The Cerritos College wrestling team continues to contend with some of the toughest teams in the state, as they added a third place finish to their resume at the Fresno Open on Saturday. The Falcons also have another third place, a second place and a fifth place team finish in their other tournaments this season. They will conclude Southwest Conference play on Wednesday when they travel to Rio Hondo College for a 7:00 p.m. match.

Reaching the championship match for his second tournament in a row was freshman 125-pound Dustin Kirk (Elsinore HS). He lost in the finals at the Lassen Tourament, but the #3-seed recorded a pair of pins and two regulation wins to capture the title at Fresno. He opened with pins over Kyle Anderson of Bakersfield College in 2:22 and then pinned Tommy Espinoza of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2:33. In the semi-finals, Kirk defeated #2-seeded Arnulfo Olea of Fresno City, and then handed top-seeded Matthew Correa of Cal State Bakersfield an 7-2 defeat. Olea is ranked #1 in the state, while Correa placed seventh at the CCCAA state championships for Cuesta College last year.

At 141 pounds, sophomore Greg Barrera (Northwest, TX HS) advanced to the semi-finals as the #2-seed, but was defeated, 5-0 by #3-seeded Alec Fraser of Fresno City. Barrera defeated #4-seeded Laith Alnassiri of Sacramento City College, 7-4 before dropping a 5-1 score in the third place match against Cal Poly SLO's Jacob Leon.

Freshman Keanu Tom (Los Alamitos HS), who was the #2-seeded wrestler at 157 pounds, was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to an injury in a second round loss. As for freshman Maxwell Kumashiro (Los Alamitos HS) at 174 pounds, the #4-seed advanced to the semi-finals with a pair of big wins, but was defeated by eventual champion Alex Campos-Chambers of Sacramento City College, who was seeded #1. Kumashiro followed the loss with a pin of Cordero Rios from Sacramento City in 2:22 before he dropped a 6-2 decision in the third place match against #3-seeded Nick Traquato of Cal Poly SLO.