Taking part in their first tournament of the season, the Cerritos College wrestling team finished in eighth place at the Lemoore Tournament on Saturday. The Falcons, who had a pair of entries finish in fourth place on the day, compiled 82.5 team points. The team will compete in the Santa Ana Tournament next Saturday.

At 133 pounds, freshman Elijah Flores (Santa Fe HS) advanced to the semifinals, but dropped his last two competed matches to finish in fourth place. He opened with a pair of wins by pin, as well as a 10-4 decision, which advanced him to the semifinals. He was pinned by Jason Saenz of Mt. San Antonio College in his next match, which sent him to the consolation bracket. After a no contest, Flores was defeated, 19-3 by Luis Solis of Mt. SAC for third place. Another Falcon to reach the semifinals and settle for fourth place was freshman 184-pound Farzad Hashimi (El Dorado HS). He opened with day with three consecutive wins before a 22-4 loss at the hands of Mo Telabi of Mt. San Antonio sent him to the consolation bracket. Hashimi also advanced to the third place match after a no contest, where he suffered a pin against Mt. SAC's Roman Loya.

Freshman 125-pound Anthony Mason was another to advance after winning two consecutive matches to reach the semifinals, but dropped a pair of decisions and was eliminated. As for sophomore Evan Granados (Savanna HS), he pinned his first two opponents, but was when pinned in the semifinals in 3:24 by Abraham Cerda of Fresno City College at 141 pounds. Granados responded with a 13-8 in his next match, but after a loss, he moved to the seventh place match, which was a double default. Freshman 149-pound Michael Caico (Servite HS) also found himself in a double default in the seventh place match after he was sent to the consolation round when he was defeated in the quarterfinals. Caico gave everything he had in his next three matches and won all by a pin, with the third resulting in an injury, which he had to default in his next match.

A pair of technical fall wins, followed by a major decision for freshman Nicholas Pham (Westminster HS) at 157 pounds put him in the semifinals. However, he was pinned by Chabot College's Grant Ecklund and then dropped a 12-7 decision in his next two matches. The third Falcon wrestler to place in the seventh place match was freshman Dylan Trevino (Calvary Chapel HS), who suffered a loss in his first match, but came back with three consecutive pins in the consolation round. He then advanced due to an injury default before a 17-6 win over Sawyer Casarez of Shasta College was followed by another advancement due to an injury, which put him in the seventh place match. The was decided by a double default.

Photos courtesy of John Sachs/TechFall