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Of the six
Cerritos College wrestlers that advanced to the
California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA)
Wrestling State Championships at Victor Valley
College this weekend, six of them have advance to
the championship semi-finals after the first day of
competition. The Falcons are in sixth place after
the first day with 49 team points and trail Fresno
City College (71 team points), Santa Ana College
(62), Sierra College (59.5), Sacramento City College
(52) and Lassen College (50.5). The championship
semi-finals, along with the consolation rounds will
begin at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, while the
championship matches will start at 6:30 p.m.
The Falcons, along
with South Coast Conference rival Santa Ana, are the
only teams with six that advanced to the
semi-finals, while both Fresno City and Sierra, the
defending state champions, each have five.
Giving the team a
big boost was freshman 157-pound Eric
Sauvageau (Loara HS), who upset
Matt Thomas of Shasta College, 5-4. Sauvageau, who
was the #3-seeded wrestler from the South, recorded
a two-point takedown with four seconds left to pull
off the win. Thomas, the #2-seed from the North,
went up 4-2 with a takedown with 14 seconds
remaining in the second period. However, Sauvageau
recorded an escape point and then fought off Thomas
before his takedown just inside the circle won the
match. He will now square off against Robert
Carother (Sacramento City), who pulled off an upset
in the second round by pinning top-seeded Danny
Kennedy of Santa Ana in nine seconds.
Freshman 125-pound
Joe
Cabanas (Canyon Springs HS)
will have his hands full in the semi-finals, as he
is facing defending state champion Angel Olea of
Fresno City. Olea, who went undefeated last year in
winning the state title, is seeded #1 from the
North, while Cabanas, the #2-seed from the South,
posted a 5-3 win over Brandon Benvenu to advance to
the semi-finals. As for 133-pound freshman
Ryan
Giovenco (North Torrance HS),
he continued to impress the coaching staff with his
8-1 win over Justen Lockling of Sacramento City.
Giovenco, the #3-seed from the South, will now face
top-seeded Todd Wilcox of Sierra College.
In the 141-pound
weight class, sophomore
Mike
Koehnlein (Marina HS), who
came in fourth place at the state championships last
year, defeated Stephan De La Cruz of Chabot College,
12-4 and will now face the North's top seed, Mike
Vassar of Sierra College. In his win, Koehnlein
opened up a 4-0 lead and after a two-point reversal
by De La Cruz in the second period, Koehnlein came
right back with a reversal and led by as much as
12-2 before giving up a late reversal.
Freshman
Caleb Gerl
(Calvary Chapel HS), the top-seed from the
South at 184 pounds, fought off both nerves and
Derek Rottenberg of Shasta for a 10-6 win. After
allowing an early reversal, Gerl trailed 4-3 after
the first period. He regrouped and came back with
several reversals and outlasted Rottenberg. Gerl
will now look to advance to the finals when he faces
Edward Melitosya of West Valley College. Sophomore
285-pound
Juan
Enriquez (John Glenn HS), who
came in third place in the state championships last
season, shut out Marc Lewis of Santa Rosa College,
5-0. Enriquez, who is the #1-seed from the South,
will now face Fresno City's Austin Garza in the
second of two semi-finals in which Cerritos will get
a chance to keep the Rams from scoring more points.
The only Falcon
not to advance past the first day was sophomore
174-pound
Adam Hase
(Long Beach Millikan HS). As the #6-seed
from the South, Hase, who came in fifth place in the
state championships last year, opened the tournament
by getting pinned in 4:46 by Fresno City's Eric
Smith. Then, faced with having to wrestle top-seeded
Mike Cavanaugh (Bakersfield) after he got upset,
Hase led the match late until he was caught
off-guard and was pinned in 6:45. Hase, who led 4-3
in the third period, had just tied the match at 5-5
with 1:23 remaining. He attempted to go on the
attack, but over-shot and Cavanaugh recorded a
reversal before pinning Hase.
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