ELAC Men's Cross Country Runners Get Seven Personal Best Times at SoCal
CERRITOS, Calif. — Getting a glimpse of the course to the SoCal Championships, the East Los Angeles College men’s cross country team each ran personal best times in the SoCal Preview meet.
The Huskies placed 24th of 28 colleges in the 4-mile men’s race, which was a flat course at Don Knabe Community Regional Park. South Coast Conference rival Cerritos College hosted the event, which is one of the largest meets in the state. San Diego Mesa College won the competition. The Huskies bested SCC foe Los Angeles Harbor College.
“(ELAC’s) times were significantly improved from last week,” said ELAC cross country head coach Kathryn Kelly. “We have a lot to work on but we will get there.”
The top three Huskies finished 1-2-3 for ELAC for the second straight week. Freshman Daniel Morales (Bravo Medical Magnet School), an English major, crossed the finish line with a season best time of 22:12.3 minutes, as did San Diego City College sophomore Juan Camacho. They both squeezed by Orange Coast freshman Justin Dominguez who ran 22:13.0.
The Huskies continue to show power in their final sprints to the finish line. Sophomore Allen Yeung (San Gabriel HS), who is majoring in Kinesiology, also had a personal best run and finished in 22:48.5, the same time as San Bernardino Valley sophomore Humberto Guzman. Both men edged El Camino freshman Christian Moreno by 1.5 seconds.
Freshman Justin Frias (Arroyo HS), a Fire Technology major, ended with a personal record of 23:43.9 edging Orange Coast freshman Mateo Nicanor by 1.6 seconds. Arturo Fernandez (Applied Technology Center HS), who is majoring in Art / General Studies, recorded the most improved personal record of the day for ELAC, running more than a minute faster than his previous best time.
Closing the scoring for the Huskies was sophomore Business Administration major Joshua Cardenas who finished in 25:21.9. He saved his best for last with a sprint-kick good enough to beat Santa Barbara City freshman Carlos Castillo. It was a photo-like finish with Cardenas running 4/100s of a second faster. Cardenas improved last year’s season-best time by more than five minutes.
Freshman Isaac Alegandrealbizures (Vail HS), a Journalism major, finished with his second straight personal best time of the season in 25:51.6. Freshman Daniel Garcia (Bell Gardens HS), a mathematics major, was neck-and-neck with Orange Coast freshman Ernesto Zepeda the final 100-meters. Garcia won by 4/100s of a second faster recording a personal record.
Not to be outdone, freshman Efren Machorro (La Causa YouthBuild Charter School of California), majoring in Architectural Drafting, increased his pace 200-meters through to the end, finishing ahead of Harbor sophomore Jorge Aguilar by 10 seconds.
The Huskies next compete in the Golden West Central Park Classic, Friday, Sept. 21 starting at 10 a.m. located at Central Park in Huntington Beach, 6622 Lakeview Drive, 92648.
Follow ELAC Athletics at http://athletics.elac.edu/landing/index or on Facebook at ELAC Huskies Athletics (@elachuskiesathletics).
submitted by Tadzio Garcia