For the second season in a row, the Cerritos College men's cross country team placed sixth at the California Community College Athletic Association State Championships on Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno. The Falcons finished with 177 team points for their sixth place finish, as they trailed only American River, who won the state championship with 84 points, followed by Glendale (96), Orange Coast (158), Riverside (162) and San Bernardino Valley (167).

Going into the final mile of the race, the Falcons were in position to win the state title, as the duo of sophomores Munir Kahssay (Western HS) and Brandon Taylor (Mayfair HS) were leading the pack. Not far behind was freshman DeShaunte Lewis (Long Beach Poly HS), who was completing his first year ever running cross country. Kahssay, who was fighting the flu, fell back in the pack, while Lewis hit his personal wall and ended up crawling over the finish line after he nearly passed out due to exhaustion. 

Taylor ended up taking 11th place out of the 204 runners with a time of 20:33.83, while Kahssay came in 13th place in 20:36.43. According to Falcon head coach Chris Richardson, if the trio of runners were able to maintain their positions, there was a great chance for the team to win their first state title in school history. American River's Matt Airola used a strong kick in the final 800 meters to win the individual championship with a time of 20:10.68.

Running a very strong race was freshman Jonathan Bazinet (California HS) with his time of 20:50.90 for 23rd place. He was two seconds away from moving up five spots in the overall standings, while Lewis slipped all the way back to 102nd place (21:56.38) after coming in 20th place at the Southern California Championships two weeks earlier. Freshman Oscar Contreras (Huntington Park HS) was the fourth Falcon to finish the race, as he posted a time of 21:17.42, which garnered him a 42nd place finish.

Sophomore Jonathan Villa (Long Beach Poly HS), who missed the SoCal Cahmpionships, stepped back into the lineup and took 96th place overall with a time of21:52.38 to help round out the team scoring. After Lewis finished, freshman David Pleitez (Lakewood HS) rounded out the Cerritos runners with his time of 22:03.63, which put him in 111th place.