Hosting not only their first meet of the season, but also their South Coast Conference opener, the Cerritos College men's swimming team dropped a 155.5-100.5 score to Long Beach City College on Friday. The team will get next week off and then resume conference action when they travel to Mt. San Antonio College to face the Mounties, as well as Chaffey College.

On the day, the Falcons picked up four first place finishes, with sophomore Richard Montanez (Baldwin Park HS) and Kobe Hurtado (Cerritos HS) accounting for two each. Montanez, who also competed in a relay race, earned his first place results in the 500-yard freestyle (5:29.13) and 1000-yard freestyle (11:28.04). He was trailed closely in both events by sophomore teammate Abimael Anorve (Mira Costa HS). He was clocked in 5:31.46 and 11:27.75, respectively in the two races to place second in both.

As for Hurtado, he was the first to touch up in both the 100-yard butterfly (56.57) and 200-yard butterfly (2:16.55) and ended the day by swimming the anchor leg of the 400-yard freestyle that placed third. The quartet of Ruben Montoya (La Serna HS), Anorve, Sebastian Rico (Montebello HS) and Hurtado turned in a time of 3:40.08, while earlier in the day he finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:24.71.

Montanez also tied for second place in the 50-yard freestyle at 24.34, with Montoya earning a second place finish with a time of 1:12.70 in the 100-yard breaststroke. The foursome of Anorve, Montoya, Montanez and Rico registered a third place result in the 200-yard breaststroke at 1:54.87.

Sophomore Joel Rivas (Montebello HS) was the lone entry in the 1-meter diving event and compiled 111.55 points

Photos by Daryl Peterson