The Cerritos College wrestling team finished in fifth place at the Southern California Regional Tournament at East Los Angeles College on Saturday and have advanced seven individuals. The Falcons, who compiled 98.5 team points, will send their seven individual qualifiers to the CCCAA State Championships, which will take place this weekend at San Joaquin Delta College on Stockton.

Although there weren't any individual champions, a trio of wrestlers reached the finals, with all three coming up short. At 125 pounds, top-seeded Dustin Kirk (Elsinore HS) opened with a 17-3 win over Jose Leandro of Bakersfield College and then had to fight hard to prevail, 8-6 against George Sakkas of Cuesta College. In the semifinals, Kirk pinned Christian Hauser of Santa Ana College in 1:26 before facing #2-seeded Christian Betancourt of Mt. San Antonio College and came up short in a 5-4 decision.

For the first time, schools were allowed to enter two wrestlers in two different weight categories and the Falcons had sophomore Gabe Ballesteros (Mesa, AZ HS) joining Kirk. Ballesteros, who placed third at last year's state championship, missed out on qualifying when he came in seventh place. After a bye in the first round, Ballesteros was defeated by East Los Angeles College's Hugo Perez, followed by a 4-2 setback against Leandro. Although he won his seventh place match, Ballesteros didn't qualify for a wrestle-off against sixth place Leando because he already faced him.

At 149 pounds, freshman #2-seeded Keanu Tom (Los Alamitos HS) posted a 17-5 win over Jonathan Gomez of Bakersfield College and then a 4-1 decision against #3-seeded Jr. Lule of Palomar College to reach the finals. But a 6-4 loss to top-seeded Max Ramirez prevented Tom from winning the Southern California championship. It was the same scenario of freshman #2-seeded Jeremiah Gerl (Downey Calvary Chapel HS) at 184 pounds. A 7-0 win against Arko Petrosian of Bakersfield was followed by a 6-1 win over #3-seeded Drasko Bogdanovich to advance to the finals. Gerl was defeated by top-seeded Jared Mantanae of Mt. San Antonio, 7-3 for the title.

Other qualifiers include sophomore Greg Barrera (Northwest, TX HS), a fifth place finisher at 133 pounds; freshman Eric Ambriz (Temescal Canyon HS), who came in sixth place at 141 pounds; freshman Max Kumashiro (Los Alamitos HS), who came in seventh place at 165 pounds and freshman Robert Chism (Downey HS), a fourth place finisher at 285 pounds.

Barrera, who was seeded #4, dropped his opening match but then came back with three wins until a loss to Nathan Pike of Mt. San Antonio dropped him into the fifth place match. Barrera, and eighth place finisher at the state championships in 2011, defeated Elias Mercado of Rio Hondo, 3-2 for fifth. It was Mercado who handed Barrera a loss in his first match. Ambriz avoided a wrestle-off with East LA's Omar Ochoa after losing his fifth place match because he defeated Ochoa in the consolation round, 14-5. Ambriz won his two other matches by a shutout and then a pin over Latarrius Harris of West Hills College.

Dropping to 165 pounds for the first time all season, Kumashiro struggled to make weight and it showed after an opening 7-4 win over East LA's Lavante Chism. Kumashiro, seeded #2, was pinned in 2:48 by Palomar's Peter Donchev and then lost, 7-3 to John Sinclair of Cuesta College to fall to the seventh place match, where he advanced past teammate Timothy Garnica (North Torrance HS). He was then set to face Alex Gallo of Palomar in a wrestle-off, but Gallo was injured in his fifth place match and had to default. 

Competing for the first time all season, Chism was seeded #3 and started his season with a 4-2 win over Nick Auxier of Rio Hondo College. A unanimous all-conference selection on the football team as their center, Chism placed fifth at the state championships as a senior in highschool on the wrestling team after coming in second place at the Masters Meet and CIF Championships. He followed his opening win with a pin in 1:04 over Jared Dorado of Cuesta College to reach the quarterfinals. He was pinned by eventual champion Derrick Lee of West Hills College in :58 seconds and then split his last two matches, with a 3-2 setback against Josh Davis of Bakersfield College in the third place match.