The Bakersfield College Wrestling Team is in seventh place after day one of the CCCAA State Wrestling Championships.
"We have four guys placing in the top eight, but just one heading into the semi-finals, and that's Jose Robledo," Head Coach Brett Clark said.
Robledo had a first round bye before pinning East Los Angeles College wrestler Ned Estrada in 3:51 in the second round.
He'll face Modesto's Luke Brewer tomorrow in the semi-finals when action resumes at 9:00 AM.
"Norman Abas (125), Zach Mitchell (184), and Josh Davis (HVY) are top eight placers, but they'll wrestle again in the morning and wins will put them in the running for third place, but losses would put them on the road to seventh or eighth place finishes," Clark said.
Mitchell nearly got knocked out of the tournament in his last match of the day.
"He fell behind but he kept wrestling. He caught John Robles (Cerritos) and put him on his back for six points, and he kept fighting and pulled out a 15-12 victory," Clark said.
But the day wasn't without disappointment.
"We lost some heartbreakers, and some kids got knocked out of the tournament," Clark said, "Like Pedro Serrabia (125) getting thrown on a single leg takedown and losing, or Torrey Casper (131), you really feel for the kid because he came back after being out for a few years and it just didn't have it today and that's the way it goes sometimes. Sometimes it's your day, and sometimes it's not. Same with Danny Lopez. Those were the three guys of our seven who aren't going to wrestle the second day," Clark said.
Casper beat Ian Morken from San Joaquin Delta by a 7-3 decision before losing to Fresno's Jonas Gaytan by major decision (11-3), and finall y getting knocked out of the tournament by a 5-1 decision to Skyline's Brady Huang.
Coach Marcos Austin said the CCCAA State Championship Tournament might be the toughest in the nation.
"We had a lot of high hopes for Casper and Serrabia and Lopez, and it just didn't come to fruition today. Casper is a 125 pounder who took one for the team and went up to 133s and unfortunately it was a crazy weight stacked with talent and studs, and that was an absolute heartbreaker. It took some wind out of our sails when he got knocked out of the tournament. Same with Lopez. But it happens. And it was very surprising. This tournament is full of the very best wrestlers in the junior college system, and anything can happen, and we see it year after year after year. I was talking to my wife earlier, and I told her my blood pressure is through the roof today. But the thing about this tournament is, it tells you who was the best wrestler today," Austin said.