Competing in their first meet of the season, the Cerritos College men's cross country team braved the heat at Carbon Canyon Park in Brea on Saturday. The Falcons went up against 18 other schools and running groups at the Mark Covert Classic and finished with 491 team points, which put them in 17th place overall. The team will get an early look at the CCCAA State Championship course next Saturday, as they head to central California to compete in the Fresno Invitational at Woodward Park.

In the 8K run on Saturday, Cerritos saw their first finisher come in 76th place overall, as Pablo Calderon (Downey HS) posted a time of 26:55.8. Due to large numbers on the day, runners were finishing the race in large blocks. In a 30-second span, upwards of 20 runners would cross the finish line. It would take 1:05 for the next Falcon runner to finish, as Jaime Quinones (Downey HS) was clocked in 28:00.1, which put him in 130th out of 221 total runners.

Not too far behind was Alberto Serrano (St. John Bosco HS), whose time of 28:21.2 put him in 137th place, while Antonio Calderon (La Mirada HS) finished the course in 148th place overall with his time of 28:35.7. The fifth Cerritos runner to cross the finish line was Anthony Cano (Whittier HS), who posted a 161st place time of 28:57.2.

Rounding out the roster on the day were Jordy Mazariegos (La Mirada HS; 29:39.1; 172nd place), Daniel Alonzo (Artesia HS; 29:55.9; 175th place), Joshua Williams (Los Alamitos HS; 30:25.3; 184th place), Demian Sanchez Lopez (Schurr HS; 30:48.2; 191st place), Eliab Ruiz (Norwalk HS; 32:10.3; 205th place), Joe Munoz (Long Beach Jordan HS; 33:21.1; 211th place) and Dhruv Patel (Cypress HS; 33:58.3; 213th place).