Historic Third Place for Hartnell Men, Gensel Runner-Up
Heading into the 2021 CCCAA State Championship, the Hartnell College men's cross country team understood the immense challenge that they faced in their goal of bringing home their first top three trophy. Despite being ranked second in the state, the team had yet to face 2019 defending state champion and Socal champion San Diego Mesa College. They had not competed against a full strength Mt. SAC squad in winning the Mt. SAC Invitational in October. The Panthers would be running five guys who had not seen a championship cross country race since 2019 along with two freshmen who were unable to run in a section championship due to the pandemic last year. Despite all this, the men remained steadfast and earned the first third place finish in Hartnell College's history.
The historic finish is was anchored by another historic run by sophomore Isaac Gensel. Gensel, the Norcal champion, had placed no lower than second in any race this fall and with an outstanding last mile second only to the winner Daniel Abdala of Mt. SAC, he would place second in his final race as a Hartnell College Panther. Isaac placed 24th as a freshman in 2019 in 21:18 but in this edition joined Daniel Tapia, first and second in 2008 and 2009, and Diego Leon, first in 2014, as Panthers who have placed in the top two overall. Gensel's mark of 20:11 is the third best in program history trailing only Tapia's 20:05 winning mark and Leon's 20:10 mark that was victorious as well. Behind Gensel, freshman Esteban Deniz narrowly missed being an All-American placing sixteenth in 20:39. Just three spots behind in nineteenth was sophomore Daniel Correa who ran the race of his career also in 20:39. Both Deniz and Correa earn All-State honors for placing in the top 21. Correa placed 104th in 22:23 back in 2019. Francisco Maciel was on the 2019 team as well but did not compete in the CCCAA State Championship. Running in his first state meet, Maciel placed 29th in 20:56. He was followed by freshman teammate Eli Ainsworth who was 31st in his first four mile championship at 20:56. Second year freshman Ricky Diaz III subbed in after sitting out the Norcal meet with a solid 21:05 performance. True freshman Mario Avila at 21:27 rounded out the squad.
The Panthers talled 91 points to record their first team score ever lower than 100 points in the championship. Based on enrollment size, Hartnell College joins LA Harbor College and Taft College as one of the smallest colleges ever to place in the top three.
