Oliver RiveroFreshmen 133 pounder Isaih Calderon and 141 pounder Alireza Kaveh won the Santa Ana Invitational tournament on Oct. 5. Calderon was awarded the Most Outstanding Wrestler for winning all four of his matches on Saturday.
Santa Ana College placed fourth and finished with four medalists, Cerritos College took first, Bakersfield College finished second, and Mt. San Antonio took third.
The unranked Caldron defeated Cerritos’ Andres Gonzalez 11-10 in the 133 weight class final. “I felt pretty well. This is my first time wrestling for Santa Ana College. I feel really happy about my performance. “ he said.
Kaveh who was also unranked defeated Mt. SAC’s Bradley Chirino 15-5 in the finals. He was not satisfied with his win. “It’s another tournament. I gotta keep pushing harder in my training. I got a big win today but it doesn’t matter, I still have a lot more stuff to work on.” Kaveh said.
The third finalist for SAC was freshman 149 pounder, Benjamin Navarrete. He lost his finals match 11-3 against BC’s Adrian Gonzales in the finals. Navarrete saw his loss as a learning experience and hopes to come back stronger as the season continues.
This was the Dons highest finish at their home tournament in five years, but despite a fourth-place finish head wrestling coach Vince Silva has his eyes at a potential state title. Silva’s biggest concern is how his young team will fare against No.1 ranked and returning CCCAA state champion team Fresno City College who was absent on Saturday.
“We can place in the top three [at state]. Once we get everyone down to fighting weight we’re going to be ok. We have the potential of having three finalists [in ]. Again, we are missing Fresno, I know that they have a great team they always do. But the way we perform today it showed we’re pretty dominating. We always do better in December in the state tournament.” Silva said.
The Don’s next competition will be on the road, they will travel to Cerritos College for their first conference dual. They face against No.2 ranked Cerritos on Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m.
