Men Claw Their Way to Fourth at Brubaker
The Panther men have struggled in 2019 to find their championship identity. After a fifth place team finish at last week's Norcal Preview Meet, the team was in dire need to make a positive turn in the season. The Brubaker Invitational at Irvine Regional Park allowed for just that. The men placed a solid fourth overall facing three top 10 teams from Southern California in Mt. SAC, Riverside College, and San Bernadino Valley College. The Panthers finished just 9 points and a few places inside the top 40 within beating SBVCC for the first time. The team tallied 114 points to 105 for SBVCC. The Panthers actually had their sixth and seventh runners finish in front the SBVCC sixth and seventh showing the growing strength of the top 7.
Sophomore Jesus Avalos also found himself in an uncharacteristic position last week placing only 13th overall after winning the Beat the Heat and Chabot Invitationals. After a solid week of training, Avalos regained his form to work his way into the top five overall in a battle with Ian Rusk of Fullerton College for a top 4 spot. Avalos would join just four other runners to complete the course in under 21 minutes as he stopped the clock at 20:58. Juan Gutierrez III followed Avalos much of the race and performed much better this week. He was 22nd overall in 21:36. Frosh Isaac Gensel fought off illness to still finish inside the top 25 and finish just 3 seconds behind Gutierrez in 21:39. Fellow first year Panthers Rigo Garcia in 21:46 and Frankie Maciel in 21:48. Jiovanni Garcia (21:52) and Joseph Loredo (21:59) closed out the top 7 with all in the top 42.
The Panthers will look to win a tenth consecutive Coast Conference title on Wednesday, October 30th at Toro Park. The men have also had six consecutive individual champions and will look to extend that streak to seven years. The men's 4 mile race will be at 3:30pm.
