Men's Track and Field Team Wins Title

Freshman Joshua Taylor is the men’s long jump champion and scored all of the Huskies 16 points to lead them to a 16th place finish at the 2015 CCCAA Southern California Track and Field Championships May 9 at Cerritos College.

“It is the first time in ELAC history that the Huskies finished first in both the men’s and women’s long jump at the SoCal Championships in the same year,” said Husky Assistant Coach David Loera.

Taylor jumped to a personal record with his win.

He was on the cusp of just making the playoffs (SoCal). He was seeded No. 6 entering the South Coast Conference finals. Only six would qualify for postseason.

Taylor leaped to a personal record of 22.74 feet (6.93 meters), stunned everyone but himself and the ELAC coaches, and won the SCC long jump crown. In the SoCal Preliminaries on May 2 he had a personal record and jumped 22.97 (7.00 meters) and was top seed entering the SoCal finals.

In the SoCal finals he jumped to yet another personal record (23.46 feet/7.15 meters) and won first place. Taylor is the No. 5-seed at the state finals behind four NoCal finalists.

Taylor had a personal record, which was good enough for third place in the triple jump at SoCal. “He began competing in the triple jump this year and is a state finalist,” said Loera.

The state finals are at College of San Mateo on May 15 and 16.

Freshman Cesar Santiesteban and Ramiro Arreola were SoCal finalists. Santiesteban threw a personal record on his last throw of his first year on the East Los Angeles College men’s track & field team.

Santiesteban took 10th place in the shot put.

Arreola placed 12th in the javelin throw nursing an injury. He was also a SoCal semifinalist in the shot put.  

Freshman Andrew Perez was a SoCal semifinalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

story by Tadzio Garcia