Cerritos College, the defending CCCAA State Champions, are looking for their second straight title and fourth in the last seven years this weekend. After the first day of the championships at Mt. San Antonio College, the Falcons are in second place with 15 team points, but only three events have been completed. The remainder of the championships will take place on Saturday.

Of the three completed events, Cerritos scored in all three and were led by freshman thrower Destiny Mack-Talalemotu (Long Beach Millikan HS), who earned eight team points by coming in second place in the javelin. She was joined by sophomore distance runner Karina Sanchez (Warren HS), a third place finisher in the 10,000 meters, as well as sophomore Dorienne Ordaz (Bravo HS), who placed eighth in the hammer.

After the first four events of the heptathlon, defending state champion Alexus Dalton (Long Beach Poly HS) leads by 103 points and will finish her three other events on Saturday.

In the javelin, Mack-Talalemotu came in with the second best distance in the state and with her throw of 131-05, was still 17 feet behind state champion Taylor Coffelt of Riverside City College. Sanchez turned in a time of 38:46.89 for her third place performance and was :14 seconds behind the second place finisher. Ordaz posted her best throw of 156-02 on her first throw and had three competitors move ahead of her on their last throws. Mack-Talalemotu finished 10th in the event.

Photos by Daryl Peterson