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Mt. San Antonio College wins California Community College state championships, capping off strong regular season
by John Sachs, Special to TheMat.com
Mt. San Antonio College, the 2021 California Community College state champion team. Photo by John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com
Mt. San Antonio College established themselves early as the team to beat this year in California Community College Wrestling. The Mounties went undefeated at the Mt. SAC Duals and never looked back. Tournament team victories and outstanding wrestler awards followed wherever they went. In October, they captured the CCCAA South Duals Championship ending the 5 year run of Cerritos College.
This victory set up a showdown with perennial North Champion, Fresno City College. Like everyone else, the Rams succumbed to the depth of the Mounties line up, falling by a final score of 32 to 12.
At the State Championships, Mt. San Antonio took control early and placed 8 wrestlers in the semi-finals. When the dust settled, the Mounties had a 28.5 point lead over their Southern California rivals Cerritos College.
Head Coach David Rivera was justifiably pleased – “Just very proud of the entire team and coaching staff. It was a full team effort that made this Championship possible”
Cerritos Head Coach Don Garriott summed it up this way: “We were behind Mt. Sac all season but we seemed to be closing the gap each week. I really thought we had a shot to overtake them at state, ultimately falling short. Coach Rivera did a great job with the Mt.SAC team this year and absolutely deserved the title.”
Top 10 Teams
1 - Mt San Antonio College - 167.0
2 - Cerritos College - 138.5
3 - Fresno City College - 117.0
4 - Sacramento City College - 107.5
5 - Bakersfield College - 85.0
6 - West Hills College - 84.5
7 - East Los Angeles College - 56.0
8 - Rio Hondo College - 53.0
9 - Moorpark College - 35.0
10 - Cuesta College - 29.5
10 - Santa Rosa Junior College - 29.5
Coach of the Year - David Rivera (Mt. San Antonio)
Assistant Coach of the Year - Robert Dominguez (Mt. San Antonio)
Most Outstanding Wrestler - Jonathan Hunter (Bakersfield - 174 Pounds)
Most Falls - Joseph Alaniz (Fresno City - 4 pins; 3:52 total time)
Finals Results
125 Jonathan Prata (Cerritos) won by major decision over Alexis Tellez (Rio Hondo) (MD 9-1)
133 Jason Valencia (Mt SAC) won by decision over David Saenz (Mt SAC) (Dec 14-8)
141 Wayne Joint (West Hills) won in sudden victory - 1 over Kendal Frank (Sacramento City) (SV-1 10-8)
149 Lupe Ayon (West Hills) won by decision over Juan Lopez (Mt SAC) (Dec 6-1)
157 Noah Cortez (Fresno City) won by fall over Daniel Bracamontes (Cerritos) (Fall 2:29)
165 Hassan Khan (Sacramento City) won by decision over Willy LaMacchia (Skyline) (Dec 2-1)
174 Wetzel Hill (Mt SAC) won by decision over Joseph Fernandez (Moorpark) (Dec 5-2)
184 Jonathan Hunter (Bakersfield) won by fall over Eric Karas (Sacramento City) (Fall 2:21)
197 Angel Solis (West Hills) won by fall over Nate Kendricks (Mt SAC) (Fall 2:41)
285 Jonovan Smith (Cerritos) won by decision over Rudy Garcia (Fresno City) (Dec 8-3)
Mt. San Antonio College established themselves early as the team to beat this year in California Community College Wrestling. The Mounties went undefeated at the Mt. SAC Duals and never looked back. Tournament team victories and outstanding wrestler awards followed wherever they went. In October, they captured the CCCAA South Duals Championship ending the 5 year run of Cerritos College.
This victory set up a showdown with perennial North Champion, Fresno City College. Like everyone else, the Rams succumbed to the depth of the Mounties line up, falling by a final score of 32 to 12.
At the State Championships, Mt. San Antonio took control early and placed 8 wrestlers in the semi-finals. When the dust settled, the Mounties had a 28.5 point lead over their Southern California rivals Cerritos College.
Head Coach David Rivera was justifiably pleased – “Just very proud of the entire team and coaching staff. It was a full team effort that made this Championship possible”
Cerritos Head Coach Don Garriott summed it up this way: “We were behind Mt. Sac all season but we seemed to be closing the gap each week. I really thought we had a shot to overtake them at state, ultimately falling short. Coach Rivera did a great job with the Mt.SAC team this year and absolutely deserved the title.”
Top 10 Teams
1 - Mt San Antonio College - 167.0
2 - Cerritos College - 138.5
3 - Fresno City College - 117.0
4 - Sacramento City College - 107.5
5 - Bakersfield College - 85.0
6 - West Hills College - 84.5
7 - East Los Angeles College - 56.0
8 - Rio Hondo College - 53.0
9 - Moorpark College - 35.0
10 - Cuesta College - 29.5
10 - Santa Rosa Junior College - 29.5
Coach of the Year - David Rivera (Mt. San Antonio)
Assistant Coach of the Year - Robert Dominguez (Mt. San Antonio)
Most Outstanding Wrestler - Jonathan Hunter (Bakersfield - 174 Pounds)
Most Falls - Joseph Alaniz (Fresno City - 4 pins; 3:52 total time)
Finals Results
125 Jonathan Prata (Cerritos) won by major decision over Alexis Tellez (Rio Hondo) (MD 9-1)
133 Jason Valencia (Mt SAC) won by decision over David Saenz (Mt SAC) (Dec 14-8)
141 Wayne Joint (West Hills) won in sudden victory - 1 over Kendal Frank (Sacramento City) (SV-1 10-8)
149 Lupe Ayon (West Hills) won by decision over Juan Lopez (Mt SAC) (Dec 6-1)
157 Noah Cortez (Fresno City) won by fall over Daniel Bracamontes (Cerritos) (Fall 2:29)
165 Hassan Khan (Sacramento City) won by decision over Willy LaMacchia (Skyline) (Dec 2-1)
174 Wetzel Hill (Mt SAC) won by decision over Joseph Fernandez (Moorpark) (Dec 5-2)
184 Jonathan Hunter (Bakersfield) won by fall over Eric Karas (Sacramento City) (Fall 2:21)
197 Angel Solis (West Hills) won by fall over Nate Kendricks (Mt SAC) (Fall 2:41)
285 Jonovan Smith (Cerritos) won by decision over Rudy Garcia (Fresno City) (Dec 8-3)