Competing in their South Coast Conference opener at Long Beach City College on Friday, the Cerritos College men's swimming team won one of their two meets. The Falcons (1-1) handed Chaffey College a 172-62 decision, while they suffered a 142-109 loss against the host Vikings. The meet was originally scheduled to take place at the Falcon Aquatics Center, but construction forced the location change. Next weekend, the team will compete in the Cuesta Invitational.

Six first place finishes highlighted the day, with sophomore Jason Ly (Villa Park HS) and freshman Nigel Rueda (Schurr HS) each winning two events, while sophomores Isiah Gaytan (Whittier HS) and Jesus Rojas (Colegio Fray Luis Amigo, Venezuela) both won one event. Additionally, both relay teams posted second place finishes.

For Ly, he won the 200-yard backstroke in a time of 2:04.05, while his time of 2:06.56 was good enough to beat the field in the 200-yard IM. He also placed second in the 100-yard backstroke with a clocking of 56.37. Rueda earned a win in the 100-yard breaststroke when he touched up in 1:08.83, while his time of 2:32.36 was good enough to win the 200-yard breaststroke.

Gaytan held off Long Beach City's Myles Martinez in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:02.74, which was one second ahead of second place. However, in the 500-yard freestyle later in the day, Martinez returned the favor, as he beat Gaytan (5:20.56) by one second with his time of 5:19.64. In the 200-yard butterfly, Gaytan picked up a second place finish with his time of 2:15.03.

Rojas won the 100-yard butterfly when his time of 55.93 was less than one second ahead of the Vikings Shaun Spalding, who finished in 56.03. It was a close race in the 50-yard freestyle, with Rojas (22.52) missing out on winning the event, as LBCC's Mark Denison completed the two laps in 22.06, with freshman Arturo Ortuno (Universidad La Salle, Mexico) taking third place in 24.74. Rojas also took second place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.70.

In the relay events, the quartet of Rueda, freshman Kaito Hori (Japan), Ortuno and freshman Kento Anjima (Yokosuka, Japan) placed second in the 400-yard freestyle with a time of 3:45.81. The Falcons second entry in the event posted a third place time of 3:51.40 and consisted of Miguel Reynoso, Jake Evans (Long Beach Wilson HS), Chris Martinez (Paramount HS) and Cristian Garcia (Gahr HS). The first event of the day saw Cerritos finish a close second place in the 200-yard medley relay, with the foursome of Ly, Rueda, Gaytan and Rojas recording a time of 1:46.65, which was a little over two seconds behind Long Beach City.

Photos by Daryl Peterson