SANTA ANA, Calif. – The Santa Ana College Wrestling team hosted the Mt. San Antonio College Mounties for a top 10 showdown on Wednesday night.
The Dons are ranked as the number nine team in the state by California Community College Wrestling (CACC Wrestling) after coming in 6th place in their tournament on Saturday, Sept. 30th. Mt. SAC came in with the number three spot in the poll after taking fourth in the SAC Tournament.
Wednesday night started off with an exhibition match between Santa Ana's Polette Montano and Mt. SAC's Karianne Tschantre. After two minutes, Montano was able to pin her opponent down, earning the win to set the tone for the night.
Next up was the official start of the match which started with the 125-pound weight class. Samuel Galdamez-Valle represented the Dons while John Whisner wrestled for the Mounties. With 2:57 on the clock in the first period, Whisner defeated Valle with a pin to give Mt. SAC an early 6-0 lead.
The Dons Oliver Rivero matched up with Julian Melecio in the 133-pound weight class in the next match. Rivero trailed in the first period by a score of 6-3 but responded well in the second to bring the score to 8-7 by the end of the period. Rivero was unable to score in the third, which resulted in a 10-7 loss and three more team points for Mt. SAC.
In the third official match of the day, Joshua Fuentes - Norikiyo got the Dons on the board with a 14-10 win over Mt. SAC's Adam Valdez. Fuentes – Norikiyo led nearly from start to finish to take an impressive win over Valdez, who is ranked seventh individually in the state at 141 pounds.
The Santa Ana Wrestling team battled the Mounties for the rest of the night but were shorthanded as they forfeited in three weight classes, giving Mt. SAC an 18-point advantage. Santa Ana dropped the match 40-3 but made the Mounties work hard for everything they got.
Santa Ana will be back on the mats on Saturday, October 14th when they travel to Palomar College for the South Dual Championships.
