Women's Recap: Mike Fanelli Classic at San Francisco State University

The annual Mike Fanelli Classic at San Francisco State University gives the Hartnell College distance runners an opportunity to run under usually ideal weather conditions with experienced four year and club athletes. This year's meet was unusually warm but the Panthers were able to produce several top marks.

On Friday, freshman Gabriela Cardenas lowered her first year 5000 meter mark to 18:08.34, the fastest freshman time since Malena Grover's in 17:52 in 2015. Cardenas moves to eighth fastest in Hartnell program history ahead of Victoria Alcala. Cardenas will make an attempt on Alcala's 3k steeplechase record of 11:14 on April 18 at the Gary Shaw Last Chance Meet. A pair of freshmen in Deisy Gracida Gabriel (12:13.70) and Angelina Tran (12:14.35) were well under the State "A" mark for the 3k steeplechase and Gracida Gabriel cracks the top 10 all-time with Tran at twelfth now. In the 1500 meters, freshman Crystal Madrigal used ideal pacing to achieve the State "A" and lower her season best to 4:52.37. That mark is fourteenth fastest in school history as Madrigal will look to become just the twelfth Hartnell female to ever run under 4:50 for the 1500 meters.

Gabriela Cardenas returned to the track on Saturday for an attempt on the rarely run full 2 mile record and broke it by four seconds at 11:37.00. Crystal Madrigal just missed breaking 12 minutes for the first time in 12:03.09. Angelina Tran was next at 12:23.51. Frosh Jenna Partida ran the full mile distance in 5:49.86. 

The Panther will compete next at home for the Gary Shaw Last Chance Meet on Friday-Saturday, April 17-18. Hammer will be contested on Friday with a special Saturday schedule allowing for optimal conditions for state qualifying in all events.