Running in the Golden West Invitational at Central Park in Huntington Park on Friday, the Cerritos College men's cross country finished in fourth place out of 12 schools with 115 team points. They will run next Friday in the Coach Downey Cross Country Classing at Morley Park in San Diego.

 

The team competed over a four-mile course, with the first Falcon to cross the finish line being Joshua Melendez (St. Paul HS), who came in 15th placer overall with a time of 21:58.3. He was edged out of 14th place by less than a second. Running in a pack heading for the finish line was Luke Dias (Fountain Valley HS), who settled for 25th place overall out of 123 total runners. His time of 22:22.7 was less than a second ahead of the next two who crossed the finish line. Not far behind was Jacob Cosio (California HS), whose time of 22:30.0 earned him a 29th place finish on the day.

 

Running well together as a squad, Matthew Alvarez (Downey HS) was the next Cerritos runner to complete the race, as his time of 22:37.2 earned him a 31st place result, while Edwin Matias (Bell Gardens HS) completed the team scoring. His clocking of 22:46.4 out him in 35th place overall.

 

Those who also ran for the Falcons on the day included Noah Addison (Long Beach Poly HS; 23:17.1; 43rd place), Ben Ramos (California HS; 23:38.7; 50th place), Jeff Chmiel (Lakewood HS; 23:48.3; 54th place), Marcus Hughes (Carson HS; 24:04.6; 58th place), Joseph Melendez (St. Paul HS; 24:15.8; 63rd place), David Morales (El Rancho HS; 24:20.6; 65th place), Shanal De Silva (Warren HS; 24:51.1; 73rd place), Aiden House-Ortiz (Lakewood HS; 24:54.1; 76th place), Angel Serrano (Legacy HS; 25:01.1; 78th place), Jose Ortiz (Norwalk HS; 25:53.9; 84th place) and Justin Smith (Lakewood HS; 27:15.3; 96th place).