Hosting the Cerritos Invitational on Friday, the Cerritos College men's track and field team showed off their strength in the sprinting events. The Falcons, who will be hosting the South Coast Conference Prelims on April 23, saw sophomore Daniel Stokes (Diamond Ranch HS/Mt. San Antonio College) win the 200 meters and place second in the 200 meters.
Stokes, who is on the verge of breaking the school record in both the 200 meters and 400 meters, posted a time of 20.52 to earn an automatic bid in the Southern California Prelims, while at the same time moving into second place on the college's all-time top five list. He is looking to break the record of two-time state champion, NCAA champion and Olympian Ameer Webb, who recorded a time of 20.33 in 2011. The time of 10.35 that Stokes recorded in the 100 meters also automatically qualified him for the SoCal Prelims.
Also competing in those events, freshman Kendall Turner (Hesperia HS/Mt. San Antonio College) took fifth place in the 100 meters at 10.58, with sophomore Trevor Reid (Notre Dame HS/Mt. San Antonio College) right behind in sixth place at 10.59. The 200 meters saw freshman Christian Shakir-Ricks (Murrieta Mesa HS) turn in a fifth place time of 21.31, while Turner was on his heels with a sixth place time of 21.36.
Sophomore Victor Williams (Dorsey HS) is also closing in on a school record, and posted a winning time of 14.30 to win the 100-meter HH, which was a personal best and moved him into fourth place on the college's all-time top five list. The school record of 14.15 was turned in by Juan Ward in 2015. Also running well on the day were freshman Rodrick Mahoney (Long Beach Wilson HS), who posted a sixth place time of 49.34 in the 400 meters, with freshman Alberto Serrano (St. John Bosco HS) coming in seventh place in both the 800 meters (2:01.67) and 1500 meters (4:14.16).
In the pole vault, freshman Brian Lanton (Bell Gardens HS) cleared 4.40 meters to come in third place, with sophomore Brian Castillo (Bellflower HS) in fourth place at 4.10 meters. Sophomore thrower Jorge Gonzalez (Ventura HS) walked away with a pair of second place finishes in both the discus (42.95 meters) and javelin (47.50 meters), while he also took fourth place in the shot put at 14.20 meters. Making an appearance in the shot put, football and basketball player Austin Freeman (Rancho Dominguez Prep HS) finished in 13th place at 11.24 meters in his second competition of the season.
Photos by Daryl Peterson
