Liu Sweeps Sprints with Double-Gold at SCC Championships
by Cerwin D Haynes
East Los Angeles College track and field sophomore William Liu once again proved to be one of the conference's premier sprinters by capturing conference titles in both the 100m and 200m at today's South Coast Conference Championships in Torrance.
His double-win led a huge effort in the Huskies short-distance events, with several Huskies reaching the podium:
- Liu's running mate, sophomore Cristian Dineros, grabbed third in both 100m and 200m sprints.
- Freshman Justin Guerriero came within .26 seconds of taking the 400m; placing third.
- Freshman Carter Cousins rebounded from his Mt SAC Relays performance by grabbing third in the men's 400m hurdles.
- The men's 4x100m relay team also placed third.
Liu, who had been nipping at the literal heels of Mt SAC sprinter Guzman all season in the 100m, finally eclipsed him, but it was extremely close as both looked to cross the finish line at the same time. When the official times posted, it was Liu by a mere 100th of a second: 10.62 to 10.63; Dineros ran a 10.69. The finish in the 200m was a bit more evident, as Lius's time of 21.55 beat out the next runner by .16 of a second. Dineros ran a 21.75 for third, just .04 seconds behind second.
Head coach Milton Browne liked the feeling of having the fastest man and third fastest man in the entire conference, even though he knew the results were well within reach coming into today. "It was expected," said Coach Browne, "but it felt good."
East LA took podium six times today, the most of any Huskies men's track and field team during Browne's tenor and the most team points they've scored in the conference championship in 20 years. Yet, Coach Browne aims higher before calling today a cornestone moment for the program.
"Not yet," said Browne. "We haven't got to where I feel like, 'oh man'. We're still going in that direction".
UP NEXT:
It's time for the Huskies to really take aim for State, as the SoCal Regional Prelims are next Saturday, May 2.