Zachary Munoz, sophomore, was the lone athlete to represent the men’s track and field team in the Southern California Decathlon Championship.
Munoz said that he did okay overall in the meet, and while there are always things to improve he is exactly where he needs to be.
“I feel like I am sitting in a pretty good spot, and I am ready to compete in the state meet,” he said.
By the end of the meet, which took place on Tuesday, April 4 and Wednesday, April 5, Munoz would total 5,998 points, good for a third place overall finish .
Director of Track and Field Christopher Richardson said, “He did exactly what we wanted this past week in our regional championship.”
Despite only finishing in third place Munoz had individual event success through the competition.
He was able to mark the best distance in the long jump with 6.32 meters; he placed second in the discus, javelin and shotput; finally he placed third in the high jump with a height of 1.76 meters.
Prior to his time at Cerritos Munoz competed at Cal State Fullerton where he also competed in the decathlon. Since his time at Cerritos he has bested his total points for his event by over 400 points.
Munoz said that being able to compete against other division one schools, “Definitely,” help both physically and mentally prepare for this season.
Richardson stated that Munoz has matured since his time on the team, and that he has developed into a strong decathlete.
Munoz now qualifies for the CCCAA State Championship, and will represent Cerritos in the decathlon.
“I am planning on [Munoz] being a State Champion come May,” Richardson said.
Like the women’s team, the men competed in the Cerritos Invitational on Friday, April 7.
There the team would have seven top-5 finished on the day– four in running events and three in throwing events.
Freshman thrower Jorge Gonzalez would bring home two third place finishes for the Falcons. He finished third in both javelin and discus; his distant for the javelin was 40.71 meters and threw for a distance of 47.77 meters in the discus.
The relay teams for the Falcons brought home first and second place finishes. The 400-meter relay team comprised of Saadiq Jennings, Jahmal King, Tyler Coffman and Jaydon Logan ran brought in the second place finish with a final time of 42.75 seconds.
In the 1600-relay, the team of King, Jhamani Long, Clay Green and Jaydon Logan clocked a time of 3:14.01 minutes good for first place finish- the only first place finish of the day.
The relay teams will be competing in the Mt. SAC Relay Invitational Saturday, April 15, and Richardson in confident that whomever runs in the event will represent the team well.
He said, “Our strength is our quality of depth, but I am confident whomever we put in the track is going to represent Cerritos College at a high level.”
The men have had to overcome the freshness of the athletes that have come in this season, as according to Richardson most of the team are freshman.
He sees this as a non-issue, and that he believes the training for the men will show come post-season meets.
“We have 4 weeks till we need to be ready so we are up to using that time to get our mind and bodies to the highest level of performance,” Richardson finished.
