Panther Women Win First Meet of 2021
In 2019, the Hartnell College women's cross country team dominated their competition nearly all season culminating in a Northern California title and fourth place finish at the CCCAA State Championship. With three returning members of that squad and strong newcomers, the Panthers showed early at the goals will look to continue their string of excellence in 2021. Competing at the Tour de Cuesta for the first time since 2018, the Panther women easily took home the team title tallying just 22 points. The women placed five runners in the top eight and all scoring seven in the top 12 overall.
Sophomore Valeria Gomez-Lozano won her first cross race ever by reeling early race leader Dulce Esquivel from host school Cuesta College and stopping the clock at 20:30. Gomez-Lozano added 26 seconds to her advantage over the last 1000 meters of the course that climbs a challenging switchback to the finish line. Frosh Karla Herrera, a graduate from Marina High School, enjoyed the best outing of her cross country career moving up steadily and crossing the line in second place just 16 seconds behind her teammate. Fellow first year Panther Sofia Camacho also competed well staying within the top four the entire 5k course and finishing in 21:18. CSU Monterey Bay transfer Jazmin Mora showed what she learned from a year of competing against four year athletes by placing seventh in 21:39. Andrea Villegas jumped into the race after a summer of working and managed a respectable eighth place. Faith Mora and Mariah Changco placed eleventh and tweflth overall to complete the top seven. Freshman Ashley Ochoa just missed out on top 14 medal but was seventeenth in her first collegiate race.
The Panther women will compete next at the Norcal Preview Meet hosted by Sierra College on Friday, September 10th. The women are coming off a repeat regional title in 2019 and a victory in 2021 would make them just the second team ever in regional history to win three team titles in a row. Valeria Gomez-Lozano will go head-to-head with other top individuals and see if she will add her name to a short list of potential Norcal individual contenders.
