Hartnell Men Overcome Setbacks, Earn Strong 11th-Place Finish at State Meet

Heading into the 2025 3C2A State Cross Country Championship, the Hartnell College men knew they would have to overcome some adversity to place in the top 10 overall as a team. The team would be without 2025 Coast Conference Champion Julian Vargas, who had suffered a hamstring injury at the Northern California Championship, and would need to substitute in another runner for the championship. The team was able to place eleventh overall and just nine points away from the top 10.

Sophomore Alvaro Ruelas saved his best race of the season for his final cross country race as a Panther placing 24th overall in 20:52. That earned the North Monterey County graduate All-State recognition and moved him to fifteenth best at Woodward Park in Hartnell history. King City graduate Gabriel Clemente Altamirano moved up over 50 places from his freshman year to place 52nd in a personal best 21:20. That allowed Clemente to move to 37th fastest ever. Giancarlo Mendo set a Woodward Park best as well in 21:26, good 62nd overall. He was followed closely by Greenfield graduate Ivan Martinez-Galindo at 21:33 in 67th place and just one second from being in the top 50 in Hartnell history. Freshman Giovanni Ochoa will be called upon to lead the team in 2026 after placing 85th in his first state championship with a time of 21:44. Sophomore Leyder Hernandez competed at his first state meet in fine fashion running 21:58, a 25 second personal best compared to his Northern California Championship performance. Sophomore Aaron Eldredge made the most of his final opportunity and the last second call up to run with a time of 23:28.

The Panthers completed the season as Coast Conference Champions and third place Northern California team.