Panther Women Bring Home the Wildcat Cup

The pandemic put a halt to a new yearly tradition for the Hartnell College track & field team, competing in the Wildcat Cup. The meet was conceived by the head coaches of several programs who are all lead by graduates of CSU Chico and participated on the team while a student there. With the return of the 2022 version held at Santa Rosa Junior College, new teams were added with Diablo Valley College, Butte College, and College of the Redwoods. The Panther women won the nine team affair to take back the Wildcat Cup they won in the inaugural edition in 2019. Despite cold and windy conditions, the Panthers set two meet record and were able to net some significant post-conference qualifying marks in addition to taking the team victory.

Freshman Lorraine Mankins improved on her pole vault to 3.15m, moving her into a tie for the Norcal lead and up the the all-time Hartnell list to sixth best ever. Fellow true frosh Roxana Ruelas won the 400mLH in meet record time in her second ever attempt over 10 hurdles. She was timed in 67.30 to dip under the State "B" mark and inch closer to the top two competitors in the region. Frosh Isabella Reimann improved on her State Auto hammer throw to win the competition in a meet record 44.09m. Karla Herrera moved closer to the top four in Norcal with her season best 2:25.99 in the 800 meters. Sofia Camacho debuted in the 800m with 2:26.78 to lead an additional two women under the regional provisional mark. She started the day with second place in the 1500 meters at 5:01.26 with Isabelle Torres and Valeria Lozano-Gomez in two within less than a second. Torres was second in the 5000m in a new personal best and State Auto 18:33.21 to move her to eleventh best all-time. It is also second best in Norcal and third in the state. Lozano-Gomez dipped under the "B" mark with 18:54.69 with Ashley Ochoa, Faith Mora, Jazmin Mora, and Joanna Macias all quailfying to Norcals with their respective marks. The women's 4x400 relay of Ruelas, Herrera, Camacho, and Andrea Villegas was timed in a season best 4:16.85 to get the State "B" mark. 

The Panthers will split squads with a large contingent heading to Modesto for the Jack Albiani Invitational on Friday, March 11th. A small group of distance runners will head south to the Occidental Spring Break Distance Carnival on Saturday, March 12th.