Sports
3
EAST LOS ANGELES COLLEGE CAMPUS NEWS
EAST LOS ANGELES COLLEGE CAMPUS NEWS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013
Runners set records, advance to postseason Athlete wins first cross country individual title for ELAC Tadzio Garcia Staff Writer The women’s cross counrty team received an at-large bid to the SoCal finals and joins the men’s team in the postseason for the first time since 2005. Laura Aceves won first place in the women’s race. The Huskies should advance to the state final in two weeks. “We compete in the toughest conference in the state,” Coach Louis Ramirez said. SCC rivals Mt. San Antonio, Los Angeles Trade-Technical, and Cerritos Colleges are ranked in the top-six statewide.
The Huskies advanced to the SoCal Championships at Central Park this Friday at 11 a.m Sylvia Mosqueda last won a women’s cross country individual title for the Huskies, in 1986. The Huskies were not yet in the SCC. Aceves won the women’s race by 52 seconds over Evelyn De La Luz of Los Angeles Trade Tech. “I tried to keep up with her, but she was too fast,” runner-up De La Luz said. East Los Angeles College ran short because of injuries. Half of the team recently came off injuries to compete in Long Beach. Ruby Padilla had problems during the race with her previous injury.
“I finished what I started. It was painful but I did it because I was thinking about our team so this would not be the last race of our season,” Padilla said. Padilla and teammate Amy Herrera ran in a pack the entire race. “She was in obvious pain and I couldn’t let my teammate down so we pushed each other,” Padilla said. Annai Jimenez and Sandy Bautista also ran in a pack for the Huskies. With the crowd screaming, the two Husky packs crossed the finish line ahead of four runners from host Long Beach to the dissapointment of the crowd. Bautista edged Padilla who edged
Herrera by 0.01 of a second. Herrera beat Tiffany Pulido of Long Beach by 0.09 of a second. Brianna Lewis edged Destinie Hernandez of Long Beach by four seconds, also adding to ELAC’s upset of Long Beach. Aceves extended her distance from the leading pack with each mile although Nichelle Jackson of Mt. San Antonio College led the first half mile. “I thought I would catch her at the beginning of the second mile, but she came out too fast. I had a strategy to win the race,” Aceves said.
See page 1 for Laura Aceves’s feature story.
Husky carries team to first postseason bid since 2006 Tadzio Garcia Staff Writer Gonzalo Ceja placed sixth and led the Huskies to the postseason for the first time in four years at the South Coast Conference finals in Long Beach last Friday. “We are happy, but we are not satisfied. We will be satisfied when we make state,” Ceja said. Ceja was the first Husky named to the SCC Men’s Top-14 since 2006. Oscar Ogwaro won the individual SCC men’s title in 2006. He also won the state title and SoCal that year. “My goal was to place top 10, but also beat the runners from (LA)
Trade Tech (College),” Ceja said. Ceja and his teammates overheard a LATTC coach taunt ELAC while giving his team a pep talk next to the ELAC team just prior to the men’s four mile race. “I don’t want you guys to be at ELAC’s distance, that’s too far back,” a Trade Tech coach said. Ceja was gliding to a sixth placing finish when he had to sprint unexpectedly. “I saw (Carlos Uriel’s) shadow creeping up with about 50 meters left so I kicked in my sprint. I was not going to lose to him after that speech,” Ceja said. Ceja finished five seconds faster than Uriel. “I told a friend of mine on the
Trade Tech team to go tell his coach I beat his entire team,” Ceja said. The Trade Tech team didn’t run at Ceja’s or teammate Kris Chacon’s pace, ELAC’s top two runners. LATTC however had enough gas to edge ELAC for fourth place. Fifth place however, was good enough for ELAC to continue their season. The Huskies will compete at the SoCal Championships at Central Park, this Friday at noon in Santa Clarita. The Husky faithful included ELAC student Salvador Ascencio who rode his bike from Montebello to Long Beach. “I did it to support the team at the SCC finals. They believed they would make SoCal and they did,”
Ascencio said. Requilme-Colin ran a personal best mile in training last week peaking at the right time of the season. “I kept my speed up at the SCC finals because I focused on a plan and did not push myself, which doesn’t help me run faster,” Requilme-Colin said. Also finishing for the Huskies were Andrew Torres and Rene Flores. “We didn’t do well at SoCal Preview and ran the season injured. Everyone wrote off this team, but we did not,” Coach Ramirez said. “The team ran a smart race. They could move on to state if they do the same at SoCal.”
cn/tadzio garcia
SCREAMING BATTLE—Jose Requilme-Colin, left, outsprints Jorge Ayala of Cerritos College at the finish line during the South Coast Conference cross country finals last Friday in Long Beach.
Women’s soccer surrender five goals in home game loss Sergio Berrueta Staff Writer
CN/Jesus Figueroa
Saving grace—East Los Angeles College women’s soccer team forward Gladis Reyes scores a last-second goal against No. 1 ranked Cerritos College but fell 5-1 yesterday at Weingart Stadium.
East Los Angeles College lost against No. 1-ranked Cerritos College 5-1 at Weingart Stadium yesterday. The Huskies dealt with the tough defense and offense of Cerritos and made a goal in the final minute of the contest. ELAC’s next match will be an easier game as they play an El Camino College Compton Center team which has the worst record in the South Coast Conference this Friday at 3 p.m. Husky goalkeeper Briana Aguila was busy with the Cerritos offense, which scored five goals off her.
“The first goal brought us down because it was early in the game,” Aguila said, “We wanted to keep it at a tie or a shutout, but that didn’t happen.” Cerritos’s offense kept the Huskies’ defense on their toes with a formation that caught the team off guard. “We struggled a little bit being on the same league with Cerritos,” Coach Tessa Trogila said, “We focused on being a bit quicker to compete, but that did not translate on the field.” ELAC forward Gladis Reyes did not give up, despite the score, and went on to score ELAC’s only goal in the final minute of the match.
“It brought me up. We are playing one of the best teams in the conference,” Reyes said, “We hustled and hustled and even though we tried, we got it in the last minute. That’s all that matters.” The Huskies struggled against Cerritos with communication problems within the team. “We weren’t communicating enough to keep going and in the end, we have each other’s back,” Reyes said. The Huskies have three games left in the season, but Coach Trogila says they must stay the course. “There is nothing left to change. They knew what they have to do to keep going.”
Football The Huskies football team got shut out in a loss to Chaffey College, which came out with solid quarterback play and won the turnover battle last Saturday. Chaffey, who sits atop the Mountain Conference with the same record as Southwestern College, came away with three interceptions and a fumble recovery as they won 41-0 against ELAC. Chaffey quarterback Dimitri Morales picked apart the Husky defensive backs as he completed 19 of 23 passes for 245 yards and threw four touchdowns to four different receivers. ELAC hosts Compton, who sits at the bottom of the conference, in their homecoming game this Friday at 6 p.m. The tailgating party begins at 4 p.m.
Volleyball
CN/tadzio garcia
ANTICIPATION—Christina Burrola, left, waits for an opening before scoring a goal during training while teammate Irene Young tries to block a shot in the ELAC pool last Monday.
Water Polo loses three before season’s end Tadzio Garcia Staff Writer
The ELAC women’s volleyball team lost 3-2 as Cerritos College last Friday. Stephanie Landry scored 15 of the Huskies 50 points against a Cerritos team that now sports a 5-4 conference record. The Huskies host LA Harbor College in the women’s gym, which sits at the bottom of the SCC standings with a 2-11 overall record, today at 6 p.m.
Men’s Soccer The men’s soccer team suffered its sixth defeat in South Coast Conference play as it lost 4-0 to Cerritos yesterday on the road. After a dissapointing season, the Huskies have no chance of advancing to the playoffs. The Huskies haven’t won since last month’s conference openening victory over Long Beach City College at Weingart Stadium. From the 11 games played so far in SCC, ELAC has only won one, tied three, and lost six, giving them a total of six points in the conference. With only three games left in SCC play, and nine points on the line, the Huskies will host Compton this Friday at 6 p.m.
The women’s water polo team lost three matches last week and play in the most important match in 14 years tomorrow. After a 13-year absence from competition, the team has a chance to extend their regular season at the South Coast Conference Championships at Rio Hondo College. East Los Angeles College, 2-14 overall, 1-5 in SCC play and Pasadena City College (0-12, 1-7), the eight and ninth seeds in the conference, meet in a wild card match at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow. The winner is guaranteed three more games in the SCC finals; the
www.ELACCampusNews.com
loser ends their season. The favored Huskies beat Pasadena, 10-9, earlier in the season. “We are excited and ready for them,” Irene Young said. East Los Angeles College lost 13-2 in SCC play at Long Beach City College (11-15, 6-2) last Wednesday. The Huskies lost to Ventura College (15-8-1) by the same score last weekend in the Pasadena Tournament. ELAC also lost to Santa Monica College (3-11) 10-3 in the Pasadena Tournament. Christina Burrola scored two goals off of assists by Kimberly Fierros and Irene Young in the Santa Monica match. Vingfei Zhang also added a goal off of an assist by Burrola. “Christina (Burrola) played
well, stepped up and took charge of the team last week. Veronica Orantes (another team standout) was out injured,” Head Coach Eric Matheson said. The Huskies put up a good fight at Rio Hondo College on Wednesday, Oct. 23 for two quarters but it wasn’t enough in an 11-4 loss. “We came out strong in the first half and felt we could win but did not,” Irene Young said. Young scored two goals for East Los Angeles College, one off of an assist from Orantes. Christina Burrola also scored two goals. ELAC won an 18-15 overtime thriller against Los Angeles Trade Tech College, Oct. 18 in the Citrus Tournament. “It was an exciting game. We poured it on in overtime after ending regulation 14-all,” Young said.