Dons Take Second Place at State Championships
SANTA ANA, CA - The Santa Ana College (SAC) men’s wrestling team finished in second place at the 2008 California Community College Wrestling State Championships with 118 team points.
The Dons entered the second day of the championships in second place just nine points behind Fresno City College (FCC) with six wrestlers moving on to the semi-finals.
Jaime Martinez (125-pounds), Gabe Aguilar (133-pounds), Bobby Scofield (141-pounds) and Tyler Garcia (197-pounds) each advanced to the finals and helped keep the Dons in second place with 112 points behind FCC's 119 points.
SAC seemed to have the edge as it was sending four wrestlers to the finals with FCC sending only three. Sierra College also sent four wrestlers to finals while sitting in third place with 103 points.
Martinez took on defending State Champion Angel Olea of FCC in a match that could swing the final standings. However, the defending champion took a 10-1 victory to claim his second title and extend FCC's lead over the Dons.
Aguilar wrestled next taking on Todd Wilcox of Sierra looking to keep SAC's title hopes alive. Aguilar was unable to get the late take-down needed to win the match and lost 3-2. The loss also clinched the title for FCC leaving the Dons battling Sierra for second place.
Scofield was the third wrestler in a row for SAC in the finals as he faced Mike Koehnlein of Cerritos who he beat the week prior to claim the So Cal Regional Title. Koehnlein took control of the match early and held on to win the title 9-2.
SAC's last hope for an individual state champion was Garcia who dominated his opponent in his semi-final match. Garcia went up against Julian Silva of Mt. San Antonio College. With the match tied at 3-3 Garcia got Silva on his back and pinned him to claim the title. Garcia's pin was the only pin in the finals.
The Dons ended the championships with eight wrestlers picking up medals in the event. Other top finishers for SAC include Kyle Roh (285-pounds) in third place, Jose Navarro (149-pounds) and Sean Barbour (165-pounds) in fourth place and Daniel Kennedy (157-pounds) in seventh place. |
