Bakersfield College’s two-time defending wrestling champion team is back in gear for the season after a meet on Sept. 8 and a tournament on Sept. 9. Head coach Bill Kalivas feels it is still kind of early to tell how the team will do.
“Its not where you start,” he said. “It’s where you end up.”
On Sept. 8 after the team’s first matches of the season against West Valley College they ran into problems.
“We made some adjustments that we may have not needed that cost us a few matches,” said Kalivas.
This year’s team has a roster of 22 wrestlers but only 18 of them are expected to compete.
Saturday the team went into the tournament with a “confident attitude,” said Kalivas.
Bakersfield College as a team beat 29-6 to Modesto, 39-12 to Shasta, and 46-3 to Skyline.
“We like to hold these meets early in the year to see where we’re at in conditioning and technique,” said Kalivas. “Practices and meets are two different entities.”
According to Kalivas three things dictate the performance of the team for that year. One would be staying healthy as a team. Two, you’d have to maintain consistency and skill level. Three, always keep up the energy and maintain the teams chemistry.
“Success comes from confidence, you have to feel confident to win,” said Kalivas.
There are three returning wrestlers this season: Weighing in at 133 pounds, Cody Gibson a junior college all American, an all American heavyweight Josh Marquez weighing 285 pounds; and Randy Doherty, last year’s Academic All American who finished in the top ten weighs in at 174 pounds.
Bakersfield College has come out on top the past few years due to consistency and balance.
“Chemistry is everything,” said Kalivas.
The wrestlers have two weeks to train and condition until they meet on Sept. 23 at Sacramento City College for the Sacramento City Tournament.