This would be the same this year as they went head to head with top ranked host school Mt. SAC. The Panthers ran their second race without top gun Patrick Olson but have seen a surge from their third, fourth, and fifth scoring runners in the last few weeks. Even with formidable challenges in the hills aptly named "Switchbacks", "Poop-Out" and "Reservoir", the pack of three runners were able to finish within 16 seconds of each other as they prep for championship season.

Freshman Ricky Esqueda managed to finish in the top seven overall in his first run at Mt. SAC. He ran amongst the top five for over half the race before slipping back a few spots the final trip over "Switchbacks" and completing the course in 21:30. Sophomore Sergio Coronel took over 2:00 off his time from his freshman trip south placing 16th (21:55). The third, fourth, and fifth scoring Panthers were all sophomores who had experience on the course from last year. Christian Aldape (22:05) finished eigthteenth, Jonthan Saldana (22:11) in twentieth, and Jaime Garcia (22:21) ending the scoring in 25th. Adam Alnazer (23:04) and Jacob Niles (23:15) enjoyed solid outings on this difficult course to complete the top seven.

The Panthers head into the Coast Conference Championship having not lost the team title since 2009 and will be looking for an eighth consecutive team title. Also on the line is the overall individual title which has gone to a Panthers every year since 2013. The men's championship race is scheduled for 3:15pm on Friday, October 27th at Toro Park.