It was a great weekend for the Cerritos College wrestling team, as they shut out Santa Rosa College, 47-0 in a dual meet and the next day came in second place at the West Hills Tournament. The win over Santa Rosa improved the team's season record to 4-1, while they had one first place finisher and four that came in third place at the tournament that helped them comprise 121 team points. Fresno City College win the tournament title with 154.5 team points. Cerritos will now take part in the Santa Ana Tournament on Saturday.
In the win over the Bear Cubs, the Falcons won four matches by pin and received a forfeit at another weight. Freshman Keanu Tom (Los Alamitos HS), who won his 157-pound match, 16-6, continued winning at the tournament, as he picked up four more wins, including a 7-4 decision in the finals to defeat Austin Braddock of Fresno City College.
Sophomore Gabe Ballesteros (Mesa, AZ HS) earned a pin in the match over Santa Rosa and reached the semi-finals of the tournament at 125 pounds. But a 10-5 loss to eventual champion Dieuminse Dore of Lassen College dropped him into the consolation round. Ballesteron responded with two more wins to come in third, including a 3-2 decision in his final match against Seth Hood of Fresno City. Freshman Dustin Kirk (Elsinore HS) sat out the dual meet match and opened the tournament with a loss, sending him into the consolation round. He earned the Falcons points with six straight wins to come in third place at 133 pounds, which included three straight pins. He recorded his fourth pin in :48 seconds to defeat Joseph Holcomb of Shasta College in the third place match.
At 149 pounds, sophomore Michael Behnke (Arlington HS) opened his season with a 13-1 win in the dual match and continued that with a third place finish in the tournament. Although he dropped his second match, Behnke came back with four consective wins, including a 16-1 technical fall over teammate David Acuna (San Pedro HS) and concluded his weekend with an 8-7 victory over Giovannu Murrillo of Modesto College. The team's other third place finisher was sophomore Eddie Rogers (Martin Luther King HS) at 165 pounds. He opened his weekend with a pin at the dual meet and reached the semi-finals after a win by pin in :29 seconds. A 10-1 loss put him in the consolation round, and he won two matches by pin, including one against teammate Timothy Garnica (North Torrance HS) in 2:16. His third place match was against Jason Zecchini of West Hills College Lemoor, who he pinned in :26 seconds.