Head Coach Don Garriot on Sept.26 led the Cerritos College wrestling team to fourth place at the West Hills Tournament with 115 team points.

“Competitions are really good for us to gauge where we are in the season,” Garriot said.

With a few injured players as a result of the tournament matches, some of the wrestlers were forced to withdraw.

Voris Meeks, a sophomore in 157-pound weight class, was forced to withdraw after a win and a loss, due to his sprained ankle.

“It was a little bit of a different atmosphere coming in with the team mostly as freshmen,” Meeks said. “I feel like we did pretty good.”

Dylan Moreno, a freshman also in the 157-pound weight class, said about his first-hand experience in his first match, “It’s a whole other level, especially from high school.”

“There’s a lot more fight in it, so it’s something I had to adapt to for the most part […] I adapted well and feel confident for the next tournament,” Moreno added.

Finishing in fourth place, Moreno will be competing again this weekend in the Santa Ana tournament.

“I’ve heard a lot about it… the competition is going to be a lot more tough, a lot more schools… you’re going to see a lot of guys that you’re going to see at state in this tournament, so I’m excited to see how I do,” he said.

With a younger fighting base, the team is aiming for the best of this season.

“Some guys that got hurt at West Hills will be out, but some guys are helping out that will be in [the Santa Ana tournament this weekend],” Garriot said with a broader perspective on the matches.

“So it’ll give us an opportunity to look at our guys, see where we need to develop…” he added.

“Because… two weeks after that is when we have the Southern Regional Duals which are a qualifier for the state dual tournament. That’s the one that’s important,” Garriot made clear, regarding these two tournaments prior to the big dual day.

“…from what I saw this weekend, once we do get those guys in, hopefully, we could be in the hunt for another state title,” Garriot said.