Led by freshman Keyaun Sterling (Carson HS), who accounted for 10 team points, the Cerritos College men's track and field tied for 11th place at the CCCAA State Championships over the weekend. The Falcons compiled 17 team points, which tied them with Fresno City College and Modesto College. South Coast Conference rival Mt. San Antonio College, who hosted the event, won the state championship. Cerritos was the next highest finishing team from the conference.

Sterling turned in his second place jump of 7.12 meters on his second of six attempts, and trailed only Myles Massie of Mt. SAC, whose first jump of 7.27 meters turned out to be the state championship leap. Sterling cleared seven meters on his third jump, but was unable to improve on his mark and secured the second place mark at the state championships. In the triple jump, Sterling recorded his best distance of 14.56 meters on his second jump. He fouled on his next two attempts and eventually passed on his last try. His best distance earned him a seventh place finish.

The 400-meter relay team of LaVelle Sowell (Carson HS), Jaheim Williams (Compton HS), Colby Owens (Milford Mill Academy, MD HS) and Jordan Miller (Santa Monica HS) recorded a time of 41.48, which put them in sixth place, while the 1600-meter relay team was unable to finish their race. That quartet consisted of Owens, Caleb Dunomes (Long Beach Poly HS), Williams and Gary Morrow (Bellflower HS).

High jumper Alan Tabales (Long Beach Millikan HS) earned the Falcons one team point with his eighth place finish when he cleared 1.90 meters. He cleared the height on his second of three attempts, but could not clear 1.95 meters, which could have catapulted him as high as fourth place.

In the decathlon, Bryce Pearson (Bellflower HS) finished with 5699 points, which put him in sixth place. Entering the second day of the event, Pearson was sitting in fourth place, but after posting the 11th best time in the 110-meter hurdles (18.01) and 10th best discus throw (25.96 meters), Pearson dropped down in the standings. He capped off the 10-event decathlon with a time of 4:56.46 in the 1500 meters, which was the fourth best time of the 12 entries. The time was 20 seconds off his personal best time of 4:34.73 that he turned in at the Southern California Championships.

Photos by Daryl Peterson