After narrowly missing finishing third in the South Coast Conference Preliminaries last Tuesday, the track and field teams looks to gain some more ground during tomorrow’s conference finals at Cerritos.

The Warriors combined for a total of 28 points last Tuesday, which placed them fourth in the event behind leading Mt. SAC, Cerritos and East L.A.

The South Coast Conference finals will be tomorrow, which is where coach Dean Lofgren anticipates the Warriors to perform well in the events that they have excelled with in the past.

“We have the shot and the long jump,” Lofgren said. “It can be a potentially big day for us.”

Freshman Jacob Weintraub proved he can dominate in more than just the shot put by placing first in the discuss event.

“I’m good, but I want the top spot. I have a lot more in me,” Weintraub said.

For the women, freshman Na’I Leni had a third place finish in the discus event.

Leni, who is trying to add a discuss record to go along with her shot put record, admits that the discus has taken some time to get used to.

“It is a new event for me,” Leni said. “My coaches tell me that I should catch on quick.”

Leni’s performance qualifies her to compete in the Southern California Championship preliminaries on May 3.

Continuing the freshman parade was Alex Gorney, who finished fourth in the 3,000 meter steeple in just over ten minutes.

Gorney’s performance automatically qualifies him to compete at the So Cal championships as well.

“It takes a little pressure off but mostly it motivates me a lot,” Gorney said. “I have a good chance of qualifying for the state meet.”

First-year sprinters Jennifer Shoate and Shavonya Decure competed well in the 200-meter event Decure took a first place finish running her heat in 26.50 seconds.

Sophmore Gabriela Rubi was the highlight for the women’s events by running her heat of the 1,500 meter run in 5:26.77 seconds, which places her 6th in the EC record books.

Even though Mt. SAC does have a large lead in overall points, Lofgren and the Warriors know there is still plenty of time to compete well and finish the season strong, especially since many athletes are already set to compete in the South Coast Conference championships tomorrow at Cerritos.

Lofgren was pleased by many of the individual performances last Tuesday, some of which were able to place high enough to automatically qualify them for the state championships.

Before the championships however, the Warriors will compete tomorrow in the last round of the South Conference finals.

Lofgren said he believes that the possibilities are endless for this team, and he would not be surprised if the athletes advance to the state finals at Cerritos.

“We are not counting ourselves out,” Lofgren said. “We are going to do our best to come out on top.”