Cerritos College Cross Country looks to get off to a good start this season after both men’s and women’s cross country teams finished top 20 in state and top 10 in Southern California.

The Cerritos cross country team’s first meet of the 2010 season is Sept. 3, which will be held at UC San Diego in the UC San Diego Season Opener.

“We’re gonna win; this will be interesting” said Gabriel Hilbert. The summer training has begun, and has been going well, based on the aerobic training putting in an average of 70-80 miles in  each training. Next week is when the more the complex training will begin based on  the speed and pacing.

Cross Country practices off campus, typically because the runners need grass,dirt,and trail routes on which to build strength. Typically they will be at La Mirada Park, trail routes, and Los Cerritos National Park.

Their goals are the same every year: to run with confidence, to run for the state championship and conference championship and to be ranked top 10.

The worries for this upcoming season would be the progress on the distant runners.

“It’s too early for State Championships. We still have until November,” head coach John Goldman said.

Generally they just make sure the team is well prepared for that time period. Looking for the runners that are the best. Also they have to make sure the top athletes are well, not injured, make sure they are in good health, and that they’re well rested.

One of the top athletes on the men’s team is Hilbert, who had a good, strong freshman year in cross county.

Hilbert won at State Championships and did well in competition. Robert Duran was one of the top runners for his high school.

New guys we should be seeing this fall season should be freshman Charles Dale and freshman Joey Moreno.

“It’s pretty hefty on the guys’ side,” Goldman said. Most of them did well in practice and also run in track.

On the women’s team we have Cassandra Mejia. She is great and very strong in practice. Also Sandra Flores, who is the team captain, and is very prominent runner as well.

New runners on the women’s side would be freshman Angela Hernandez from Lakewood High School and freshman Loren Thomson. And coming in real strong are Christina Detios and Alexandra Flores. “We have strong women [on the team],” says coach Goldman.

Last year they worked with speed and didn’t have depth. One girl got injured and another twisted her ankle while running. In which result that they didn’t have someone able to fill for her. 

Allison Garcia was one of the girls that was running in the middle of the year and twisted her ankle, and also Melissa Byrd with an injury that held her back from training.This year there is more depth. The men’s side got top10 teams in State Champions last year.

“This season feels good with a lot of new recruits such as Robert Duran, Moreno and Dale. Many  of the new guys are showing a lot of promise and hopefully this season we can possibly win conference and state,” Hilbert stated. “We will prepare ourselves everyday by running our hardest. When we get to the Conference and State Championships if we all do our part as a team we will make it to the top 10.”

This season Hilbert and two other teammates hope he makes it to the top 10 for state.

Trainings recently changed to 3 p.m. “It’s hot at that time, but it builds character makes us stronger in our weak areas,” Hilbert states. All the hard is gonna work out in the end.

Hilbert has improved from last season, hasn’t taken a break in between seasons, has kept on track, and has been running non stop so he could be prepared for this season. With these tools, Hilbert believes he is closer to the best shape of his life.