The Associated Students of Cerritos College held the Annual Chili cook-off during Hoe Down Days on March 16.

Contestants competed in three different categorize and the Winners were announced in the Student center as follows: Claudia Gonzalez won most unique chili, Marco Tolento won the hottest chili and Chris Markowski won judges’ favorite chili.

Spice Club Member Gonzalez won “Most Unique Chili” because of her recipe that contained a variety of meats.

Judge and ASCC President Felipe Grimaldo claimed Gonzalez’ chili as his favorite, saying, “I am kind of a big guy so I love all the meat inside the chili.”

Focusing on just one category, was Economics Club member Marco Tolento, who was successful in making the hottest chili, by winning the hottest chili award.

“We [Tolento and two friends] basically wanted to make the hottest chili out there from the beginning and we did that,” Tolento said.

One mistake during the announcement of the awards led Chris Markowski to believe that he won most unique chili instead of judges favorite.

To his surprise he won the most wanted award of the contest and later said why his chili might have tasted fresher than the rest.

“Most of my ingredients were home grown,” Markowski said.

Another former winner of the judges favorite award was Grimaldo, who took the award two years ago and was now asked to be a judge, due to his positions on campus.

The Grimaldo said events like the chili cook-off are good for students and that he would also like to see more participation.