Los Angeles, CA – Oak Squad Men's Wrestling sent five wrestlers to compete in the East Los Angeles College Brawl. Of the five Oaks, three found placements in the top 4 with freshman Luis Solis winning the Championship title at the 133 weight class. A short break will prepare the squad for next month's Clackamas Open next up on the schedule! 

 

Oak Placers:

Luis Solis (133) - 1st place

The freshman from Rialto, CA made his second appearance as an Oak on Sunday and pulled away with his first collegiate title after going 4-0! Solis began his day with back to back tech falls over Noe Cruz (Cerritos) and Dominic Villareal (Mt. San Antonio) by scores of 18-2 and 18-3 respectively. He then earned a pin against John Islas (ELAC) in the second round to make his way to the championship match. There he faced Evan Mcshane (Cerritos) and wrestled through all three rounds to win by decision, 8-6. This victory secured the 1st place Championship title at the 133 weight class for his first title in his Menlo career! The future looks bright for this Oak.        

 

Eric Smith-Williams (157) - 3rd place

Another Oak who found success on the mat was Eric Smith-Williams who went 4-1 to take 3rd place. His first opponent was Deniz Ari (Santa Ana) and Smith-Williams ended the match in the first period after a tech fall of 19-4. A pin over Joseph Smith (San Jose State Club) in the second period would follow to go to the semis. A loss would send Eric to wrestle backs where he pinned Ryan Garcia (Victor Valley) in just under a minute. The close 3rd place match ended in a decision by a score of 8-7 in favor of Eric. This is the second tournament appearance for the Oak in the 2023 season and has been two for two on finding a placement in each!   

 

JT Nishikawa (157) - 4th place

It was JT's first tournament appearance for Oak Squad this season and was able to walk away with a 4th place finish. The freshman from Danville, CA began his day with a tech fall over Tyler Carpenter (Cerritos) by a score of 20-3. A loss in the semifinals match meant that Nishikawa had to compete hard to wrestle back and place. The consolation match was against Andre Doeve (Rio Hondo) and ended in the second period after JT earned a 15-0 lead to go to the 3rd place match. The two Oaks battled in the final match of the day but JT fell just short by a score of 7-8 to settle for 4th place. The newbie can now add a 4th place finish to his collegiate career!

 

Up Next….

Oak Squad will have a short break before hitting the mats again in Oregon City, OR for the Clackamas Open happening on Sunday December 3rd.