NORWALK -- The majority of the crowd of 10,712 at Cerritos College rose as one, chanting his name:

"GERMAN! GERMAN! GERMAN!"

Following his history-making double victory at the CIF State Track and Field Championships on Saturday, German Fernandez was worthy of the praise.

Fernandez, a Riverbank High senior, won the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs in front of the large crowd, setting two state meet records -- and one national record -- in the process.

While his victory in the 1,600 in a state-meet record 4 minutes, .29 seconds was eye-opening, his national-record 8:34.23 in the 3,200 about two hours later stunned everybody in the stadium.