Andy Tufnell won the championship at 174 pounds, and four other Falcon wrestlers finished third in their weight classes as the team finished third in the State Championships Saturday in Santa Rosa.
The Falcons finished just five and one-half points behind second-place Moorpark. Fresno City College won the team championship with 146.5 points.
Tufnell defeated three opponents to make the final, where he defeated Moorpark’s Shannon Sams, 2-1, to take the championship.
Anthony Rodriguez (125 pounds), Damacio Page (133), Josh Johnson (141) and Steve Garcia (149) finished third.
Rodriguez defeated Fresno’s Sergio Breceda by pin fall in the third place match.
After dropping a close decision to Rick Guzman of Rio Hondo in the semifinal, Page took third with a 4-3 decision over Jorge Evangelista of Fresno.
Johnson, who was top-ranked at 141 pounds entering the meet, was defeated by Fresno’s Russell Miura in the semifinal. He finished with wins over Jason Rawlins of Golden West and Israel Sanchez of Santa Ana to take third place.
Garcia also entered the tournament ranked No. 1, but lost in the semifinal round to Nick Tatum of Sacramento City College, who won the state title.
Garcia came back and finished in third place by defeating Anthony Reta of Chabot and Cody Wilkenson of West Valley, both by technical fall.
Gabe Barragan (157) lost his second round match, but defeated three opponents in the consolation bracket to get to the third place match, where he dropped a 9-3 decision to Palomar’s Buck Meredith and finishing fourth.
Andy Lopez (165), Tad Millane (184) and DeRon Ward (197) did not place in the tournament.
Cerritos had qualified wrestlers in each weight class it entered. The Falcons did not have anyone competing at heavyweight during the season.
Only Fresno and Moorpark sent the maximum ten to State, where the Rams had each of their wrestlers finish in the top eight.
Women’s Basketball
Bouncing back from a loss to Ventura College, the Cerritos women’s basketball took third place in the College of the Sequoias Tournament with a 72-46 win over Solano College Sunday in in Visalia.
The Falcons (7-3) defeated San Joaquin Delta, 79-63, and College of the Canyons, 73-63, on the way to the semifinal against Ventura, the fifth-ranked team in the state.
Cerritos grabbed just 15 rebounds to Ventura’s 29 in a 79-63 loss.
Against Solano, Falcons’ center Antares Vice delivered 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Forward Chrystal Johnson scored 13 points for the Falcons, and guard Jennifer Decuir added 10.
Women’s Soccer Honors
Falcons’ womens soccer head coach Debbie Jensen was honored as Coach of the Year in the South Coast Conference,
Cerritos finished 5-9-0 for fifth place in the conference (6-11-0 overall), which features some of the state’s top teams.
Forwards Mauriel Chaidez and Claudia Lozano were named to the conference’s first team, while goalkeeper Carmen Cortes and midfielder Maria Zuniga made the second team.
