One of the oldest records in school history was broken on the third day of the South Coast Conference Championships, as the Cerritos College finished in third place as a team. Over the course of the three-day tournament at Chaffey College, the Falcons compiled 607 points to finish in third place and trailed only El Camino College (679 points) and Mt. San Antonio College (654). Breaking the 35-year record in the 400-freestyle relay was the same quartet that  set  a new school record in the 200-yard freestyle relay on the first day.

Freshman Joshua Owens (Kennedy HS), sophomore Joshua Hanein (Warren HS/Stevens Institute of Technology, NJ CC), freshman Marcus Delgado (La Serna HS) and sophomore Enrico Hidalgo (Kennedy HS) won the conference championship with a time of 3:10.94. The time was :17 seconds faster than their entry time and it eclipsed the school record of 3:12.24 set in 1978 by Mark Snyder, Jeff Robinson, Cliff Jolley and Jerry Caldwell. One of the keys to winning the race and setting the school record was the 46.90 time turned in by Delgado in the third leg.

The four swimmers prepared for the record-breaking time by swimming well in the 100-yard freestyle, as they combined to earn Cerritos 45 points, with Owens coming in third place with a time of 48.00. The trio of Hidalo (48.66), Hanein (48.78) and Deldago (48.92) finished in fifth through seventh, respectively. In the 200-yard butterfly, freshman Nathan Umpornpuckdi (Kennedy HS) turned in a third place time of 1:59.33, while freshman Eugene Runas (Long Beach Millikan HS) checked in with a fifth place time of 2:11.42 in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Sophomore Derek Klotzer (Downey HS) finished the 200-yard backstroke with a fifth place time of 2:08.24, with freshman Angel Banuelos (Western HS) in seventh place at 2:11.61. Sophomore Kenny deWinstanley (Santa Fe HS) placed 10th in the 200-yard breaststroke as he finished with a time of 2:23.00.

Next up for the Falcons will be the State Championships, which will be held at East Los Angeles College from Thursday through Saturday. Representing Cerritos will be:

Eugene Runas - 100-Yard Breaststroke
Eugene Runas - 200-Yard Breaststroke
200-Yard Freestyle Relay
200-Yard Medley Relay
400-Yard Freestyle Relay
400-Yard Medley Relay

Photo by Daryl Peterson