Pete Moye’
Sports Button

With the cross country season approaching, the Cerritos men’s team dealt with health issues throughout the summer, but not necessarily the players health .

Head Coach John Goldman has been unable to be with the team for most of the summer practices and will continue to be absent for an unspecified amount of time during the fall due to an unknown health issue.

Assistant Coach Christian Cruz has taken over coaching for the team and even with the Goldman gone the team still feels it kept the same practice routine during the summer.

Sophomore Runner John Acuna said he was at practices throughout the summer.

“We met six times a week at 8 a.m,” Acuna said, “we would run anywhere from 50 to 70 minutes almost every day and we even took a trip to Big Bear for elevation training.”

The men’s cross country team recruited about 10 new runners for this season, but Cruz feels the falcons already had a strong base of retuning runners.

Sophomore Runner Joey Moreno is one of the returners who has hoped that the team can finish within the top five of state this season.

“Now that I got my feet wet in the first year I know what to expect and how to get faster,” Moreno said.

Aside from pre-season practices, the freshmen got support to start the season that went beyond just the training.

The passion for placing in the top spot at state has been handed down to the new recruits by the returning sophomores.

The team as a whole feels they bonded over the summer, according to Cruz.

“It was more factionalized,” Coach Cruz said, “They got along very well, but for the most part they got their own workouts and did their own thing. This year it’s not like that.”

“The older athletes basically mentor the younger ones, that’s the main difference,” Coach Cruz said.

With state still months away it has become the team’s main focus.

Finishing at No. 23 last season, the team insists that this year they have the right perspective and combination of runners to win state.

Sophomore William Pettus already sees himself as one of the leaders of the team, and said he is confident in the team’s ability to do an outstanding job in the season.

“We have a really strong team right now,” Pettus said, “and there is a huge possibility that we can go all the way and win state.”

For the Falcons, the road to the State Championships starts with the season opener which will take place Sept. 2 at UC San Diego.

The race will lead into three more races in September, one of which is taking place in Nashville, Tennesse.