With the speed and agility of athletes such as Erin Straughter and Kelsey Caeser, the Cerritos track and field team proves that it is a force to be reckoned with.

Last Thursday through Saturday at the Cerritos College Invitational, the Falcons medaled in 18 events.

Straughter led the women’s team placing first in both the 200-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles.

She ran a personal best in the 400-meter hurdles of 65.71 seconds.

“I’m off to a good start, but hopefully I will continue to get better,” Straughter said.

The speed of Caeser led the way for the men’s team.

He placed first in two individual events as well.

In the 200-meter he ran it in 21.58 seconds and the 400-meter in 47.56 seconds.

These two athletes have a strong supporting cast with athletes such as Cyntrail Pierce and Bruce McCall.

Pierce explained, “It was my first time running the 100-meters and I came in first, so that felt great.”

Pierce ran the 100-meter in 11.8 seconds.

Coach Allen appears to be satisfied with Pierces performance on Saturday.

“Pierce is doing really well. Her time in the 100-meter event will get her invited to the USC Invitational on Sunday. She will probably have one of the best times in the state,” Allen said.

While McCall placed third in the triple jump with a distance of 47′ 1/4″, he may have done better if he wasn’t pulled away from that event to make it in time to run another event.

McCall knows that Cerritos College track and field is mostly known for the women’s team but hopes to make the men’s team known as well

“Our reputation is mainly known for the women being good, but our men came out winning events so we’re about to have a reputation for the men as well.

The list of talent for the Falcons track and field team goes on and on.

Nick Armstrong placed first in the decathlon and Karen Guravska came in first as well in the pole vault.

Allen said, “Armstrong did real well winning the decathlon for us and Guravska broke the school record in the pole vault. We’re expecting big things out of Guravska in the pole vault, high jump and in the javelin.”

The Cerritos College Invitational gave the athletes on this team a taste of what’s in store for them this season.

“Overall this meet was a good opener. I think they learned a few things,” Allen added. “Hopefully they learned two important things, that we’re not going to baby them, they’re college athletes and we expect them to compete like college athletes.”