On Saturday at the CCCAA State Championships, five of the six Cerritos College men's cross country runners improved their times from the first time they competed at Woodward Park in Fresno. The end result was that the Falcons came in ninth place as a team with 321 team points, with only two teams from Northern California finishing ahead of them. The Southern California teams comprised 12 of the top 14 teams at the state championships, with College of the Canyons winning the title with 79 teams points.

Sophomore Francisco Ortiz (Katella HS) earned All-American status by coming in 13th place overall with a clocking of 20:36.2, which was over a minute faster than the first time he ran the course back in early September. Seven runners finished in a pack less than four seconds apart and Ortiz (pictured, left) was third in that group, which helped him earn his post-season honor. Half a minute later, sophomore Anthony Lozano (La Serna HS) came in 45th place with a time of 21:16.6, which was 46 seconds ahead of his time from earlier in the season.

The duo of sophomore Eric Sanchez (Katella HS) and freshman Joshua Quarles (Cerritos HS) each improved on their time by 1:03 to help the Falcons finish in the top 10 in the state. Sanchez posted a time of 21:45.5, which put him in 74th place, with Quarles taking 82nd with a time of 21:53.0. The fifth runner to round out the team scoring was sophomore George Robinson (Washington Prep HS), whose time of 22:13.1 put him in 108th place. Sophomore Donaldo Lopez (Gahr HS) and freshman Zacharie Ponce (Long Beach Poly HS) also ran for Cerritos on the day. Lopez took 134th place in 22:34.9, while Ponce posted a time of 22:41.3, which was good for 142nd place.