The brand new Cerritos College women’s track team is looking forward to an exciting season with its experienced athletes.

Eighty-five percent of the Women’s track team is composed of freshmen athletes. Coach Michael Allen is excited in “assessing their future potential.” This fresh team may be new here to Cerritos, but most are definitely not new to the sport.

Yunique Pettigrew and Dawn Riles both come from Mayfair High School. Both were on the track team at their school participating in multiple events such as hurdles and distant running.

April Brown and Cora Diggins went All State at Bellflower High School. Adding on to the team are returning players such as Erica Thompson and Tanisha Cole. Both hold school records in sprint.

While recruiting for new athletes Allen insists on getting parents involved in their child’s academic future. He informs parents from the beginning that track at Cerritos isn’t always fun and games, it is also about taking care of business. “(We) want to promote a healthy academic environment. It’s a total program.”

Winning isn’t the top priority for this team. Allen has little tolerance for athletes who don’t take their academics as seriously as they take the game. “If they really, really want to win they have to get things done in the classroom.”

The team insists on making use of the services offered at school, like tutoring and the computer labs, to help improve their education. Allen said, “We’re getting a positive response from the community.” He recently let go of some of his returning players because they were unable to keep up with their studies.

Besides providing “academic excellence” the track coaches insist on providing total training to help improve their athletes potential on the field. Weight training, athletic videos on publicized track events as well as their own meets allow the women’s track team to “tap their potential further.”