Team Scores
Brackets
Placers

Competing in their first tournament of the season, the Cerritos College wrestling team finished in second place at the West Hills Tournament on Saturday. The Falcons, who finished with 121 team points, trailed conference rival Mt. San Antonio College, who compiled 151 team points. The team will now compete at the Santa Ana Tournament next Saturday.

On the day, Cerritos had three individual champions, while they had another reach the finals and had a total of 12 placers.

Leading the way for the Falcons was defending 125-pound CCCAA state champion Jonathan Prata (Downey HS), who was the #1-seed and breezed through three opponents for the title. After receiving a bye in the first round, Prata recorded a 16-6 major decision over Christopher Betancourt of Mt. San Antonio and followed that with a 7-0 win over Victor Atherton of Rio Hondo College. That advanced him to the finals, where he posted a convincing 15-2 major decision over Alexis Tellez of Rio Hondo.

Also winning in their weight classification was freshman 165-pound Armando Murillo (Rowland HS), who entered as the top seed. After a first round bye, Murillo had a similar route as Prada, as he was not challenged in any of his three matches. He pinned Scott Coleman of Lassen College in 4:16 in his first match and than earned a 17-6 major decision against Jerry Rubio of Mt. SAC. In the championship match, Murillo posted a 17-1 technical fall over #2-seeded Sami Barakat of Cuesta College.

The third Falcon to defeat all of their opponents was freshman 285-pound Jonovan Smith (Birmingham Charter HS), another top seed at their weight class. In a packed tournament, Smith had to defeat five opponents in his first competition of the season. He opened with a 17-3 major decision against Samuel Arroyo of West Hills College and followed quickly by pinning Carter Heiss of Bakersfield College in 5:07. A forfeit allowed Smith to advance to the semifinals, where he outlasted Dalton Paine of San Joaquin Delta College, 3-1 and capped the day by defeating #2-seed Jacob Larsen of Santa Rosa Junior College, 15-9.

Sophomore Josh Mendoza (Warren HS) was one win away from coming away with the title at 133 pounds, but was defeated in the finals. A pair of wins, including an 18-2 technical fall over John Valdez of Modesto Junior College, advanced Mendoza to the championship match. Seeded #2, Mendoza was defeated by #4-seeded David Saenz of Mt. San Antonio, 6-2.

Cerritos experienced some success at 149 pounds, as Caoilte Drury (Westminster HS) placed third and Felix Osorio (Santa Fe HS) came in fourth place. Drury advanced to the semifinals, but was pinned in 6:42 by Donovan Sanin of Rio Hondo, dropping him to the third place match. Drury won his first two matches by pin and major decision to reach the semifinals. Osorio pinned his first opponent, but was also a victim of Sanin in his second match, which sent him to the consolation round. Three consecutive wins advanced Osorio to the third place match, where he was pinned in :36 seconds by Drury.