Although thunder cut the track meet short, many EC runners placed in the top three of their individual events in the non-scoring Cerritos Invitational that took place Saturday March 1, Dean Lofgren, track coach said.

“He came out strong but Riverside was leading,” Cameron Emmanuel, freshman, sprinter description of Antwon Parker’s 400-meter race. “It was neck and neck. They were coming right up to the 200 mark. He was near last place but he was coming, he hit his kick and won the race.”

“Rain or shine, we have to run regardless,” Emmanuel said. “The conditions were pretty rough but you have to make the best of it and win races.”

The Warriors ran against some of the top ranked teams in Southern California such as Riverside Community College, Cerritos, Pasadena and Long Beach City college.

Lofgren said these meets are important to see the growth in runners.
“Teams like Riverside and Cerritos are fierce competitors,” Lofgren said. “So, if we can beat some of them in events we will be ready later this season.”

Along with the meet’s success, sophomore throwers Matt Larson and Christopher Street currently hold the first and second place conference titles for SoCal in the Javelin.

Being the South Coast Conference winner in 2013 as a freshman, Street hopes to remain the title holder as a sophomore.

“I’m doing pretty well in conference and ranked in the state. So it’s going to be crazy this season,” Street said.

While rain filled the throwers ring, sophomore Pole Vaulter Tarou Seki was back on the field from a heel injury.

“I couldn’t jump for a good two weeks because of a bruised heel on my jumping leg. So the coaches told me to not jump. I just focused on taking good care of my heel while running and lifting,” Seki said.

While avoiding putting pressure to his heel Seki used a short approach with 10 steps instead of a long approach with 16 steps. He made it over on his first attempts on two heights later scratching on the height of 14 feet.

“The cold weather didn’t help my injury but I wasn’t in pain,” Seki said. “Im not 100 percent yet but I can still jump for points.”

The Warriors come home with individually wins this meet preparing them for conference meets later on this season. Lofgren believes the team has what it takes to bring conferences titles home.

“The women have a chance at dominating SoCal by winning a team title.” Lofgren said. “Individually after these few meets we can see who is capable of winning these titles.”