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Heading into the
second day of the California Community College Athletic
Association State Wrestling Championships at Fresno City
College, the Cerritos College wrestling team was having
visions of winning the state title. They had five of
their wrestlers competing in the semi-finals, while
eight of the nine competitors they sent to the state
championships were still alive and would be place
winners. But, after four of the five were defeated in
the semi-finals early in the day, the
Falcons were left wondering if they were going to end up
dropping one or two places in the team standings. But,
with several strong comebacks and two third place
finishers, Cerritos appears to be in strong contention
to maintain their second place in the team standings
heading into the championship round later tonight.
Sierra College, who is sending three wrestlers into the
individual championship matches, has secured the state
championship with 136.0 team points, while the Falcons
are in a solid second place with 103.0 team points and
one wrestler in the championships. Only third place
Lassen College, with 89.0 team points and three in the
finals, can catch Cerritos, but must win all three (four
points
each) and earn at least two bonus points for major
decisions or pin falls to catch the Falcons. The lone
Cerritos wrestler in the finals must also lose for this
to happen.
Freshman 133-pound
Paul Lyon
(Shepherd (MI) HS), the top-seeded wrestler from
Southern California, is the lone wrestler to reach the
championships for the Falcons, and a win over top-seeded
Norman Richmond of Sierra will not only give the school
their 46th individual champion, but lock the team in
second place. Lyon reached the finals by defeating West
Valley College's Eddy Ngo, 5-1 earlier on Saturday.
The Falcons
had three other All-Americans this season, as they
placed in the top four in the state. Sophomore 157-pound
David Razo
(La Quinta HS) opened the day by being defeated, 5-3 by
Palomar's Louie Desantis, but persevered and defeated
Jake Bridges of Shasta College, 10-6 and then East Los
Angeles College's Adrian Gonzales, 10-6. Razo was
down 5-1 in the match, but stormed back with a takedown
and two three-point near-falls to secure the win. As for
freshman 285-pound
Juan
Enriquez (John Glenn HS), his loss to defending
state champion Erik Nye of Sierra sent him to the
consolation bracket, where he posted a tough 2-1 win
over Lassen's Chris Keil and then a 6-1 victory over
Robert Ellis of Santa Ana College to finish in third
place. Finally, freshman 141-pound
Mike
Koehnlein (Marina HS), who was the top-seed from
Southern California, was defeated in the semi-finals,
but responded with a pin over Cuesta College's Brandon
Drucker in 6:36 before he was defeated in the third
place match, 9-3 by Jonathan Ronny of Chabot College and
finished in fourth place.
Others who
placed for the Falcons included sophomore 125-pound
Jason
Carrillo (Torrance HS), who came in seventh
place; sophomore 165-pound
Gene Choi
(North Torrance HS), who placed fifth, freshman174-pound
Adam Hase
(Long Beach Millikan HS), a sixth place finisher, and
sophomore 197-pound
Al Kinslow
(Santa Monica HS), who came in fifth place. |
