After a three-week layoff, the Cerritos College men's cross country team came in fourth place at the South Coast Conference Championships on Friday. The Falcons, competing at Hahamonga Park in Pasadena, finished with 97 team points and were edged for third place by one point, as Los Angeles Trade-Tech College recorded 96 points. Mt. San Antonio College won the championship with 32 points, with El Camino College taking second place with 66 points. Next Friday, the team will compete in the Southern California Championships, which will take place at Woodley Park in Van Nuys.

Completing the four-mile course first for Cerritos was sophomore Francisco Ortiz (Katella HS), who posted a time of 20:58.20 and placed fifth out of 64 runners. Sophomore Anthony Lozano (La Serna HS) came in 12th place overall in 21:24.95, with freshman Eric Sanchez (Katella HS) turning his time of 22:00.46 in for a 23rd place overall. Both Ortiz (pictured, left) and Sanchez earned all-conference honors.

What allowed LA Trade-Tech to finish ahead of the Falcons was their ability to block their runners in the third through fifth places on the team, which accounted for their team scoring. The Beavers had the 20th, 21st and 24th overall finishers, while Cerritos dropped to 28th place (34th overall) with freshman Joshua Quarles (Cerritos HS), who had a time of 22:36.93. The fifth runner for Cerritos, sophomore Donaldo Lopez (Gahr HS) posted the 36th fastest time (30 team points) in 22:50.01.

Also running for the Falcons were Zacharie Ponce (Long Beach Poly HS; 37th place; 22:55.21), George Robinson (Washington Prep HS; 41st place; 23:02.75), Alejandro Rios (Chino HS; 47th place; 22:38.78), Jorge Ayala (Artesia HS; 51st lace; 24:19.15), Daniel Garcia (Whittier HS; 55th place; 24:49.82), Ryan Lopez (Montebello HS; 59th place; 25:25.42) and Kevin Rodriguez (Whittier HS; 60th place; 25:40.59).