Taking part in the West Hills Tournament on Saturday, the Cerritos College wrestling team had a pair of individual champions, which enabled the team to come in fourth place overall. The Falcons finished with 147.5 team points and were barely edged out of third place by Sacramento City College, who finished with 150.5 points.

 

Winning individual championships for Cerritos on the day were sophomore 149-pound Mario De La Torre (Temescal Canyon HS), as well as sophomore 157-pound Caoilte Drury (Westminster HS). The team was competing for another champion, but sophomore 141-pound Raul Jimenez (St. John Bosco HS) was injured in the finals and had to default.

 

For De La Torre, he pinned three of his first four opponents, while he also added a technical fall on his way to the championship match. He opened with a pin of Nicholas Naranjo (Mt. San Antonio) in 1:13 and followed that with a 15-0 technical fall against Azim Azimy of Chabot College. Pins over David Sypnicki (Santa Rosa) and teammate Spencer Parry (Yorba Linda HS) in 2:44 and 1:26 respectively, set him up against Matthew Arias of Fresno City in the finals. De La Torre handled his Northern California opponent quite easily, as he registered a 15-1 win.

 

Drury also dominated his way to the finals at 157, as he opened the day with a pin of Jesse Padilla of Santa Rosa in 1:45 before recording a technical fall over Mt. San Antonio's Jacob Gumine. Teammate Noah Zuniga (Trabuco Hills HS) was his next opponent and he pinned him in 1:13, while his 11-3 major decision in the semifinals over Ammar Khan of Sacramento City advanced him to the finals. It took Drury just 32 seconds to capture the title with his pin of Zeke Hueter of Santa Ana.

 

At 141 pounds, it appeared that Jimenez was on his way to a championship, as he pinned his first two opponents - Adrian Magane (Mt. San Antonio) and Vincente Moreno (Fresno City) in less than a minute. That was followed with a hard-fought 5-4 win over Cesar Guzman, which set the table for a tough 10-7 victory against Pedro Lacerde of Mt. San Antonio. Taking on Mt. SAC's Zacary Parker in the finals, Jimenez suffered an injury 3:37 into the match and had to default.

 

Others who wrestled well included sophomore Evan McShane (North Torrance HS), who placed third at 133 pounds after advancing to the semifinals, sophomore 285-pound Kobe Pablo (Cypress HS), another third place finisher. In a crowded weight classification, Pablo opened with four straight wins to reach the semifinals, where a 10-2 loss to Santa Ana's Joseph Nava sent him to the consolation round. He earned a pair of no contest wins to take third place. Parry, who lost to De La Torre in the semifinals at 149 pounds, settled for fifth place.