Cross Country Student-Athletes Make Academic Honors Lists

In addition to getting the job done over hill and dale, the cross country men also performed well in the classroom. All told, six student-athletes earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher during the season. Making the President's List for a GPA of 3.5 of higher was Alejandro Alcaraz. Alcaraz earned all-conference honors this past fall in addition to setting personal bests over all the courses competed on.

Cesar Alvarez, Robert Anderson, Edgar Hernandez, Eric Yepez all were named to the Dean's List for earning a GPA over 3.0.

Community College State Championships - November 21, 2009

Last year, Hartnell sophomore Daniel Tapia was the second best cross country runner in the state. The memory and sting of that second place finish can now be replaced with the memories and joy of knowing that a year's worth of hard work produced the school's first ever individual state champion. On a beautiful day for running in Fresno, the former North Monterey County Condor made the most of his second attempt at a title. In a race that mirrored last year's edition, Tapia fought off a series of challenges by the Southern California champion Dahir Mohammed of Southwestern College. Mohammed answered a surge by Tapia just pass the two mile mark with an assertion of his own on the most challenging hill of the course. It was at this hill last year that Muluken Beressa of San Diego Mesa separated himself from Tapia before pushing the Panther to runner-up honors. But this year Tapia was ready and answered. With one mile to go, Tapia gained the precious few meters on his competition knowing he could win. Daniel Tapia would stop the clock at 20:05 producing the fifth fastest time ever run on the course, in the process lowering his own Hartnell record by 11 seconds. Mohammed would actually lose three spots as three runners would catch him over the final mile. Sophomore Jesus Cabrera made up for his absence at the Norcal championship taking 21st in the state with a time of 20:54. That time makes the former North Salinas Viking the sixth best performer at Woodward Park behind current teammate Tapia and Hartnell legends Enrique Lopez, Brian Wilkinson, Beau Rogers, and Steve Moreno. Cabrera was the seventh highest Norcal performer in the state championship. Rigo Vasquez (21:38), Alejandro Alcaraz (21:56), Robert Anderson (22:16), Eric Yepez (22:43), and Edgar Hernandez (25:51) rounded out the ninth place team. Hartnell placed fourth amongst Norcal competition after finishing just eighth at the regional meet.

Next up for Daniel Tapia is the 2010 USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston, Texas. To be held January 17th, the half marathon championships brings together the country's best long distance runners.

Northern California Championship - November 7, 2009

Sophomore Daniel Tapia is just one more race away from becoming the greatest distance runner Hartnell College has ever seen. Already a two time Coast Conference champion in cross country, double state champion in track at 5,000 and 10,000 meters, school record holder in the same events, last year's Norcal cross country champion, and the state runner-up in 2008, Tapia came one step closer by winning his second Northern California title. Tapia, a former North Monterey County Condor, eased away from the field just before the three mile mark. In winning the race in a time of 20:49, Tapia broke a 13 year old school record at Crystal Springs held by Steve Moreno. Moreno went on to UC Berkeley fame and competed in the US Olympic Marathon Trials. With similar aspirations, Tapia has one more race he has yet to win. On November 21 at Woodward Park in Fresno, he will look to become Hartnell's first ever state champion in cross country. Already the school record holder at Woodward Park, his time of 20:16 in 2008 was only good for runner-up honors. Tapia will look to improve on that finish and potentially become only the third athlete to ever dip under the 20 minute mark on the four mile course.

Unfortunately Hartnell's team title hopes were dashed over the final weeks leading into the Norcal meet. Manuel Esparza and Jesus Cabrera, two of the top individuals in the region, were lost indefinitely. As a team, Hartnell would place an unusually low eighth but still manage to place as the top Coast Conference team and advance to the state championships on the fine running of Rigo Vasquez, Alejandro Alcaraz, Robert Anderson, and Eric Yepez. Vasquez (22:04) was 19th, Alcaraz (22:27) in 28th, Anderson (23:08) at 55th, and Yepez in 95th. Vasquez, Alcaraz, and Anderson all put up school all-time performances on the tough course at Crystal Springs. Edgar Hernandez (26:04) and Cesar Alvarez (31:36) finished off the team scoring for the Panthers. Figuring in previous performances this season on the Crystal Springs course by Cabrera and Esparza, the Panthers would have had a legitimate chance to knock off repeat champion City College of San Francisco.


The 2010 Norcal Championships will be held on the Panthers home course at Toro Park and provide a chance to win men's and women's trophies just a few miles from the Hartnell College campus.

Coast Conference Championships - October 28, 2009

Heading into the 2009 Coast Conference championship meet, the men's cross country team was a heavy underdog and would need a bit of luck to bring home a title to Salinas.The team would be running with an injured Manuel Esparza, one of the top individuals in Norcal, in hopes the sophomore could catch a break and manage to place high enough for the team to take the title.

Cross country is a team scoring sport with a team's first five placing runners determining the outcome. Hartnell learned how important this fact is in the men's race. Just three weeks ago before a devastating case of shin splints, Manuel Esparza produced one of the school's best individual marks at Crystal Springs with a time of 22:24. Had Esparza been able to reproduce that mark yesterday the Panthers would have taken home the team title. The debilitating shin splints forced the sophomore to stop running all together and go strictly to a regimen of cross training and injury rehabilitation for three leading into the race. As a result, Esparza did make an attempt to run but was unable to finish the race.

Daniel Tapia, the top runner in the state, held back early in attempt to help sophomore Jesus Cabrera potentially improve his individual placing. With a move at three miles, Tapia took control of the race and sped his way to his second Coast Conference title in 21:28 for the challenging 4.195 mile course. Cabrera, who was as far back as seventh with 1000 meters to go, would put in a charge to move up and held third place as late as 50 meters from the finish. The sophomore could not hold off two hard charging athletes from City College of San Francisco and placed fifth overall in a new personal best 21:57. Freshman Rigo Vasquez, who at one time was in the lead of the race, placed sixth (22:07) with teammate Alejandro Alcaraz (22:29) in eighth. Following Alcaraz it was apparent how painful Esparza's inability to run was as Hartnell would have to wait til Eric Yepez (24:05) would cross the line in 26th to finish the team scoring. Depsite Yepez's personal best by two minutes, the 15 individual placings between he and CCSF's fifth man was all the difference fo the title. Hartnell had placed four runners in front of team winner City College of San Francisco had their fourth runner in but CCSF would finish their team score with a runner at tenth overall. Despite the bittersweet rewards of having four runners get All-Conference and every placing runner set a personal best for the course could not offset the sting of knowing what could have been with a healthy Manuel Esparza.

Currently ranked fifth in Norcal, the Hartnell men will look to improve on that ranking on Novemer 7th at the regional championships. Sophomore Daniel Tapia will look to become the school's first ever repeat Norcal individual champion.

Santa Clara Bronco Invitational - October 17, 2009

The Hartnell cross country teams competed for the first time at the Santa Clara University Bronco Invitational held at Baylands Regional Park in Sunnyvale. Traditionally a four year university/college meet, the Bronco Invitational has slowly been gaining popularity with community college programs with Hartnell in attendance this year to take advantage of the strong competition

The men tackled an unfamiliar distance of 8k, approximately 5 miles, over the trails at Baylands Park. Sophomore Daniel Tapia was the only Panther allowed to compete in the highly competitve invitational 8k run. Tapia made the most of the experience placing a respectable ninth overall in 24:48 just 16 seconds from the win. Much of the race Tapia ran amongst the lead pack. The invitational race featured teams from not only California but from Idaho, New Mexico, and South Dakota.

The remaining Panthers toed the line in the Open 8k run. Hartnell's own Jesus Cabrera lead most of the race before being relegated to solid third place finish. Cabrera stopped the clock at 26:33. Rigo Vasquez (27:15), Alejandro Alcaraz (28:04), Robert Anderson (29:02), and Eric Yepez (29:44) completed the scoring team for Hartnell which tied for the win with Sacremento City College.

The Hartnell teams will enjoy a much needed bye week as they prep for the 2009 Coast Conference Championships on Wednesday, October 28th at Crystal Springs in Belmont.

Toro Park Invitational - October 9, 2009

With just West Valley College, West Hills College, and the women of College of Sequoias in attendance, the Hartnell cross country teams enjoyed a fruitful homecoming as both squads were victorious and posted some solid marks at Toro Park.

Coming off his stellar 1:07:12 half marathon in San Jose last weekend, Daniel Tapia relegated himself to pacemaker for his teammates. Tapia helped sophomore Jesus Cabrera and freshman Rigoberto Vasquez to a top three sweep. Tapia the individual winner at 21:21, Cabrera (21:24) and Vasquez (21:35) rewarded with all-time list performances. Hartnell alum Luis Corvera was fourth in 21:57. Alejandro Alcaraz (22:07) was 6th and Robert Anderson (23:29) 12th to round out the team's score of 22. West Valley College was a distance second with 44 points and West Hills posted a score of 64 points. Also running well were Eric Yepez (23:45), Edgar Hernandez (25:46), Cesar Alvarez (31:21), and Gustavo Hernandez (37:33).

The Hartnell teams will compete for the first time ever in school history at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational Saturday, October 17th. The Santa Clara Invitational attracts four year university/colleges and community collleges to a very fast course at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale. Hartnell's squad will be split with the top 5 men competing in the invitational 8 kilometer (4.97 miles) race, the remaining men in an open 8 km race.

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.