Romero Picks Up Two Top Eight Finishes in Final Championship

Hartnell Lady Panther Haley Romero earned All-American honors as a freshman in the long jump and looked to repeat the feat again this year. This season she added an additional jump to her repertoire learning the triple jump over the final eight weeks of the season. That addition paid off with a second place finish at the regional championship and some extra hardware at this weekend's CCCAA State Track & Field Championship in Bakersfield. Romero lead much of the long jump competition before the final two rounds bumped her to fifth place just one spot out of a second All-American honors. She was the highest placing Northern California female in the competition. Romero jumped 5.60m or 18'4.50" to stand on the podium for the second year in a row. In the triple jump, she was the highest placing regional competitor as well in eighth place with a jump of 35'10.25". Along with her lead off leg on the seventh place 4x100 meter relay team, Romero was responsible for seven of the 17 team points the Lady Panthers scored to get twelfth overall in the meet. Freshman Maria Aceves provided the next highest total with her four points in the 3000 meter steeplechase. Aceves, who had never competed in the event til this season, ran with the top four women including Norcal champion Haven Lambrite of American River College. She held on for fifth place and was the second regional placer with her 12:12.60 performance. She will be one of the top returning athletes in the state in the event as a sophomore and will look to become just the fourth Lady Panther to complete the event in under twelve minutes. Sophomore Jocelyn Cervantes took sixth in the 10,000 meters in a lifetime best 40:38.80 which moved her to twelfth all-time in school history. Sherise Robinson placed seventh in the heptathlon losing a potential All-American honor after earning zero points in the javelin.  Robinson moved up from twelfth place as last year. Freshman Lauryn Orozco placed eighth in the 5000 meter run in 19:17.50 after running up as high as second place before the final two laps. She former Soledad Aztec will be the top returning 5000 meter runner in Northern California next spring. Fellow freshman Monica Ruelas lowered her lifetime best in the 10,000 meters to 41:48.90 to place a non-scoring ninth.

Next year's CCCAA State Track & Field Championship will be held at Sacramento City College.