Wrestling: Falcons win two weights; take third place

Cerritos took third at the Santa Ana Tournament
Cerritos took third at the Santa Ana Tournament

Led by a pair of individual champions, the Cerritos College wrestling team finished in third place at the Santa Ana Tournament on Saturday. The Falcons finished with 117 team points and edged out fourth place Bakersfield College by one point. The team will open their SCWA Southwest schedule when they host Santa Ana College at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

Winning their indivudal weight classes were sophomore 174-pound Tyler Hanna (South Torrance HS), as well as freshman 184-pound Farzad Hashimi (El Dorado HS). Finishing in third place at 184 pounds was sophomore Ben Setum (Pacifica HS), with freshman Nicholas Pham (Westminster HS) taking fourth place at 157 pounds. A trio of wrestlers posted fifth placer finishes and included freshman Elijah Flores (Santa Fe HS) at 133 pounds, freshman Dylan Trevino (Calvary Chapel HS) at 165 pounds and 285-pound sophomore Diego Flores (Redondo Union HS), with the tandem of freshman Michael Caico (Servite HS) at 149 pounds and sophomore 165-pound Donovan Chavez (Downey HS) taking sixth place.

Hanna started his day with a 15-0 technical fall and followed that with a pin in 2:47. In the semifinals, he recorded an 11-6 win over Adrian Juarez of Bakersfield College and then secured the championship when he beat top-seeded DJ Weimer of Palomar College, 10-2. As for Hashimi, he opened with a bye before wins of 16-3 and 8-2 advanced him to the semifinals. Taking on Setum, Hashimi came away with a exciting 13-11 decision before pinning Luke Harrison of Sacramento City College in 2:15 for the championship. After his loss to Hashimi, Setum pinned his next opponent and took third place with a no contest win over Frankie Stevenson of Victor Valley.

Pham reached the semifinals at 157 pounds after a pair of wins before he was pinned in :21 by eventual champion Grant Eklund of Cuesta College. In the third place match, Pham was pinned in 1:31 by Bakersfield's Giovanni Ruiz. Dropped into the consolation rounds after his second round loss, Flores won three of his final four matches to come in fifth place, which was capped off with a 13-10 victory over Dominic Marquez of Cuesta. Trevino earned his fifth place finish when he defeated Chavez, 6-2 in the fifth place match. Trevino pinned two opponents on the day, while Chavez won four straight matches after losing his first round match. Flores also lost his first match at 285 pounds, but pinned his next three opponents. After a 17-9 setback, he went on to defeat Andrew Thomas of Sacramento City, 6-4 for his fifth place result.