The Falcon wrestlers are training hard heading into the new season on the hunt for glory.
Head coach Don Garriott has led the team into the top four spots for the state championship in the past four seasons.
Garriott said, “Our goal is to win the conference, win the regional and win the state every year, that never changes.”
The Falcons’ wrestling team are following up on the previous Fall 2017 season where they settled for runner-up in the California Community College Athletic Association Team Dual State Championship and fourth place in the CCCAA State Championship.
With a handful of sophomores, the core of this team is surrounded by freshmen and that is something Garriott is looking forward to this upcoming season
“I’m excited to get into competition in a month to see where they’re [freshmen] at, what I’m seeing in the room right now is great they have a lot of fight in em’,” Garriott said.
Garriott admits his team is not prepared at the moment for the first tournament, but will be prepared when the day comes.
Garriott continued, “That’s not really what we’re shooting for, we use those as barometers of where we’re at… We just want to get them ready to compete that first tournament.”
With so many bodies on the team to coach, Garriott has no trouble at all when it comes to managing so many wrestlers because he has great help on his side.
Freshman Roland Dominguez came to Cerritos College following his high school career at Downey High where he won the California Interscholastic Federation championship as a junior.
Dominguez feels good and confident for the upcoming season, his reason in choosing Cerritos College came down to the wrestling program.
“It’s close to home and I know they have a good program here, so I wanted to see what I had to offer,” Dominguez said.
He continued, “… it’s a good team, the coaches show good technique and I’m pretty confident we can win the state title as a team.”
Sophomore Nick Camacho is moving toward his last wrestling season, previously taking fifth place at the CCCAA State Championship his first year.
“I’m excited and nervous at the same time. Team wise, I know we have a lot of people who have to tryout for the spot,” Camacho said.
Individually Camacho knows he has a lot to work on this upcoming season, but is willing to put in the time to possibly take the State Championship this year.
Camacho said, “It’s definitely possible, I just have to keep the grind up. There are other really good wrestlers out there, but you gotta put in the work, so things can happen my way when the time comes.”
This season means a lot to Camacho as he wants to get recruited to another college and has to prove himself both athletically and academically.
Sophomore Zack Gonzalez is also training for his last season at Cerritos College, after taking seventh place at CCCAA State Championships his freshman year.
Gonzalez said,”I’ve been working everyday, I haven’t took to much time off the mat.”
“I feel comfortable because I know I’m going to get much better as the season goes on,” He continued.
Gonzalez has set the goal this season of trying to obtain the individual and team state title.
“I think it deserves to be back here at Cerritos, we’ve been working hard for it,” Gonzalez said.
