At the Southern California Prelims at Riverside City College on Saturday, the Cerritos College men's track and field team set themselves up to advance a large group to the finals. The Falcons, who won three events and came in second place in four others, are looking to improve on their fourth place finish at last year's Southern California Championships. The finals will take place next Saturday at Riverside City College.

Posting first place wins for Cerritos in the prelims included sophomore Jonathan Bazinet (California HS), who recorded a time of 3:58.42 to edge out Luis Morales of Orange Coast (3:58.69), Albert Gamez of San Diego Mesa (3:58.74) and teammate Anthony Lozano (La Serna HS) in the 1500 meters. Both have qualifed for the finals next weekend.

Freshman hurdler Mackenzi Rickman (Carson HS) posted a first place time of 14.62 to come in first place, but slipped to 11th place in the 400-meter IH with his time of 55.95. Rickman has posted a state-qualifying B time of 54.82. As for sophomore Adam Aguirre (Cantwell HS), he finished in a five-place tie for first in the high jump with a clearance of 2.06 meters. He currently holds the best height in SoCal (2.16 meters), while he also has a state-qualifying A distance of 7.11 meters in the long jump, but missed out on qualifying when he came in 17th place. Aguirre also won the javelin with a distance of 55.40 meters.

Those earning second place finishes on the day included sophomore Terrell White (Washington Prep HS), who posted a time fo 48.50 in the 400 meters, while he also finished sixth in the 200 meters at 21.66. Freshman Francisco Ortiz (Katella HS) posted second place finished in the 800 meters (1:56.46) and was fourth in the 1500 meters at 3:58.90. The 1600-meter relay team recorded a second place time of 3:14.94.

Southern California Championship Qualifiers

200 Meters - Terrell White
400 Meters - Terrell White
800 Meters - Francisco Ortiz
1500 Meters - Jonathan Bazinet
1500 Meters - Francisco Ortiz
1500 Meters - Anthony Lozano
5000 Meters Jonathan Bazinet
5000 Meters - Elvin Salinas
5000 Meters - Anthony Lozano
110-Meter HH - Mackenzi Rickman
400-Meter Relay (Travis Thomas, Nicholas Garcia, Michael Jolly, Terrell White)
1600-Meter Relay
High Jump - Adam Aguirre
Long Jump - Thomas Cheval
Triple Jump - Jaime Vega
Shot Put - Andrew Prieto
Hammer - Matthew Seawright
Discus - Matthew Seawright
Javelin - Adam Aguirre
Javelin - Jake Ostgaard