Panther Men Victorious at Tour de Cuesta
The Hartnell College men's cross country team has patiently waited 20 months to return to normal competition. With the opportunity to kick off the return to competition at the Tour de Cuesta in San Luis Obispo, the men's team took advantage and won the team title with just 23 points to easily outdistance the other competing schools host Cuesta College, Saddleback College, and Allan Hancock College.
Leading the men were sophomores Isaac Gensel and Francisco Maciel along with freshman Esteban Deniz. The trio lead a pack of nearly eleven Panthers through half the race which essentially sealed up the team victory at that point. Gensel would make one final push for the overall win but come up three seconds short in 22:30. Deniz would place third in 22:43 and Maciel one second behind in fourth at 22:44. Freshman Eli Ainsworth ran amongst the leaders the entire race and was rewarded with a sixth place finish in 22:57 in his collegiate debut. Fellow freshman Jose Velazquez rounded out the scoring five in eighth place at 23:13. The Panther pack continued with Miguel Leon-Fernandez at the same time in ninth place, also in his first collegiate cross country race since his entire first year competition was suspended. Freshman Joshua Riley completed the top seven in tenth place at 23:38. The Panthers continued to stream across the line adding six more in the top 17.
The Panthers will compete next at Norcal Preview Meet hosted by Sierra College on Friday, September 10th. This will be the first time the Panthers see traditional cross country foes American River College and College of the Sequoias. The Panthers are returning to competition after placing fourth in the Northern California and seventh at the CCCAA State Championship in 2019.
