The Cerritos College men's swimming team won eight events in their South Coast Conference meet against Chaffey College on Friday and came away with a 149-132 victory. The win by the Falcons improved their record to 3-2 and the team will now host Pasadena City College and Los Angeles Trade-Tech College at  12:30 p.m. Friday.

Leading the way for Cerritos was freshman Eugene Runas (Long Beach Millikan HS), who won three individual races, while sophomore Enrico Hidalgo (Kennedy HS) picked up wins in two individual races and was a member of a relay team that won.

Runas turned in the fastest time in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 59.99, while freshman Marcus Delgado (La Serna HS) placed second in a time of 1:03.30. In the 200-yard breaststroke, it was Runas who touched up first in a time of 2:17.47 and was 13 seconds ahead of his closest competition. His third victory was posted in the 200-yard IM, as Runas defeated the field with a clocking of 2:06.13, while freshman teammate Nathan Umpornpuckdi (Kennedy HS) was six seconds back to finish in second place at 2:12.99.

As for Hidalgo, his wins came in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 58.58 and in the 100-yard freestyle when he finished in 49.82. Sophomores Derek Klotzer (Downey HS) and Joshua Hanein (Warren HS/Stevens Institude of Technology, NJ CC) placed second and third, respectively in the 100-yard backstroke, with freshman Joshua Owens (Kennedy HS) a close second to Runas in the 100-yard freestyle. Klotzer went on to win the 200-yard backstroke in 2:12.65.

The 200-yard medley relay team of Hidalgo, Delgado, Hanein and Owens posted a first place time of 1:43.63 and were pushed at the end by Daric Johnson (Whittier HS), Umpornpuckdi, Runas and freshman Angel Banuelos (Western HS). Owens posted  two more second place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle (22.68) and 200-yard freestyle (1:52.78). while Umpornpuckdi was second in the 100-yard butterfly in 55.40.

Sophomore diver Scott Robles (Murrieta Valley HS) easily won the 1-meter event with 193.25 points, while freshman Cody Anderson (Valencia HS) finished in third place.

Photo by Daryl Peterson