The Cerritos College wrestling team had two of their entries advance to the championship match in two weight classifications, as the team compiled 58.5 team points to come in sixth place at the Santa Ana Tournament on Saturday. Aside from the two finalists, only one other finished in the top four, with Palomar College winning the tournament with 118.5 team points while another conference foe, Mt. San Antonio College, came in second place with 107.5 points. The Falcons will now travel north to compete in the Modesto Tournament on Saturday.

Leading the way for the team were sophomore Tyree Cox (Lancaster HS) and freshman Tyler Smith (Marina HS), who placed second at 184 pounds and 197 pounds, respectively. For Cox, he opened with a bye before pinning Ty Freeman of Santa Ana College at the 6:50 mark. That was followed by a 5-2 victory over Adrian Garcia of Rio Hondo College, while a pin of Juan Valladres of Cuesta College in :41 seconds advanced Cox to the finals. In the championship match, Mt. SAC's Kenny Breaux got out to an early lead and posted a 14-7 win.

As for Smith, who was seeded #2, he received a bye in the first round and then a default win over Ryan Mackey of Modesto College. A 21-6 technical fall win over Tyler Foslien of Cuesta College was followed by a 7-4 victory over Chad Rodriguez of Santa Ana College to advance to the championships. Smith then lost a 16-6 decision to top-seeded Elder Crus of Mt. San Antonio in the finals.

Also reaching the semi-finals for Cerritos were 125-pound freshman Gabe Ballesteros (Mesa, AZ HS) and 285-pound sophomore Weston Hawkins (Edison HS/North Iowa Area CC). Ballesteros picked up a 9-2 win over Rafael Hernandez of Bakersfield College and a 4-2 decision against Paul Rodriguez of Sacramento City College before losing, 9-2 to eventual champion Kyle Vexler of Palomar. In the consolation round, Ballesteros was pinned by Eddie Estevez of Palomar in 5:55. Hawkins opened with a 12-0 win over Maury Lemons of East Los Angeles College and then posted a 6-4 win over Ari Ezikian of Santa Ana College. But a loss to eventual champion Derreck Lee of West Hills College, who pinned him in 4:23 dropped Smith to the consolation round. He then lost a 1-0 decision to Brandon Rucker of Mt. SAC.

Coming through the consolation bracket was sophomore Rudy Delgado (North Torrance HS) at 133 pounds. An opening 15-4 win over Rey Andrade of Fresno City College was followed by a 10-7 setback against Elilio Rivera of Palomar, which dropped Delgado to the consolation round. Wins over Rio Hondo's Carlos Martinez (7-2), Sacramento City's Sean Melton (15-7) and Rio Hondo's Brock Remington (13-5) advanced him to the third place match, where he was defeated for the second time by Rivera.