BELMONT >> Chasing her own shadow for most of the race, about the only negative Roselyn Olivo could come up with was she didn’t break 19 minutes.

What the Hartnell College cross-country All-American did, however, was shave more than 90 seconds off her previous career best on the 3.01-mile Crystal Springs course in the Coast Conference Championships in Belmont.

“My teammate (Andrea Villegas) showed me last year the work that it takes to get there to win,” Olivo said. “I tried to replicate that and follow her path. This year it was me versus my mind.”

The former Alvarez High distance ace set the pace, distancing herself on the hills Wednesday to win the conference women’s title, helping the Panthers to back-to-back team titles.

“I wanted to break the 19-minute barrier,” said Olivo, who was clocked in 19:06. “But this course is a lot harder than Toro Park. So, I’m excited about next week.”

The Panthers will host the Northern California Championships on Nov. 8 at Toro Park, where Olivo will be among the favorites in the women’s division in her bid to chase a second All-American in the sport.

Last year, Olivo earned All-American honors at that state championships, finishing 13th overall, helping Hartnell to a top 10 finish in the women’s division.

“I’m a little faster than last year,” Olivo said. “I still have some work to do. In two weeks, I hope to be at my maximum strength. Today was about getting into the right mindset.”

Joining Olivo on the top of the podium was Jesse Blanco, who won the men’s race, covering the 4-mile loop in 21:32, helping the Panthers to a second-place team finish.

With the Crystal Springs course starting with a downhill sloop for nearly a half mile, Olivo was cautious at the start before asserting herself on the hills.

“I was a little conservative at the start,” said Olivo, who competed last fall in the USA cross-country youth 20 nationals. “Honestly the hills are not my strength. But it is what I practice on the most. I’m fit now. It felt good.”

Four days earlier, Olivo did a 13-mile run with hills out at Ford Ord as a training run for the conference finals, running with the men’s team.

“I think in her head she needed an extra challenge before this meet,” Hartnell coach Chris Zepeda said. “You want your athletes to have confidence in themselves. She stuck to her own plan and carried it to the finish line. There is so much more in the tank.”

Defending its women’s team title was the objective for Hartnell, as teammates Janai Orozco (4th), Jimena Hernandez (13th) and Cristal Baeza (14th) all earned all-conference honors.

“Today was all about winning a conference team title,” Olivo said. “We all put in the work. A lot of girls stepped up with personal records. It showed up this afternoon.”

As disappointed as the Panthers were in finishing second in the men’s division to De Anza of Cupertino, Zepeda is still waiting for his squad to put together a complete race.

“We have 10 days to decide if we want to win NorCal,” Zepeda said. “We still have to decide our top seven. We have had 11 kids that continue to reshuffle themselves. The name of the game is how close can you be to your teammate.”

Blanco, who sat out last year after being a part of the 2022 team that finished fourth in the state, looked like he was doing a training run in breezing to a conference title, using it as a tune-up for the Northern California finals.

“It is one of those cool redemption stories,” Zepeda said. “He had to sit and watch his teammates last year. He didn’t make the best choices academically last year. But Jesse is doing everything right this year.”

One of the things Blanco has excelled at this fall is finding the time to increase his mileage during the week, averaging 70 miles a week.

“You have to make more of a time commitment,” Zepeda said. “Your race distance is 4 miles. If you are running three times the race distance each day, you’re giving yourself a chance to be in that top one percent. I want him to see success in his last two races.”

Despite finishing second, the Panthers had six runners earn all-conference honors (Top 14). Following Blanco was Giancarlo Mendo (fourth), Alvaro Ruelas (fifth), Elijah Melcher (10th), Galen Okamoto (13th) and Aaron Eldredge (14th).

Former Trinity standout Caleb Bouwens finished eighth overall for Monterey Peninsula College. Joining him on the all-conference team was teammate Andrew Moberg (11th). The Lobos were third as a team.

The Lobos women’s team also took third, with Mary Hooper placing 10th and Alana Gamino finishing 11th.