MONTEREY >> Individual titles weren’t the theme. Instead, Hartnell pursued points, turning to a cast of unheralded names to set the tone to reach an historic milestone.

Another banner was celebrated Saturday as the Panthers amassed 190 points to bring home their 40th Coast Conference track and field men’s team title, outdistancing runner-up De Anza of Cupertino by 22 points at Monterey Peninsula College.

“Today was about producing points for a conference title,” Hartnell freshman sprinter Eduardo Manriquez said. “Of course, you want to win your races. But it was also about execution.”

The Panthers’ run of conference titles in the men’s division began in 1970. A five-plus decade run of dominance has also seen them finish second 14 times.

“It takes a lot of perseverance to make something like this occur,” Hartnell coach Chris Zepeda said. “It’s a very special experience. You don’t always win everything.”

Last year marked just the fifth time in 48 years that Hartnell didn’t bring home either a men’s or women’s conference title, creating a few sleepless nights for Zepeda.

“Look at the history of the program,” Zepeda stressed. “I felt like I wasn’t doing my job. We as coaches need to get them out of their comfort zone and get them to believe in themselves. We kind of had to sit there last year and watch.”

The Panthers were not without a pair of conference champions as Vicente Cruz lead a sweep in the javelin with a mark of 133 feet, 2 inches. Five throwers scored points, supplying the perennial powers with 31 points.

“If you look at how much we won by, that one event helped,” Zepeda said. “None of these kids picked up a javelin until they got to Hartnell. We’re not afraid to put javelins in people’s hands and make them pretty good at it.”

Sealing the conference title in the 18th event was cross-country All-America Jesse Blanco, who captured the 5,000 in 15 minutes, 44.9 seconds. He also led a parade of Panthers in the 10,000, finishing second with a state-qualifying mark, helping the team produce 19 points.

In fact, Hartnell scored 11 or more points in 11 of the 19 events contested, getting runner-up finishes from Armando Amaro in the hammer and Jose Cota in the 800.

“You start going through the results and a lot of places are sprinkled around,” Zepeda said. “The goal is to get each individual to contribute to the championship. If you’re not scoring, bump someone out because you brought your best.”

Manriquez, a Rancho San Juan graduate, finished second in the 400, holding off MPC’s Ivan Mendoza. The freshman also scored in the 200 and ran legs on the 400 and 1,600 relays, while his brother Adrian took second in the 400 intermediate hurdles.

While establishing a personal best is the objective, there’s a trade-off when athletes are doing multiple events for a common goal, as the Panthers’ bid to end a two-year title drought in the women’s division came up short in a runner-up finish to De Anza.

Hartnell, which has won 22 women’s titles since 1978, held a lead going into the final four events, only to see De Anza finish 1-2 in the 5,000 to overtake them with one event left, securing a narrow 193-187 win.

“I felt the way the women performed, I can sleep with that,” Zepeda said. “We as coaches need to beat the bushes more in our recruiting. That’s our responsibility. We got pretty damn close. We got better. So did De Anza. We can’t be disappointed in that.”

No one had a bigger day than Jenna Emerson, who competed in seven events, capturing the 100-meter hurdles title with a personal best of 15.23, as well as the 400 low hurdles on 65.45.

“To be honest, today I’m just trying to get through it,” said Emerson, a Rancho San Juan graduate. “This whole last week I’ve been sick. So, I’m trying to come back and run without feeling terrible.”

While Emerson didn’t get a great start out of the blocks in the 100 hurdles, she quickly regained control of the race, taking the lead after the fifth hurdle and gliding to the finish to become the Panthers’ first conference individual women’s champion.

“I felt really good,” said Emerson, whose mother Tanya ran 15.13 in the 100 hurdles and 63.14 in the 400 low hurdles in 1991 for Hartnell. “I haven’t touched the hurdles a lot in the last few weeks. Coming out and running a personal best was lovely today.”

Emerson came back 20 minutes later and ran a personal best of 59.97 in the 400 meters, then jumped back on the track to win the 400 low hurdles, providing Hartnell with 28 points among the three events, temporarily giving them the lead.

“Personal records are always good,” said Emerson, who played on the Panthers soccer team last fall. “I’m just trying to score some points for the team. The ultimate goal is to win a team title.”

Emerson also gave Hartnell nine more points between the long jump and triple jump, and ran legs on both relay teams, accounting for 42 points.

“She said she wanted to beat her league championship record of 40 in high school,” Zepeda said. “Coming off an illness, she had a great day. She’s transitioned really nicely. She’ll pass mom before her career is over here.”

Marissa Avelar had a big day in the hammer, finishing second for the Panthers, while Roselyn Olivo placed third in the 10,000, 800 and 5,000, providing Hartnell with 21 points in her three events.

The defending champion Lobos were a distant sixth in the women’s division, with Ariel Ferrell finishing second in the pole vault (11-1 3/4) and third in the high jump.

Behind Pacific Grove graduate Oliver Ottmar’s conference winning 6-feet-4 3/4 clearance in the high jump, and runner-up finish in the 110 high hurdles, the Lobos men’s team placed fourth with 100 points.

Mendoza was third in the 400 and 200 (21.85) and fourth in the long jump for MPC, and ran a leg on the third place 400 relay team (42.02). Teammate Caleb Bouwens ran a career-best 4:08.38 in finishing second in the 1,500 and was third in the 5,000.