2018 Track & Field Schedule Released

The 2018 Hartnell College Track & Field schedule will include several new additions to the season as the Panthers march toward May and the CCCAA State Track & Field Championship. Holdover meets from last year include the newly instituted "Duel Meet" versus Coast Conference foe DeAnza College. Last spring, DeAnza took home the first trophy with decisive victories for the men 110 to 44 points and the women 90 to 58 points. The second edition of this meet will take place Saturday, February 10th at Hartnell College. Field events will start at 11am with running following at 12pm. The Panthers will take a short commute down Highway 1 on February 17th and compete at the Monterey Peninsula College Open. On March 3-4, the Panthers will return home to pay homage to the outstanding contribution former Coach Gary Shaw made to the Hartnell track & field program. The two day competition will consist of a 10,000 meter run and day one multi-event mini competition on Friday and convene with a normal schedule meet on Saturday. New to the schedule is a trip north to CSU Chico for the Wildcat Invitational. The Panthers have sent athletes to Chico over the years including CCCAA All-Americans Alyssa Flores and Katrina Rodriguez along with Beau Rogers and Jose Garcia. The end of March will give the Panthers a chance to showcase their talents versus four year univeristy programs at two highly competitive meets. The Stanford Invitational and SF State Distance Carnival will play host to colleges and universities from across the nation with all shooting for important end-of-season qualifying marks. The SF State Distance Carnival will be held at Chabot College during a facility renovation but will allow the Panthers to get a conference championship preview with Chabot hosting later on April 25 and 28. This year's CCCAA Track & Field Championship will held for the first time in many years at Hughes Stadium on the campus of Sacramento City College. The Jamie Nieto Invitational on Friday, April 6th will allow the Panthers to get a mid-year preview of the facility and regional competition. On April 13-14, Hartnell College will re-institute a friendly competition among small colleges from Northern California. Programs with student enrollment under 10,000 students will be invited to attend and showcase their team and individual strengths. Returning multi-event athletes such as Clemente Villareal, last year's 8th place Norcal finisher, and Sherise Robinson, the Norcal runner-up, along with newcomers will compete at the Norcal Hep/Dec Championship at Diablo Valley College on April 17-18. This is the first score event of the Northern California Track & Field Championship. A rainy day make-up meet may be used at the College of the San Mateo Last Chance Meet on Thursday, April 20th. The Northern CA Trials and Finals will both be evening competitions with advancing to the next round the objective. The culmination the 2018 schedule will be the CCCAA State Track & Field Championship in Bakersfield highlighted by former world record holder and congressman Jim Ryun presenting medals in the middle distance events. Jim Ryun set his world record of 3:51.1 in the mile at Memorial Stadium in 1961.