Posted: May 13, 2023

Valenzuela, Deluna Finish Top-Four, Qualify for State Championship

by Cerwin D Haynes

Back in 2019, East Los Angeles College Track & Field head coach Milton Browne knew he had to rebuild his program from the gorund up. Unfortunately, having two seasons wiped out due to Covid slowed his efforts.

While he was frustrated with the setbacks, he always had an eye on this season to be the one where his program would begun its ascension. And even this season had some setbacks, as top runners such as Fernando Valenzuela had to recover mid-season from injuries and get back into peak running shape.

"It takes two weeks from returning from injury to get back into [competition] shape," said Coach Browne. Thankfully for Browne, Valenzuela and teammate Carlos Deluna were in plenty good shape yesterday at the SoCal Regional Finals hosted by San Diego. Both qualified for the 3C2A State Championships next week in Modesto.

In the Men's 400 Dash, freshman Fernando Valenzuela (no relation to the famous Dodgers' pitcher of 1980's fame) finished fourth. His time of 48.63 beat out the automatic State qualifying time by .01 seconds.

Meanwhile, in the Men's 400 Hurdles, sophomore Carlos Deluna also finished fourth. His time of 55.58 beat the State standard time of 56.00.

It'll be the first time post-pandemic that the Green's men will have runners qualify. The Championships will begin Friday, May 19.