Cerritos College Athletics - 2007 Men's Track & Field News: Track send three to state championships

The Cerritos College men's track and field team will be represented by three athletes who will compete in six events at the state championships this weekend, which will be held at San Mateo College. The Falcons, who came in eighth place at the Southern California Championships with 36 team points, will send freshman distance runner Daniel Clifford-Sorenson (Lakewood HS), sophomore hurdler Anthony Harbor (Bellflower HS) and sophomore thrower Benjamin Smith (Cypress HS) on to the state championships after they were able to finish in the top four in lane events and top six in the other events this past weekend at UC San Diego.

Clifford-Sorenson competed in three events and was able to qualify in each of them. In the 10,000 meter run, Clifford-Sorenson registered his fastest time of the season and came in fourth place with a school-record time of 31:20.84. He had been tested all season by South Coast Conference rivals Oscar Ogwaro and Sergio Lares of East Los Angeles College, who came in first and third place, respectively. With his time in the race, Clifford-Sorenson beat the old school record of 31:29.4, set by David Rivera back in 1986. In his other qualifying race, Clifford-Sorenson came in second place in the 3000 meter steeplechase with another school-record time. His clocking of 9:20.47 beat the old record of 9:26.00, set by Ralph Kolthoff in 1979, and put him in second place in the race behind Ogwaro, who posted an incredible time of 9:05.20. In his final race which he advanced, Clifford-Sorenson posted a time of 15:19.46 in the 5000 meters and came in sixth place and was joined in the race by freshman teammate Jonathan Dillard (Lakewood HS), who came in 17th place in 16:03.24, but did not qualify.

As for Harbor, he posted two third place finishes, as he registered a time of 15.19 in the 110-meter high hurdles, while his clocking of 53.18 was also good for third place in the 400-meter hurdles. His time of 53.18 is the seventh fastest in the country among community colleges, but was just short of the times posted by Kenneth Medwood (52.92) of East Los Angeles College and Danny Scharf (53.06) of Moorpark College, who both finished ahead of Harbor. In the hammer throw, Smith qualified for the state championships with his sixth place throw of 151' 7", which was 12 feet farther that his personal best and also the second best toss in school history.

Those who competed in the Southern California Championships for the Falcons but failed to qualify included sophomore Dennis Drisdom (Dominguez HS) in the 800 meters (1:58.89, 8th place), freshman Devin Farrow (Valley Christian HS) in the shot put (44' 6 1/2", 9th place) and discus (133' 3", 10th place), freshman decathlete Cody Lewis (Lakewood HS) who came in eighth place with 5399 points, and the 400-meter relay team of sophomore Genoa Dill (Compton HS), Harbor, freshman Marcus Stripling (Santa Fe HS) and freshman Brandon Dickson (Long Beach Millikan HS), who placed sixth in 42.41.