ELAC men’s T&F gets SCC champion
LONG BEACH, CA — The East Los Angeles College Huskies men’s track and field team took fourth place and a first place finish in the shot put at the South Coast Conference Championships.
It is the highest finish for the Huskies since they won fourth place in 2012.
Defending state champion Mt. SAC won the SCC team title, followed by Cerritos (second place) El Camino, ELAC, and Long Beach City / Pasadena City colleges who tied for fifth.
Sophomore Cesar Santiesteban (Cathedral HS) won the shot put in 14.22 meters and is the third ELAC SCC men’s T&F champion in three years.
All-American Joshua Taylor won the 2015 SCC long jump title. He worked with Assistant Coach David Loera. All-American Gonzalo Ceja won the 2014 SCC title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase run. He worked with Coach Louis Ramirez and Assistant Coach Yannick Allain.
Assistant Coach Ernesto Zuniga, who worked with Santiesteban last year, is the 2016 Assistant Coach of the SCC Championships voted by head coaches of each college.
“I’ve been working at ELAC for 20 years and I am appreciative of the award. I worked with Cesar (Santiesteban) along with (Assistant) Coach Liz Herrera,” said Zuniga.
Santiesteban placed second in the javelin with a personal best throw of 170.28 feet and finished in third place in the discus with a personal throw.
He scored 26 points, the most for ELAC since All-American Oscar Ogwaro’s 30 points in the 2007 SCC finals when he won the 10,000-meter, 5,000-meter and 3,000-meter steeplechase runs.
Sophomore Cristian Flores (Bell Gardens HS) placed fourth in the steeplechase. He also scored for the Huskies in his first-ever 10,000-meter run with a seventh place finish.
Sophomores Fernando Jauregui (Hollywood HS) and Agustin Arias (Montebello HS) took 13th and 16th places, respectively. Jauregui ended his ELAC career with a personal record in the event.
In the 5,000-run, Huskies crossed the finish line in the following order: Flores in 10th place, Jauregui, sophomore Justin Flores (Alhambra HS), freshman Antonio Chamu (Los Angeles River HS and Arias. Torres ran a personal record.
Torres kept up with the lead pack in the 1,500-meter run for all three laps. The result was a personal record and a seventh place finish out-of-24 competitors.
The ELAC 4 x 100-relay team fell less than a second short of a SoCal spot—freshmen Shiloh Jordan (Maryland New Town HS), Joshua Palmer (Baltimore Randallstown HS), Anthony Jovel (Bell Gardens HS) and Santiesteban.
In the final event of the meet, the 4 x 400-meter relay, the Huskies placed sixth. The ELAC contingent were on their feet supporting the team of Jordan, Flores, Torres and Chamu, which the latter three competed directly after the 10,000-run.
Jordan ran his opening 200 meters with a personal record of 0.23 seconds.
The ELAC men’s team qualified for six spots at SoCal Championships Prelims on May 7 at Antelope Valley College—Santiesteban in the discus, javelin and shot put throws, Flores in the steeplechase and 5,000 runs and Torres in the 1,500-run.
submitted by Tadzio Garcia