Crystal Springs Invitational - October 2, 2009

Heading into the Crystal Springs Invite hosted by College of San Mateo, the goal was to get familiar with the course that will serve as host for the Coast Conference and Norcal Championships in a few weeks and move a little closer to the teams ranked ahead of our Hartnell teams. What transpired after 2.95 miles of racing for the women and 4.195 miles for the men were greater results than what was expected.

The men faced an unusual situation running without the top runner in both Norcal and state, Daniel Tapia. Sophomores Manuel Esparza, Jesus Cabrera, and Alejandro Alcaraz stepped up in place of their star runner all placing in the top 20. Manuel Esparza (22:24) was 12th, Cabrera (22:34) at 15th, and Alcaraz (22:41) right behind in 19th. Freshman Rigo Vasquez helped out as well placing 23rd in 23:00. The top four Panthers all moved on to the school's all-time list for Crystal Springs and will have two more opportunities to produce faster times on the course. Robert Anderson was Hartnell's fifth runner at a conservative 25:48. Anderson is nursing a hip injury and will look to make more of an impact at the conference and regional championship. Despite running without Tapia, the top four placers for Hartnell helped the team to a fifth place team finish. Factoring in Tapia, the Panthers would have been close to catching the top two teams in Norcal, College of Seqouias and American River College.

Hartnell will host the Toro Park Invitational on Friday, October 9th at Toro Park. Norcal top seed College of Sequoias will travel from Visalia to take on the Panthers. The invitational will kick off with a free Fun Run at 3:00 followed by the women's race at 3:30pm and men's race at 4:15pm.