Sending 11 entries to the 3C2A State Championships at Sierra College over the weekend, the Cerritos College wrestling team posted their best finish since 2021, as they came in second place overall. The Falcons, who had two individual state champions, finished with 130 total points and held off third place Fresno City College by 18.5 points. 

Heading into the championship matches of the 10 weight classifications, Cerritos held a slim lead over Fresno City (121 team points to 111.5 points). The Falcons had three wrestlers in the finals, with the Rams represented by two wrestlers.

The first finalist for Cerritos came at 141 pounds with Isaac Gonzalez (Western HS) taking on Jason Saenz of Mt. San Antonio College. In the match, it was scoreless after the first period, with Saenz taking a 3-2 lead after a takedown, while Gonzalez opened the second period with an escape point and added another one with 32 seconds remaining. In the third period, Saenz recorded an escape point just nine seconds in and then was able to fend off Gonzalez for a 4-2 final score.

At 149 pounds, freshman Sean Otero (Norwalk HS) squared off against Fresno City's LJ Loreto in a battle of the two top seeds from each region. After allowing a takedown with 41 seconds left in the first period, Otero (pictured, left)was able to get two of those points back with a reversal and almost had the match won by the end of the period, but settled for a four-point near-fall and a 6-3 lead. He upped the lead to 9-4 after surrendering an escape point and then registered a three-point takedown with just 19 seconds left in the second period. The advantage became 10-4 after Otero quickly escaped to start the third period and with 1:16 remaining, tacked on three more points with another takedown. Otero secured the major decision with a riding point for a 14-4 final score.

The last finalist to compete for the Falcons was sophomore 174-pound Abraham Galicia (St. John Bosco HS, Luther (IA) College), who, according to the seeding, posted three upsets to reach the championship match. In a defensive battle against Lemoore College's Juan Nuno in the finals, the two were scoreless after the first period. Galicia got on the board first with an escape point nine seconds into the second period, while Nuno was given a staling warning 23 seconds later. The score remained the same heading into the final two minutes of the third period. With Nuno starting the period on the bottom, he was able escape with 1:40 remaining to tie the match at 1-1. With one second remaining in the match, Galicia scored a three-point takedown, with Nuno then charged a misconduct penalty point and a 5-1 victory for Galicia.

125 Pounds - The Falcons had two entries in the weight classification, including sophomore Adrian Jimenez (Marina HS/Missouri Valley University), who won the Southern California championship and was the #1-seed. He recorded wins over Kelvin Robbins of Sierra College by a 16-0 technical fall and then handed Troy Valentine of Lassen College and 14-7 loss. In the semifinals, Jimenez was defeated, 14-5 to Connor Jeong of Santa Rosa College, who was the #2-seeded wrestler from Northern California. In the consolation rounds, Jimenez was then pinned by Camilo Ramirez of Mt. San Antonio in 1:27, but rebounded for a 4-1 win over Manuel Matir of Mt. SAC to come in fifth place.

Coming in as the #8-seed from Southern California, sophomore Jesse Hernandez (Santa Fe HS) was looking to improve on his eighth place finish at the state championships in his freshman season. However, Hernandez dropped two of his three matches on the first day and was eliminated. His lone win was a 17-5 major decision over Jhey Sarique of Skyline College.

133 Pounds - Sophomore Elijah Flores (Santa Fe HS) could only score three escape points against Cairo Plasencia of Fresno City College in his opening match. The #6-seed from the South dropped into the consolation round, where he pinned San Joaquin Delta College's Israel Flores in 3:54, before his tournament ended with a loss by pin in 6:31 against Billy Thornton of Sacramento City College. At the time of the pin, Flores was leading, 12-2 heading into the third period. He scored a takedown and a four-point near fall with 17 seconds left, but could not finish off Thornton.

141 Pounds - One of the other three finalists for the Falcons, Gonzalez secured three wins to face Saenz, who defeated him in the SoCal Finals last weekend. Gonzalez opened his weekend by pinning Mitchell Miller of Lassen College in 3:30 and then recorded an 11-5 victory over Rocky Humphrey of Victor Valley College. In the semifinals, Gonzalez faced Palomar College's Sergio Porras, who defeated the top seed from NorCal in his previous match. Gonzalez opened a 7-0 lead in the first period and then finished off Porras 43 seconds into the second period to advance to the championship match. 

149 Pounds - Another weight where Cerritos had a pair of entries, Otero advanced to the championships, but not without a close call. The Southern California champion pinned Lucas Wold of Santa Rosa in 1:13 to start the tournament, but was then extended to a tie-breaker against Angel Salgado of Victor Valley in his second match. With neither recording a takedown through the first three periods, or an ability to score in either of the overtime periods, they went to a tie-breaker, with the first point scored being the winner of the match. With four seconds remaining, Otero scored to win the match, 3-2. He followed that with a 9-0 major decision win over sophomore teammate Spencer Parry (Yorba Linda HS). That advanced him to the finals against LJ Loreto, the top-seed from Northern California.

As for Parry, he opened with wins over Evan Krantz of Lassen, 8-1 and 8-5 over Kaden Pryor of Cuesta College. Both were upset wins for Parry, who was the #7-seeded wrestler from SoCal. After the loss to Otero, Parry then pinned Brendan Ko of Bakersfield College in 5:53, but then dropped a 13-4 major decision to Salgado to finish in fourth place.

157 Pounds - Sophomore Noah Zuniga (Trabuco Hills HS) entered the state championships as the #5-seed from Southern California and opened with a pin over Daniel Sanchez of Chabot College in 4:01. A loss by pin in his next match dropped Zuniga to the consolation round, where he responded with a win by pin in 6:47 over Vicente Tizoc of Victor Valley College. Zuniga then dropped his next two matches and settled for eighth place.

174 Pounds - One of the oddest situations at the SoCal Championships resulted in Galicia seeded #8 for the state tournament. With only two losses all season, Galicia was faced with taking on the top seed from NorCal, Brock Kitchen of Fresno City, in the first round. Galicia (pictured, left) recorded a resounding 6-1 win, which led the way to a 12-2 major decision over Ivan Natceli of Palomar College in his next match. Facing the #2-seed from Southern California in the semifinals, Galicia pinned Kodie Cooks of Cuesta College in 4:58 to advance to the championships. He was squared off against the Juan Nuno of Lemoore College, who was the #1-seed from SoCal in the finals.

184 Pounds - Another Falcon who was a #1-seed after winning the SoCal Championship, sophomore Farzad Hashimi (El Dorado HS) was looking to improve on his fifth place finish at the state championships last season. An 18-3 technical fall win in his opening match was followed by a 16-14 victory to advance to the semifinals. Hashimi then suffered a 12-9 sudden victory defeat at the hands of Rafael Roman-Amador of Chabot College. Tied at 4-4 after the first period, Hashimi scored the lone point in the second period with an escape. Roman-Amador scored four points with an escape and takedown in the third period to lead, 9-5, with Hashimi responding with an escape and then takedown with eight seconds left to send the match to sudden victory. Roman-Amador recorded a takedown with 31 seconds remaining to score the winning points. Hashimi never recovered from the loss, as he was pinned in his next two matches and finished in sixth place.

197 Pounds - Qualifying for the state tournament for the second season in a row, Nelson Ramirez (Lakewood HS) dropped his opening match to fall into the consolation brackets. He regrouped and posted a 10-0 major decision over Chance Evans of Cuesta College before advancing due to an injury forfeit in his next match. That was followed by a pin over Leo Ramirez of Lemoore College in 3:45 while holding a slim 2-1 lead in the second period. Losses in his next two matches put Ramirez in sixth place overall.

285 Pounds - In his opening match, freshman Simon Flores (Paloma Valley HS) was pinned, but responded with three straight close wins. He earned a 2-1 victory over Jacob Maldonado of San Joaquin Delta with the winning point coming on a stalling penalty point against Maldonado with 50 seconds left in the match. He followed that with a 3-1 win against Alan Roman of Fresno City, with all of his points coming on a takedown in the second period with 17 records remaining. Extended to sudden victory against Angel Blanco of Skyline College in his next match, the two were tied, 5-5 at the end of regulation. In the first sudden victory period, Flores scored a takedown with 45 seconds left, while each of them added escape points in the next two periods, with Flores coming away with a 10-7 win. Flores then lost his next two matches and finished in sixth place.

CERRITOS COLLEGE WRESTLERS AT 3C2A STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

125 Pounds - Adrian Jimenez - 5th Place
125 Pounds - Jesse Hernandez - Did not place
133 pounds - Elijah Flores - Did not place
141 Pounds - Isaac Gonzalez - 2nd Place (All-American)
149 Pounds - Sean Otero - STATE CHAMPION (All-American)

149 Pounds - Spencer Parry - 4th Place (All-American)

157 Pounds - Noah Zuniga - 8th Place
174 Pounds - Abraham Galicia - STATE CHAMPION (All-American)

184 Pounds - Farzad Hashimi - 6th Place

197 Pounds - Nelson Ramirez - 6th Place

285 Pounds - Simon Flores - 6th Place