Receiving his veggie bouquet and plaque, Oscar De la Torre, representing No. 5 Geovana Saramiento, won the 2012 Cerritos College Homecoming Court Mock Rally competition on Thursday, Oct. 4 at the Student Center.

Talon Marks Club Treasurer Patrick Dolly received first runner-up and a plaque as the mocker for No.1 Lauren Gandara.

The Mock Rally is an event in which each of the Homecoming Court princesses is mocked by a male member of the club they are sponsored by or by a male of their choosing.

The men selected by the Homecoming Court princesses dressed up as women that resemble the homecoming candidates.

After being presented by DJ and host Ray Mahr, the mockers strutted their stuff down the runway and later performed a dance routine to a song of their choosing in an attempt to impress the judges.

Among the judges was last year’s Homecoming Queen, Raquel Ramirez.

Dolly was the first one to perform his dance routine and was followed by Sanchez mocking candidate No. 2 Zineb Fikri.

Dolly danced, jumped, and can-canned to “Hey Mickey” with pom poms in hand while Sanchez who, as a way of earning more attention and enhancing his performance, removed both of the white gloves he was wearing and then proceeded to swing his gloves around.

The following mocker, representing candidate Kenia Avalos, rhythmically walked across the dance floor and dispersed candy to the audience once he reached the end of the runway.

He was followed by Amber Rose Belmonte’s mocker who danced to “Let’s Groove” by Earth Wind and Fire. During his routine, the mocker removed his hat toward the middle of the song in a rhythmic manner.

De la Torre moved his body to Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie,” sending the crowd in a cheering frenzy after he moved his hips and hands in a seductive manner while walking back to his seat.

Cheer coach Steven Castillo, mocking candidate No. 6 MarJona Smith-Holieway, performed a cheer routine complete with jumps, spins, and cart-wheel to Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.”

Javier Segura, who wore a pink wig and shades, brought an end to the performance part of the rally by mocking candidate No. 7 Brittany Forsythe with a free-style dance to “Get the Party Started” by Pink in which he took his jacket off and swung it around.

After being announced the winner, De la Torre proceeded to jump up in excitement and then kneel onstage in happiness.

“It was a lot of fun, people say it’s tough or embarrassing but I tell them not really, all you have to do is have fun with it and that’s what I did, I went out there and I had fun,” De la Torre said.

“I was going to perform last year, but someone took my spot and I was pretty upset but it was worth the wait if it meant winning this year,” he added.

Audience members said that they enjoyed the mockers’ performances.

“This my first [mock rally] and I think they did this at my high school too but I thought it was really funny that the guys dressed up as girls, it was entertaining,” biology major Ruben Dominguez said.

Dominguez also added that although he enjoyed the event, he is unsure of its overall purpose or what the benefits of it are for both the candidates and the mockers.

“It was hilarious, more guys need to dress up as women. I think it (the mock rally) encourages people to be informed about Homecoming and if guys are in women’s clothes, you would think more and more people would want to know what’s going on,” child development major Amber Soto said.

Although Soto does not attend Cerritos College, after being a part of this event, she added that more colleges should take up this idea if they haven’t already, in order to encourage more students to be involved in their school’s events.

“I was kind of disappointed that some of them [the mockers] weren’t really into the spirit of it all this year, but overall it was pretty good,” art major Julia Izquierdo said, “it’s good to have something to laugh at and forget about all the stress that the upcoming midterms are piling on, so it was entertaining.”

The homecoming queen will be crowned during half-time of the homecoming football game on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Cerritos College football stadium.