Led by seven top three finishes, the Cerritos College men's swimming team compiled 408 team points to come in third place in the South Coast Conference Championships. Held at the Falcon Aquatic Center over the weekend, the team will find out Monday which swimmers have advanced to the CCCAA State Championships, which will take place at East Los Angeles College on May 5-7.
Posting a pair of second place finishes in individual races and a member of four relay teams, freshman Jesus Rojas (Colegio Fray Luis Amigo, Venezuela) was the most productive member of the team. His time of 47.86 put him in second place in the 100-yard freestyle and trailed only Mark Dennison of Mt. San Antonio College, who won the event with a clocking of 46.92. Cerritos also picked up points with sophomore Davey Brown (Whittier HS) coming in third place in the event when he touched up in 48.35.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Rojas led until the final lap and fell to third place with a time of 1:45.15, which was just shy of second place Jeremy Foster of Rio Hondo College (1:45.00) and Denison, who placed first in a time of 1:44.44. In the 50-yard freestyle sprint race, Brown touched up in 22.01, with Denison earning his third championship, as he recorded a time of 21.74. Rojas came in fifth place in 22.42.
The relay races went well for the Falcons, as they opened the tournament with a second place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:28.95. They were edged for first place by Long Beach City College and their time of 1:28.46. The Cerritos quartet consisted of Brown, freshman Preston Medina (Downey HS), sophomore Peter Roldan (Downey HS) and Rojas. It was a third place finish on the final event of the first day in the 400-yard medley relay. Cerritos turned in a time of 3:44.53 and held off fourth place Pasadena City College, who had a time of 3:44.93 and used sophomore Mitchell Bowman (Lakewood HS), sophomore Daniel Loeza (Hamilton HS), Rojas and Brown in the race.
In the final event of the championships, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Bowman, sophomore Kevin De Leon (El Segundo HS), Roldan and Rojas finished in third place with their time of 3:15.08. As for the 200-yard medley relay team, they took fourth place with a time of 1:41.64, which was one second behind Pasadena City. That quartet was Bowman, Loeza, Rojas and Brown. As for Bowman, he also came in third place in the 100-yard backstroke in 57.93.
Photos by Daryl Peterson
