December 2, 2023
SAC Men's Wrestling Takes 6th at Southern Regionals, All 11 Qualify for State
Santa Ana College Men's Wrestling will take all 11 of their wrestlers to state championships after qualifying at the SoCal Regionals last weekend.
Written by John Salzer
The Santa Ana College wrestling team competed at the CCCAA Southern Regionals over this weekend, and qualified all wrestlers to the state tournament, seeing much improvement over the season. The success of the team was capped off by Edward Ramirez winning the regional title at 165 pounds, while the team overall placed 6th in a very tough Southern regional field.
Ramirez made his way through the 165 pound bracket by a decision, majority decision and technical fall before facing off against the number three ranked wrestler Adrian Juarez of Bakersfield. Trailing 4-1 in the closing seconds of regulation, Ramirez was able to score a takedown to take the match into overtime. From there he scored the sudden victory takedown to win the championship. Ramirez is now part of the latest set of brothers at Santa Ana to qualify for the state tournament after his brother Nathan Ramirez represented the Dons in the 2022 CCCAA tournament.
The team will see three sophomores making the state tournament for the second time. Zeke Hueter at 157 pounds and Sergio Gutierrez at 174 pounds placed 6th in their weight classes. Joseph Nava at heavyweight placed 7th and will see action at the state tournament for the first time since he qualified in 2019. Sophomore Makoa Shefte also placed 7th at 133 pounds to qualify for the state tournament.
An important part of the team's success for the day came from its freshmen, who made up six of the eleven spots for the team for this year. Logan Rubio entered the tournament with an honorable mention ranking, while the rest of the freshmen competed unranked. David Calix at 197 pounds and Dylan Avila at heavyweight won crucial matches against wrestlers they had lost to earlier in the season to both place 6th. Rubio, Artemis Shmuel, Jose Lira, and Andres Carrillo all placed 8th to round out the 11 wrestlers qualifying for the state tournament.
1st - Edward Ramirez (165)
6th - Ezekiel Hueter (157)
6th - Sergio Gutierrez (174)
6th - David Calix (197)
6th - Dylan Avila (285)
7th - Makoa Shefte (133)
7th - Joseph Nava (285)
8th - Logan Rubio (125)
8th - Artemis Shmuel (133)
8th - Jose Lira (149)
8th - Andres Carrillo (184)
Santa Ana will be competing against the rest of the state at the CCCAA state tournament taking place at Cuesta College on December 8th and 9th.
