Led by sophomore Jonathan Bazinet (California HS), who came in sixth place overall, the Cerritos College men's cross country team finished in eighth place with 230 team points at the Southern California Championships on Friday. The event, which was a 4-mile race and run at Central Park in Santa Clarita, consisted of 28 colleges, with a pair of South Coast Conference foes finishing ahead of the Falcons. San Bernardino Valley finished in first place with 53 team points. The team will now run at the CCCAA State Championships, which will take place on November 23 at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Bazinet held off a pair of runners near the finish, while at the same time trying to catch two that were within striking distance. He finished in a time of 21:07.64 and was the first of seven Cerritos runners in the race. Dropping off to 39th place was freshman Francisco Ortiz (Katella HS), who turned in a time of 22:05.39, with freshman Chris Ramirez (California HS) not far behind in 42nd place at 2:06.95.

The South Coast Conference individual champion, sophomore Elvis Salinas (Norwalk HS) slipped all the way back to 68th place in a time of 22:40.77 and will look to improve on that finish at the state championships. The duo of freshman Omar Torres (Warren HS), with a time of 22:45.19, and freshman Josh Roldan (California HS), who was clocked in 22:51.47, finished in 75th place and 79th place, respectively. The Falcons hope to get stronger times at the state championships, in their quest to match their fifth place finish last season. The final runner for the team was sophomore David Pleitez (Lakewood HS), with a 135th place finish in 24:08.42.