With two weeks left in the post season, Torion Bailey is looking toward the Southern California State championship along with 14 fellow runners from The Cerritos men’s track team.
The men’s track team managed to send a total of 21 of it’s athletes to the state competition that excelled in the regular season.
Bailey, out of Mayfair High School, looks to lead the team to a successful state performance.
“He’s been doing good so far,” track team coordinator, Doug Wells, said about Bailey. “I think he’s improved, he’s running slightly faster than last year.”
Though Wells thinks Bailey has “slightly” improved his times, Bailey’s former times were apparently impressive as he managed to help the team capture second place in the South Coast Conference.
He also set two school records this past year. He posted the fifth best time in school history for the 800m at 1:52.38. And with the help of Juan Tapia, Kevin Avery, and LaRon Taylor, they set the sixth best time for the 1600m relay with the time of 3:11.86.
Last year Bailey managed to accomplish something no Cerritos track runner had done. He won the state championship in the 800m race his freshman year.
Bailey is also on the Cross Country team at Cerritos. Bailey was only the third Falcon to finish the state championship race in Cross Country with a time of 21:42.
In high school, Bailey was named the schools athlete of the year as a senior and was selected to the schools Hall of Fame.
In track he won the Suburban League championship in the 400m as a junior and a senior. He won the league championship in the 800m as a senior and was a state qualifier in the 800m as a junior.
He earned the title of MVP of the league his junior year and was also a 1st team All-State and CIF selection.
“I think the season went pretty good,” Bailey said. “I think there is still room for improvement.”
He hopes to improve for the Southern California State championship, which takes place this Saturday. “I hope to run 53 or 54 seconds in the first lap [of the 800m] and to finish strong the last 400m.”
The Southern California Championships will take place this Saturday at Antelope Valley.
