Crowd members all enjoyed watching this year’s edition of Mr. Cerritos on March 16, with Anime Club’s German Sanchez winning the title, and with Kabarkada club’s Chris Strawder coming in second.

“I am in shock. There were honestly people who were actually ‘sexier’ than I am, and I thought that they were going to win and not me,” Sanchez said.

This year’s Mr. Cerritos contest had 10 students get involved, and it gave students a chance to show their talents.

The informational meeting on March 11 gave the contestants information of what is allowed in their performances and what is expected in the event.

Afterward, Strawder began to get in the zone for the contest.

“I was kind of pressured to be in the contest, and I am nervous; but I’ve been working out and listening to music everyday, trying to get in the zone by listening to my beats,” Strawder said.

Accounting major, Justin McIntyre, who represented iFalcon, was also trying to get ahead by getting ready early, and have fun with the event.

“I’ve been watching my diet, and been working out a lot. I plan to start lifting weights and eat healthier; just trying to get rid of my pudge I got going in, and have a six pack by ‘Mr. Cerritos,'” McIntyre said jokingly.

The day of the Mr. Cerritos competition, participants were set with their creativity and were ready to show judges and the crowd why they should be the winners.

“I’ve seen a lot of talent here over the years, and every time this event happens, it’s different. It surprises me to see a lot of what (the participants) do, but in a good way,” Ray Martinez, the MC of the competition, said.

The first events of the competition were random questions and a short performance by the participants.

Those who got a huge applause and reaction from the crowd were Strawder, whose answer to the question, “if you can ask anyone living or dead any question, who and what would it be?” and he answered by saying, “I would ask Michael Jackson if he can teach me how to moonwalk”.

Strawder would follow by dancing the ‘Cat Daddy’ which got the crowd into the performance.

Another participant who got a loud reaction was McIntyre, whose performance and jokes revolved around him being compared to singer Justin Bieber, and jokingly claiming that Bieber was his idol.

McIntyre’s performance was him performing and dancing to Bieber’s song,”Baby.”

The loudest reaction was given to Sanchez, who ran independent.

Sanchez put on the gimmick of a little old man in a young person’s competition.

“(When getting ready for Mr. Cerritos) I was thinking, ‘what exactly can I do that is good but untraditional?’ Then I thought, ‘what if I do an old man?’ It was funny because I watched this old guy dancing, and I thought it would be cool to do that because he was all crunched down, and next thing you know, ‘Oh! I’m dancing!'” Sanchez said.

The second event of the Mr. Cerritos was the swimsuit competition.

The crowd’s reaction went towards Strawder and Sanchez.

Strawder came out by flexing and ‘strutting his stuff’, and representing his club by carrying the Filipino flag.

Sanchez continued his old man gimmick, and added swim trunks and a shirt that said ‘Sexy Grandpa Time,’ which brought a huge reaction from the crowd.

The crowd and judges alike voted Sanchez as the winner, and Strawder as the runner up.

Martinez was very impressed by Sanchez’ creativity.

“I’m happy for the winner. I mean, let’s give it up to the old man,” Martinez said while chuckling.

“It was funny because I thought German was confused that this was a Halloween contest, but it all worked out. Everyone got into his performance, and he finally showed what he can do, and he did a good job.”

Though Strawder was the runner-up, he was happy he did well.

“(Mr. Cerritos) was great. I had a lot of good competition, and fortunately enough, I came in second. I’m feeling pretty good about myself,” Strawder said.