Cerritos Women win South Coast Conference Track and Field title
Cerritos College athletes, from left, Kimora Rogers, 4x100m relays, Faitalia Ah-Fook, hammer, Javon Brown, decathlon, Micah Norfles, men’s hammer, Nassar Brown, men’s discus, Colby Owens, mens 400m, and Lauren Berg, steeplechase, took first place in their events in conference during the conference finals on Saturday. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
NORWALK – As the sun was setting on the day-long South Coast Conference Track and Field Championships at Cerritos College, there were members of the Cerritos College team singing to Queens’ “We are the Champions” on the awards stand.
That they were, as they were actually singing in front of a few members of the defending SCC champion Mt. SAC Women’s team.
Last Saturday (April 29) was the second and final day of the SCC Track and Field Championships.
“Having us, honestly, being relieved and excited of our championship win, the song just came naturally,” said sophomore heptathlete Jazzmine Davis, of the song.
Davis also said of throws coach Lloyd Higgins, who passed away and is dearly missed by the Cerritos track and field community, “I’ve worked with Higgins a bit with my throws in the multi and he was always uplifting energy and seeing him in the weight room was always quite a spirit to have and not having him here and just knowing that he’s looking down on us, I felt honored to win for coach Higgins.”
Higgins will be remembered in a gathering later this month at the school.
It was the 14th conference title in school history, and it turned out to be by a semi-wide margin of points. Cerritos, which will be sending 20 athletes to the CCCAA Southern California prelims Friday (May 5) at San Diego Mesa, finished with 307.5 points to 207 for the Mounties. Cerritos last won the title in 2019.
The Falcons came away with nine event winners, which included all four throwing events – javelin (Angela Escobar, 34.05 M), hammer (Faitalia Ah-Fook, 46.25M), discus (Escobar, 41.54M) and shot put (Escobar, 11.19M).
“The energy was there, but I wish Higgins was around,” said Escobar, with a heavy sigh. “It’s been a tough year and I did this for him.
“It (championship) was a big deal, because Mt. SAC won last year’s conference.”
Leading the way with three individual events each was Davis with firsts in the 400 meter hurdles (1:03.39), long jump (5.85 meters) and the Heptathlon (4599 points).
The Falcons won two running events, as sophomore Rionna Wallace finished first in the 100 meters with a time of 12.08.
Wallace also ran a leg of the first-place 4x100 meter relay (45.34) team, along with Davis, Kimora Rogers and Aryianna Faircloth.
Faircloth, who was in four events (4x100, 100M, 200, 4x400) was part of the school record in the 4x100 (45.34) said of the mark, “It’s very exciting, because last year I was on the sidelines with a stress fracture. This year we redeemed ourselves.”
Other top three Falcon placers were: Faircloth, 2nd (100M) 12.12 and second place in the 200M (24.58); Wallace, 3rd (200M) 24.72 and 2nd (Long Jump) 5.66M; Elena Mack, 2nd (400M) 58.65; Sophie Lopez, 2nd (800M) 2:19.39; Lauren Berg, 2nd (3000M steeple chase) 12:27.45; 4x400 relay (Mack, Lopez, Wallace, Davis) 3:54.37; Gia McLin, tied 2nd (HJ) 1.40M; Jourdan Murphy, tied 2nd (HJ) 1.40M; Milika Burdett, 2nd (SP) 11.07, 3rd (hammer) 42.67M; Dimitra Vitogiannis, 3rd (Discus) 38.03; Escobar, 2nd (hammer) 43.03;
Andrea Villalta, 3rd (Javelin) 32.05; Michelle Campos, 2nd (Heptathlon) 3428; Amayaah Williamson, 3rd (Heptathlon) 3087.
“This is the first time in a few years that we have hosted the conference finals,” said Compton Athletic Director Mercedes Luna, of the annual event. “We were fortunate that Cerritos opened up the doors to allow us to use their facility. We thank them greatly.
“We really have to give credit to all of the teams in the conference that have made a contribution again to help with this two-day event.”
On the men’s side, Cerritos had four individual conference champions, which led to a second-place finish in the championships - sophomore Micah Norfles (hammer, 50.92M), sophomore Colby Owens (400M, 48.32), freshman Nasser Brown (Discus, 43.29M) and freshman Javone Brown in the decathlon (4626 points), which took place in early April.
Owens also ran in both relay races.
Other top three placers for the Falcons were Javone Brown (2nd) in the High Jump (1.85 meters) and Bryce Pearson (3rd) also in the high jump (1.85 meters). Pearson finished right behind Brown in the decathlon with 4359 points.
With a second in the shot put was Daniel Chavez (13.31 meters)
“Our focus is to always compete and try to put ourselves (Men) in position to win a conference championship, but we don’t go out of our way to seek a title,” said Cerritos Track and Field coach Chris Richardson, who went to Downey High and was a two-time California State Decathlon Champion at Cerritos College. “It’s an individual sport, but a team atmosphere.”
Cerritos finished with 142 points, while Mt. SAC had 422 for first place.
Norfles, who also finished third in the shot put, is a two-time conference winner in the hammer.
“The funny thing about him is he’s one of those guys that wasn’t the top in CIF (high school championships) or anything, but he came here and worked his butt off and fell in love with the hammer.
“As for that event, there’s nothing that can simulate what it feels like to throw the ball, like other throwing events, with 500 pounds of pressure in that ball and release it. It can travel sometimes 70 miles per hour.”
In the So Cal’s, the men will send 14 athletes to the championships.
“It’s fun when you have a big group going to So Cals,” said Richardson, of the 34 athletes that will represent Cerritos. “That’s what we’ve been trying to prepare them for all year. We went to Sacramento and Stanford and that’s to get them ready to travel.
“I saw so much maturation in these athletes in the last couple of weeks. They are a little apprehensive and it’s new to a lot of them. You just have to just be patient and be ready.”
What they said:
Chris Richardson, Cerritos Track & Field coach: “It’s a huge honor (championship) because our conference is probably the toughest in the state when it comes to California Community Colleges. Our program here at Cerritos College is to develop our student athletes and expose them to different events.”
Andrea Alvarado, freshman: “I was very anxious and very nervous and training to get this PR (10.50M) in the triple jump. Just to make it to So Cal’s.”
Rionna Wallace, sophomore: “It felt good to beat Mt. SAC and they felt like we (Cerritos) didn’t have a chance to beat them. It was interesting to see us go out and show them.”
Elena Mack, freshman: “It (conference championships) was fun, and I came into it not knowing what to expect. I’m trying to be laser focused these next few weeks.”
Javone Brown, freshman: “We’re on our way to regionals and hope to do our best. The decathlon was new to me and for my first year in this event. I had to learn all of the events and I came out as conference champ.”
Kimora Rogers, freshman: “It felt good to win conference and it put a smile on our faces. It felt it brought the team together.”