Ocegueda prevails in men's 4-mile race for Mt. SAC, but Hartnell triumphs in team battle; College of the Canyons standout Salcedo secures women's 3-mile victory, as Mounties edge Panthers in showdown of state's top two programs

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

Hartnell College’s cross country teams traveled from Salinas to Southern California on Friday morning with a goal of gaining attention.

They did that and more, turning the Mount San Antonio Community College Invitational into a real head turner.

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Ranked No. 3 in the state, the Hartnell men upset top-ranked Mt. SAC at home with a 29-35 victory.

The Panthers women made a game of it, too, placing second to winner Mt. SAC by a 31-40 margin in a matchup of the two highest-ranked community college teams in the state.

Mt. SAC freshman Elijah Ocegueda led the Mounties with a breakthrough victory on the men’s 4-mile course in 21 minutes, 22.7 seconds.

College of the Canyons freshman Danielle Salcedo was an easy winner on the women’s 3-mile layout in 18:26.3.

Hartnell’s men were led by sophomore Isaac Gensel, who rallied in the second half of the race and nearly caught Ocegueda by the finish to place second in 21:24.6.

Although Mt. SAC supported Ocegueda with Jessie Alvarado (21:37.1) finishing third and Zackary Alexander (21:40.5) placing fourth, Hartnell packed runners in behind Gensel, with freshmen Esteban Deniz (fifth, 21:44.2), Eli Ainsworth (sixth, 21:46.5) and Jose Velasquez (seventh, 21:49.6).

“This was our chance,” Gensel said. “We really had nothing to lose, so we were like, ‘Let’s come down here and show them what we’ve got.’”

Although there was some disappointment experienced by Mt. SAC, the Mounties got a tremendous individual performance from Ocegueda, a freshman from Yucca Valley, who took the lead at the third-mile Reservoir Hill and then worked hard to hold off the hard-charging Gensel.

“I made a move right there,” Ocegueda said, “and kept it throughout the race.”

Unlike the high school course at Mt. SAC – also the women's 3-mile course – the community college 4-mile layout includes a second trip up the switchbacks before finishing. It’s an adjustment for those who have an extensive high school background running the high school course.

“I just picture finishing right there,” Ocegueda said of coming down Reservoir Hill, “and I’m like, ‘Dang, that would be nice.’”

Another adjustment for Ocegueda has been attending college in busy Walnut as opposed to the lonely days of running in Yucca Valley, particularly through the pandemic.

“I feel like a huge boost because I’m not training by myself anymore,” Ocegueda said. “I’ve got people around me to push me. Back then, for a year and a half, I was just running by myself and doing workouts by myself.”

Saddleback freshman Brandon Pizano was the highest finisher not representing Mt. SAC or Hartnell, placing eighth in 21:52.9. As a team, Saddleback was fourth with 113 points; Glendale College was third with 92.

Salcedo, who prepped at Saugus, took the lead around the 2-mile mark and won by 42 seconds over second-place Hannah Brown of Mt. SAC (19:08.7). She led Canyons to a third-place team finish with 91 points.

“My goals were just to finish and do as great as I could,” Salcedo said. “I’ve had a knee injury this whole season, and this last week I’ve been kind of taking time off. Honestly, I didn’t expect much coming into here.”

Brown, along with freshman Amanda Crowell (fifth, 19:27.5), and sophomores Kaitlyn Atkinson (sixth, 19:31.3) and Kimberly Pena (eighth, 19:40.4) led the Mounties, who are ranked No. 1 in the state, with Hartnell at No. 2.

“Personally, I felt good for the first half, but the downhills just killed me for some reason,” said Crowell, who led for much of the first half of the race. “But as a team, I got to see girls that are catching up with me and get to hit their own personal bests, which is amazing. Hannah did really well, I’m so proud of her.”

Hartnell was paced by longtime friends Sophia Camacho (third, 19:20.1), a freshman, and sophomore Valeria Lozano-Gomez (fourth, 19:24.0), who ran together at North Salinas High.

“We knew that Mt. SAC was going to be one of our biggest competitors,” Lozano-Gomez said, “and we wanted to see how much we could challenge ourselves against them.”

Brianna King, a freshman from Chaffey College who previously ran at Ayala High, placed seventh in the women’s race in 19:38.6.