Racing in the South Coast Conference Championships on Friday, the Cerritos College men's cross country team finished with 88 team points, which put them in third place. The Falcons will now travel back to Bakersfield College to compete in the Southern California Championships next Friday.

Leading the way for the Falcons in the four-mile race at Palos Verdes XC Course was Jose Garcia Chavez (Norwalk HS), whose time of 23:39.9 earned him an eighth place finish and 2nd Team All-South Coast Conference honors. The top seven finishers were named 1st Team all-conference and Garcia was three seconds behind the seventh place finisher.

It was two minutes before the next Cerritos runner crossed the finish line, as Jeff Chmiel (Lakewood HS) posted a 24th place time of 25:42.2 and pulled ahead of teammate Rogelio Garcia (Salesian HS), who posted a 27th place time of 25:49.6. Next up for the Falcons was Aiden House-Ortiz (Lakewood HS), who used his kick to pass a couple of runners and finished 34th overall in a time of 26:19.0.

The final runner that helped build the team score was Alan Diaz (Katella HS), who was clocked in 26:54.9 and finished in 43rd place out of 77 runners. Also running for Cerritos included Daniel Gomez (Santa Fe HS; 28:36.6; 48th place), Jose Ortiz (Norwalk HS; 29:13.1; 55th place), Angel Serrano (South Gate HS; 29:54.3; 61st place) and Hector Hernandez (Paramount HS; 34:28.3; 73rd place).