December 9, 2012
By Tadzio Garcia
Wrestlers end 10th in state with two All-Americans
The Huskies overcame injuries to win 10th place at the 2012 California Community College Wrestling State Championships held Friday and Saturday at West Hills College, Lemoore, bringing home two All-Americans.
It is the fifth top-10 finish for 18-year Head Coach Ralph Valle. The Huskies finished in 11th place last year.
Joshua Newman (174 pounds), coming off late-season injuries, and Michael Middlebrooks (184 pounds) took home All-American honors by winning fourth place medals each. Julian Zuniga won a sixth place medal.
Newman was the top Husky scorer as a result of three falls. Only one wrestler in the tournament, Nathan Zarate of West Hills, scored more pins.
“I knew I had to get as much points as possible so that ELAC could place top-ten,” Newman said.
Newman scored two bonus points for each fall. These six points were enough to vault ELAC, who scored 37.5 points as a team, over Cuesta (35.5 points) and rival Rio Hondo (33 points) colleges who finished in 11th and 12th places, respectively.
ELAC state finalists included Hugo Perez, who entered the tournament ranked No. 11 in the state in the 125-pound weight class, and Victor Cisneros.
Cisneros wrestled his first 197-pound match of his career at the Southern Regional Championships and walked out of the tournament a state finalist. As a result, he was the No. 9-ranked 197-pound wrestler in the state. The regionals were hosted by ELAC last weekend.
Men’s basketball earns win
The Huskies got by winless Porterville College, 67-50 at home on Friday, Dec. 7.
ELAC had a four point lead with three minutes left, 51-47.
“We were right there. We just continue to shoot ourselves in the foot,” T.J. Jennings, Porterville coach, said. Jennings was co-coach of the Central Valley Conference last season.
Ivory Easley, who leads Porterville in scoring, scored a team-high 15 points.
No stats were provided by the East Los Angeles College coaches.
ELAC improves to 8-3 in non-conference play. Porterville falls to 0-9.
Good job NEWMAN.. YOU HAVE HAD A PHENOMENAL SEASON