Cerritos College freshman wrestler Paul Lyon (Shepherd (MI) HS) defeated four opponents at 133 pounds to win the individual championship at the West Valley Tournament over the weekend. His performance, along with five others finishing in the top six, helped the Falcons to a fifth place finish, as they accumulated 113 team points. South Coast Conference rival Palomar College won the tournament with 187 team points, while the other three schools that finished ahead of the Falcons were from Northern California. The team will now start conference action on Wednesday when Cerritos hosts Santa Ana College at 7:00 p.m.

    Lyon, who was the third-seed at his weight class, opened with a bye in the first round and then pinned Benji Gomez of Moorpark College in 4:20 before registering a technical fall win over Modesto College’s Rolando Velasco with an 18-1 win. He then advanced to the finals when second-ranked Norman Richmond of Sierra College had to default his match. In the finals, Lyon survived two three-point near falls against West Hills College’s Brett Land, the top-seeded wrestler. Down 8-3 after the first period, Lyon picked up a two-point takedown in the second period and then followed that with another takedown and a three-point near fall in the third period to secure the win.

    At the higher weights, the Falcons had two wrestlers finish in fourth place, with sophomore 197-pound Al Kinslow (Santa Monica HS) and freshman 285-pound Juan Enriquez (John Glenn HS) earning points for the team. In the abbreviated 197-pound weight class, Kinslow earned a bye in the first round and followed that with a pin over Kevin Esparza of Fresno City College in 2:35. But in the semi-finals, Kinslow lost a close 3-1 decision to eventual champion Mingo Grant of Sierra, as he surrendered all three points in the second period. After a 6-1 win over Greg Villalobos of Palomar, Kinslow was defeated by Tod Molesworth of Moorpark for third place. Enriquez won his first match before losing to Luis Leyva of Fresno City, 2-1 and dropped into the consolation bracket. After defeating sophomore teammate Chip Baker (Paramount HS), 9-2, Enriquez pinned Robert Elias (Santa Ana) in 40 seconds and then handed Brandon Hamilton of Sacramento City College an 8-3 loss. In the third place match, Enriquez was defeated, 3-2 by Sean Hill of Palomar.

    In his first match of the season, freshman Carsell Swain (Long Beach Poly HS) came in sixth place at 184 pounds after losing his first round match. He responded by winning three straight matches, but then had to default out of his fifth place match with an injury. As for sophomore Gene Choi (North Torrance HS), he also lost his first match after receiving a bye in the first round. After three straight wins, including a 17-1 victory over sophomore teammate Jordan Serrano (North Torrance HS), Choi beat Mark Bertron of West Valley, 8-3 to earn a fifth place finish. Sophomore Tony Ruiz (Loara HS) was defeated in the quarterfinals by eventual champion Jose Serratos of Santa Ana, but fought back to win two straight matches before a loss to Palomar’s Joe Barajas dropped him to the fifth place match, where he was defeated by a close 6-5 decision to Bakersfield College’s Jaime Rodriguez.