At the conclusion of the first day of the 3C2A State Championships, the Cerritos College wrestling team have six of their eight entries still active. The Falcons sit in third place with 60 team points, with three of their entries advancing to the semifinals, which will kick off the second day, which is being held at Lemoore College. The team holds a half-point lead over Palomar College, while Sacramento City College is just four points behind Cerritos.
Sophomore 141-pound Yoshiya Funakoshi (Calvary Chapel HS/Cal Baptist University) recorded a pair of pins in his action on Friday. The #2-seed from Southern California started his day by pinning Noah Abel of Sierra College in 1:07, while a pin over the #5-seed from Southern California, Shawn Torres of Rio Hondo College in 5:39 propelled Funakoshi into the semifinals. He will be facing Chris Guerrero of Victor Valley College after the #3-seed from SoCal upset Abraham Cerda of Fresno City College when he pinned him in 6:38 in the second round.
Also winning his two matches on the day was sophomore Tyler Hanna (South Torrance HS/Cal State Bakersfield), who is the #1-seed from Southern California. He needed just 51 seconds to pin Lassen College's Brian Mills, who was the #8-seed from Northern California. Next up was a convincing 17-0 technical fall victory over Maxsim Shertsnev, the #3-seed from Sierra College. In the semifinals, Hanna will take on the #2-seed from NorCal, Fazel Mohammad of Chabot College.
The third Falcon to advance to the semifinals was freshman 184-pound Farzad Hashimi (El Dorado HS), who is the #3-seed from SoCal. Leading just 1-0 after two periods against Jesus Anguiano of Santa Rosa, Hashimi was charged with a stalling point in the third period, but was able to record a three-point takedown against the #6-seed from Northern California with 31 seconds left and held on for the win. He followed that with an 11-3 major decision against Adrian Perez Pulido, the #3 NorCal seed from Modesto College. Trailing, 2-0 after the first period, Hashimi scored a takedown and four-point near fall with just one second remaining in the second period and led, 8-3 before adding a takedown in the third period. He will be taking on the top seed Roman Loya of Mt. San Antonio College in the semifinals.
Still active in the tournament include 125-pound freshman Jesse Hernandez (Santa Fe HS), who has recorded two pins between a loss in the second round. The #2-seed from Southern California is scheduled to open against the #1-seed from Fresno City, Zane Cerda, who was upset in the second round. At 157 pounds, freshman Nicholas Pham (Westminster HS) registered a pin in his first match before a loss sent him to the consolation rounds. He bounced back with a 15-0 technical fall over Cory Flores, the #8-seed from Santa Ana College and Pham, who's seeded #4 from Southern California, will take on Caden Diamond of Sacramento City on Saturday morning.
Another entry at 184 pounds, sophomore Ben Setum (Pacifica HS) dropped his first match to Perez Pulido and followed with two wins, including a 2-1 victory over Bobby Ramirez of Rio Hondo, Setum who's seeded #7 in the South will take on #2-seeded Ivan Nacteli of Palomar College in the consolation rounds.
The two Falcons who have been eliminated are freshman 197-pound Nelson Ramirez (Lakewood HS) and sophomore 285-pound Diego Flores (Redondo Union HS), who were both defeated twice. Both were seeded #6 and both scored wins by pin sandwiched between their two losses.
Photos courtesy of John Sachs/Tech-Fall
