Both the men’s and women’s Cerritos College cross country teams will compete at the State Championships this Saturday at Woodward Park, Fresno after qualifying at the Southern California Championships on Nov. 6 at Mission Bay Park in San Diego.
The men came in 15th place out of the top 18 teams that qualified to move on, while the women placed ninth out of the top 20 qualifying teams.
Sophomore runner Gabriel Hilbert led the men with a season-best time of 21:29 to complete the four-mile race in 22nd place out of 207 runners.
Hilbert was followed by teammates freshmen Brian Bayani who placed 83rd with a time of 22:36, Robert Duran with a time of 22:42 in 86th place, Joey Moreno with a time of 23:24 in 129th place, sophomore Thomas Jimenez in 133rd place with a time of 23:28 and freshman Luis Calderon in 144th place with a time of 23:34.
In the women’s 3.1-mile race, sophomore Cassandra Mejia was the first Cerritos College runner to cross the finish line in 38th place in 20:25.
Sophomore Sandra Flores was close behind in 51st place with a time of 20:53, followed by freshmen Alexandria Torres who placed 59th in the race with a time of 20:59, Lauren Thompson in 78th place with a time of 21:31 and Adriana Raya in 81st place with a time of 21:34.
Calderon, who was one second off from achieving a personal record at San Diego, hopes to help the team at Fresno by improving his kick.
“When it came down to the last 800 meters [at the Southern California Championships], I wasn’t able to build up my speed at the end and I got passed by six people. We could have placed a bit higher if I had a kick, so that’s going to be my main focus.”
Cross country coach John Goldman was pleased with both teams’ performances and has high hopes for this Saturday.
“I think the women have a legitimate shot at top five,” Goldman says, “the men, we’re shooting for top ten, realistically, but those are pretty lofty goals for us this year.”
