In their first competition of the season, the Cerritos College men's cross country team finished eighth at the Mark Covert Invitational on Saturday. Competing at Carbon Canyon Park in Brea, the Falcons compiled 232 team points, which included non-Division I and club teams. They finished third among five community college schools. The team will take their annual trip to Fresno next weekend for the Fresno invitational, which takes place at Woodward Park, site of the CCCAA State Championships in November.

Of the 180 runners that completed the 8K course, freshman Pablo Calderon (Downey HS) finished in 33rd place with a time of 26:39.7, while freshman Fabian Zuniga (Downey HS) was less than a minute behind him, as his time of 27:21.7 put him in 60th place overall. A third freshman, Jaime Quinones (Downey HS), was right on his heels and crossed the finish line in 27:25.5, which put him in 63rd place.

Also part of that tight pack of runners was sophomore Adrian Casas (Gahr HS), who finished in 68th place when he was clocked in a time of 27:40.2, with freshman Vraj Patel (Cerritos HS) accounting for the team's fifth scoring runners, as he placed 82nd overall in 28:00.7.

Those that also competed for the Falcons included Patrick Perez (Downey HS; 28:48.7; 106th place), Ryan Bennett (California HS; 29:02.7; 116th place), freshman Demian Sanchez Lopez (Schurr HS; 30:10.9, 144th place), Darion Blanding (Narbonne HS; 31:03.7; 149th place), Matthew Alcaraz (Schurr HS; 31:12.4, 156th place), Erik Almendares (Bell HS; 31:36.0; 159th place), Jarrian Harrison (Long Beach Wilson HS; 33:45.6; 172nd place) and Joseph Rivera (South El Monte HS; 34:01.8; 173rd place).