At 17 years old, Juan Flores made the pivotal decision to stop playing basketball and to start focusing solely on running, leading him to become Cerritos College track and field’s new steeplechase record holder, and a D1 university prospect.
Flores grew up loving basketball, and began playing at the age of seven.
However he also had an interest in running. He said he was an energetic kid and when his mom would take him to the park, he spent the majority of his time there running around in circles on the grass.
It wasn’t until his freshman year at St. John Bosco High School when he realized running was an actual sport. Wanting to focus on basketball he decided not to join cross country due to their overlapping schedules, but joined track and field when basketball season ended.
He continued to switch between basketball and track and field at St. John Bosco throughout his sophomore year.
By his junior year he was unsatisfied with Bosco’s basketball team and decided to transfer to Warren High School in hopes of continuing his basketball career.
Although, his love for running grew.
By his senior year he stopped playing basketball completely and competed in both cross country and track and field, launching his collegiate athletic career.
“I started enjoying running more because everyone pushes themselves in different ways, and you don’t have to rely on a team. It’s all on your own. If you’re willing to push yourself and put in the work you’re gonna see the results every time. And if you don’t see the results you know you’re doing something wrong but once you find that you’ll be able to improve every time. It’s a pro and con because you always want to improve, but once you improve you still want more. You just always want to get better,” Flores said.
He added, “While graduating from Warren High school I was talking to a few colleges for running, but I was also in communication with the Cerritos College track and field assistant coach, Clarence Rhone.”
Rhone told him that it’s a good school to not only save money but to develop his skills and improve on his running times. He then knew Cerritos had what he was looking for.
Flores then dedicated himself to perfecting his craft and on March 27, broke the Cerritos College men’s steeplechase record with a time of 9:03.24 at the annual Bob Larsen Distance Carnival.
Assistant coach Bryan Ramos worked specifically with Flores to help him with the steeplechase and has seen his progress firsthand.
“I am very proud and not at all surprised by Juan’s performance for the 2026 Track and Field season. He was a strong cross country runner and had a great middle-distance speed, two qualities that make a perfect steeplechaser. He picked up the steeplechase quickly and has one of the best water jumps in all the steeplechasers that I have coached,” coach Ramos said.
Aside from breaking the school record Flores leads the state in the 1500m event with a time of 3:53.99 and is ranked third in the 5000m event.
“The day someone misses a practice, is the day someone else is getting better. I have to stay determined and disciplined. Everyone has their own personal goals but it’s about what you are going to do to get there,” Flores said.
With the end of his sophomore season nearing, 20-year-old Flores is looking into Division 1 schools such as California State University, Long Beach and California State University, Fullerton.
“The biggest reason I was able to improve was my coaches and teammates, it’s like a big family. The coaches work with us individually and really care about our performance. My teammates are all so supportive and make meets fun,” Flores said.
He also accredits his accolades to his parents, who has supported his athletic career since he was a child, making it a priority to come to every single game, race, or meet. He says his family are his biggest motivators.
Flores has also found great success off the track by starting his own custom hat company, floreshats.com, in December of 2025, where his first hat drop sold out.
His major is sociology and he is minoring in business, where he wants to learn more about marketing and how to continue branching out in the business realm.
He also works part time at Cane’s and says time management and being consistent is crucial while being a student athlete.
Flores will have another chance at breaking his own steeplechase school record at the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University, on April16.
His ultimate goal is to earn a 3C2A State Championship title for the steeplechase event.
