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May 14, 2026
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
Some high schools are known for winning a handful of CIF-Southern Section championships in the more popular sports, then there is the Cerritos High boys swimming team. For the seventh time since 2001, the Dons claimed another divisional championship, this time in the highest division in program history.
Participating in Division 2, Cerritos claimed 198 team points last Friday at Mt. San Antonio College to easily defeat Foothill High by 49 points and Buena High by 55 points. The Dons had previously won the CIF-SS Division IV titles in 2001 and 2002, three straight Division 4 crowns from 2014-2016 and the 2022 Division 3 championship. They also finished in second place in the Division III finals in 2008 and 2009.
The Dons claimed first place, worth 44 team points, in the 4×50 yard medley race with a time of 1:33, 38 behind the work of seniors Andres Garay and Andrew Vet, junior Anthony Dornoff and freshman Roy Kim. Senior Matthew Ho was part of the 4×100 freestyle team, along with Dornoff, Kim and Vet that capped off the day winning with a time of 3:09.10.
Cerritos picked up a total of 56 points in the 200-yard IM as Dornoff won with a time of 1:46.24, followed by Vet (second place, 1:49.55) and Kim (sixth place, 1:51.96). Dornoff and Vet finished third and fourth respectively in the 500-yard freestyle with times of 4:31.34 and 4:32.88, good for a total of 35 team points while Kim picked up another 19 team points by finishing in second place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.44.
The Cerritos girls, who were Division 4 champions in 2013, 2014 and 2016 and came in second place six other seasons since 1992, picked up 52 teams points to finish in 22nd place out of 51 schools.
Junior Isabella Castro came in eighth place in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:54.14 and ninth place in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:11.53 while junior Alice Tam also finished in eighth place in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57.37.
In the consolation finals, the 4×50 medley relay team of seniors Mykah Quirino and Dani Romero, Castro and Tam picked up a dozen team points by finishing in 13th place with a time of 1:53.33.
In Division 3, Whitney High sophomore Mit Muni and La Mirada High sophomore John Green competed in the consolation final of the 500-yard freestyle and finished in 11th and 12th place, respectively with times of 4:56.12 and 4:56.42.
In Division 4, the La Mirada girls picked up 44 team points to finish 15th out of 56 teams. Half those points came in the 200-yard IM when senior Kayla Han won the event with a time of 1:58.81. The other half of the team points came in the 500-yard freestyle when Han finished in first with a time of 4:46.21.
Artesia High sophomore Felisa Diaz swam a 2:15.42 in the 200-yard freestyle, good for 15th place in the consolation finals. She also swam a 1:08.99 in the consolation finals of the 100-yard butterfly.
BOYS TENNIS
A pair of area teams advanced to the quarterfinals this past Monday, but their seasons came to an end in close decisions. In Division 4 action, Cerritos dropped a 10-8 decision to Dos Pueblos High to conclude its season at 16-9 while in Division 8 play, Gahr High fell to San Gabriel High 11-7 to conclude its season at 11-8.
TRACK AND FIELD
A small number of area athletes either finished in the top 10 or within the top 15 of the CIF-SS track and field divisional preliminaries last Saturday at various sites with the top nine overall athletes advancing to Saturday’s finals at Moorpark High.
In the Division 2 prelims at Ontario High, Norwalk High senior Leonardo Diaz had the ninth best time in the 1600 meter run at 4:19.44 while in the Division 3 prelims at Yorba Linda High, senior Levi Reyes of La Mirada had the 15th best time in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 16.17. La Mirada junior Nicole Ojeisekhoba was one of eight high jumpers who had a mark of 4’10”. But five athletes jumped 5’2: and another five were at five feet. She also competed in the long jump where she came in 16th place with a mark of 16’10”
Her teammate, sophomore Maria Cuevas, had the top mark in the division in the discus with a mark of 117’ 5”, nearly two feet farther than Kai Beary of JSerra High.
La Mirada freshman Charlize Parris came in 11th place with a mark of 99’7” while on the boys side, La Mirada senior Daniel Morales had the fifth best mark at 151’5” and Artesia junior Giovanny Martinez was 12th with a mark of 137’4 ½”.
A new event this season is the 4×800 meter relay and the La Mirada girls came in 13th place with a time of 10:23.28 while the Gahr High boys finished in eighth place with a time of 8:11.40.
The Division 4 prelims were held at Carpinteria High and Valley Christian High had a pair of first place finishers. In the pole vault, junior Celia Polk cleared the bar at 10 feet while in the shot put, junior Micah Carter’s distance was 54’8 ¼”.
Elsewhere in the division, V.C. senior Eden Patton came in 10th place in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 49.10 while in the high jump, Whitney sophomore Helene Bautista and V.C. senior Aniyah Peoples were two of 12 competitors who had a mark of 4’8”. The top mark of 4’10” was shared by nine jumpers. In the discus event, Whitney junior Jehnna Corcuera had the ninth best distance at 101’4” while V.C. sophomore Faith Martin came in 12th place with a mark of 95’7” and V.C. senior Jackson TerKurst finished 13th in the shot put with a distance of 40’2 ½”. He also had the third best discus mark of 136’10”.
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