Hartnell Women Rebound in 2021 With Second Place Finish
After the disappoint of a fourth place finish in 2019 and then forced to be away from training and racing together a year, the Hartnell College women's cross country team rebounded with their third second place team finish at the CCCAA State Championship. With three runners back from 2019, three new freshman and one transfer student, the Panthers showed composure on the biggest stage with five runners setting personal bests in the final race of the season.
Freshman Sofia Camacho (18:48) placed eighth with former teammate Valeria Lozano-Gomez (18:50) in ninth to lead the Panther charge. Both earned All-American honors for their finishes. Lozano-Gomez joins Kathy Lenno, Malena Grover, and Daniela Salazar as repeat All-Americans. Freshman Andrea Villegas ran as high as tenth overall in the race but managed to earn All-State in twentieth place (19:24). Fellow freshman Ashley Ochoa (19:40) was twenty eigth overall in her first state cross country championship. CSUMB transfer Jazmin Mora subbed in for the final race the season and used it to place 41st in a lifetime Woodward Park personal best of 20:01. Faith Mora (20:41) and Mariah Changco (20:44) completed the team.
The Hartnell women placed second to winner Mt. SAC with 79 points. The team score was a new program record and second time below 100 points. The 2021 team joins the 2014 and 2018 teams as second place team finishers with Hartnell having placed in the top four in five of the last seven years.
