Flores Wins Women's 5000m, Becomes First ELAC State Track & Field Champion Since 2018

by Cerwin D Haynes

East LA College Track & Field star runner and sophomore Marbella Flores found herself in familiar territory at today's 3C2A State Championships. 

As with last week at the SoCal Regional Finals, she was set to race in both the women's 1500m and then the 5000m. And similar to last week, she again finished fifth in the 1500m. 

But this time, she wouldn't overcompensate her 5000m run based on her 1500m results.

Flores took the lead over the last 1500m of today's run, then held off a last-minute charge to win the 3C2A State Championship in the Women's 5000m. She finishes not only as champion, but officially the #1 women's runner in the event for the season, an epic achievement for the local product out of SchurrHS.

At the start of the race, it was evident that Flores corrected a mistake she made in last week's run. Instead of booming out the gate for a large early lead, she established her pace (as head coach Milton Browne instructed). For the first three-quarters of the race, she trailed El Camino College's Sequoia Gonzales by only a step or two while fending off Gonzales' teammate Ami Jacobson, Rhiannon Walker and Julia Martinez from Clovis Community College, Alexis Noble from San Diego Mesa and Itandehui Olea from Allan Hancock College.  More importantly, Flores kept in lockstep with Gonzales while not breaking stride or having to kick, saving her energy for the latter laps.

With about 1500m to go, Flores made her move. She overtook Gonzales, and then began to put distance between herself and her El Camino challenger as she ran her third to last lap. For a moment, it looked like the East LA native would pull away permanently, but Clovis' Walker made a late charge as the runners headed around the final turn. Walker would come shoulder-to-shoulder with Flores with 200 meters left, but the sophomore - sporting her race-day lime-green shoes - had one more burst left in the tank.  She took back the lead, sprinting ahead to gain a step and half on Walker, and crossed the finish line to bring home the gold to the Pack.

A joyous Coach Browne said after the race that his champion sophomore had plenty of motivation to push her through to the end. "Marbella said she thought about all the support she got," said Browne. "Knowing everyone was behind her, that really pushed her that last 100, 200 meters."

HUSKY BITS

• This is the first ELAC individual champion the track & field program has had since 2018, where Joshua Taylor won the State Title in the Men's Triple Jump. He also placed second in the state championship long jump.

UP NEXT:

Coach Browne reports that there's no shortage of quality four-year universities looking to offer Flores. But he also suggested that she may be reexamining what she wants to do, which will allow her more options.

And with that, the books close on another Huskies' athletic season. Follow us on IG (athletc_elac_) for our new #TBT feature! Every Thursday, we take a look back at our 2023-24 season, highlighting a photo gallery of one game or event each week.