Complete Brackets

Team Scores

It was a difficult morning session for the Cerritos College wrestling team at the CCCAA State Championships on Saturday. The Falcons opened the day in first place (after score was updated) with six wrestlers competing in semifinal matches at Victor Valley College. However, four of those suffered defeat, with only sophomore 157-pound Kevin James (Redondo Union HS) and freshman 197-pound David Van Weems (Corona Centennial HS) set to compete for an individual championship.

All the while, Fresno City College saw five of their six wrestlers win their semifinal matches and took a commanding 31-point lead at one point during the day. The Falcons started working their way through the consolation rounds and closed that gap to just five points nearing the end of the medal rounds.

125 Pounds - Freshman Norberto Buenrostro (Citrus Hill HS) concluded the season in third place to earn All-America status. But his day started with a 9-3 setback against Landon McBride of Sierra College in the semifinals. Buenrostro responded with a 5-2 victory against Pedro Sarabia of Bakersfield College, who he also defeated to win the Southern California championship. In the third place match, he outscored Morgan Sauseda of Sacramento City College, 12-7 to secure third place.

141 Pounds - An early favorite to contend for a state title, sophomore Richard Pocock (California HS) came up short against Casper Sherow of Mt. San Antonio College, 5-4, which dropped him into the consolation rounds. That pitted him against the other state favorite for the title Fresno City's Clinton McAlester in his next match. They batted to a 3-3 draw in regulation, which sent the match to sudden victory. In the final second of the one-minute period, Pocock recorded a reversal and came away with a 5-3 win. His day ended with a 4-2 loss to Hunter Minton of Sacramento City in the chid place match. His fourth place finish earned him All-America honors.

149 Pounds - The third Falcon to compete in the semfinals during the day was freshman Wyatt Gerl (Downey Calvary Chapel HS). He squared off against top-seeded Dylan Martinez of Fresno City College and was defeated, 5-3 in a close match. Gerl was then defeated, 5-4 by Mt. San Antonio's Joseph Dominguez, which dropped him into the fifth place match. Gerl received a medical forfeiture win to come in fifth place.

157 Pounds - James posted a 4-1 win over Sacramento City's Daniel Larman to advance to the state championship match, where he will take on Joshua Annis of Fresno City. The team's other entry in the weight class, sophomore Dylan Moreno (Downey HS) was defeated by Annis, 4-3 before a tough 10-9 loss to Larman. In the fifth place match, Moreno concluded his season by pinning Nathan Pimentel of West Hills College in 1:50.

165 Pounds - The morning continued to be a struggle for Cerritos, as freshman Kennith Kirk (Elsinore HS) was pinned by top-seeded Derek Lee Loy of Sacramento City in 3:57. He fought back for a 7-6 win in his next match, but was defeated, 16-0 in a technical fall by teammate Blake Vasquez (Fountain Valley HS) in the consolation round. Vasquez went on to pin Kevin Hope of Mt. San Antonio, but lost his third place match to Arman Fayyazi of Santa Ana. It was his second loss of the tournament to Fayyazi. In his seventh place match, Kirk pinned Ricardo Bribescus.

174 Pounds - Freshman Isaiah Leyva (San Jacinto HS) opened the day with a 9-4 loss to Nico Chapman of Sacramento City before pinning his next two opponents in the consolation rounds. He was defeated in his next two matches by a combined three points and finished in sixth place.

184 Pounds - Opening the day in the consolation round, freshman Bryant Vasquez (Fountain Valley HS) won four matches to finish in third place and earn All-America honors. Two of his wins were pins, including one in 3:41 in the third place match over Barnabus Yi of Mt. San Antonio, who upset him in his opening match on the first day.

197 Pounds - Van Weems continued to impress everyone and pinned Wes Ruffner of Lassen College in 4:43. He will take on Fresno City's Kalvin Stuckey in the state championship match.

285 Pounds - Freshman David Zavala (Lakewood HS) started the day in the consolation round and opened with a pin in 1:21 over Gabriel Cardona of Chabot. That was followed by an 8-0 major decision over Jarran Kirk of Sacramento City and a 2-0 win against Angel Mariscal of Fresno City. He faced top-seeded Tristan Smith of Modesto in the third place match and was defeated, 1-0.

Photo by John Sachs