With 16 of their wrestlers not able to compete, Bakersfield College’s wrestling team went into the Duals Tournament with a lack of depth and experience.
The Duals Tournament was supposed to last two days from Sept. 23-24, but the matches on Sept. 23 were canceled because teams were not able to stay overnight at Bakersfield.
“Certain schools had physical impact, by that I mean they couldn’t spend the night here at Bakersfield because their budget and they had already used the amount of nights they can spend,” he said.
The teams that competed were Santa Ana, Mt. SAC, East LA, Cuesta College and BC. Santa Ana ended up first. Cuesta, Mt. SAC and East LA tied for second. BC ended up last by losing all four matches for the first time in school history, according to wrestling coach Bill Kalivas.
BC lost to Santa Ana 20-18, to Cuesta 32-6, to Mt. SAC 34-6 and to East LA 28-12.
“We did positive and negative things, but I don’t think we were ready to compete as a team yet,” said Kalivas. “I think we reverted to bad habits and I think we need to improve on positioning and fighting back so it’s back to the drawing board. I think we will make improvements as the season goes by and we will come together as a team, but it will take some time.”
BC’s wrestling team had to compete without half of their wrestlers including their top wrestler Quinn Moore.
“They were ineligible because either they were units short, weren’t passing classes, or didn’t get classes they needed, so we competed with wrestlers we usually wouldn’t compete with.
“They won’t be able to compete until next year,” said Kalivas.
Kalivas was impressed with Lance Castenada, Jacob Pendelton, and Jawayne Fambrough.
“I thought that they wrestled well and showed good competitiveness out there,” Kalivas said.
Ryan Robles, a freshman in the 157 weight class, had an injury during a match with 12 seconds, but was able to finish the match to ensure his victory.
“Ryan sprained his ankle and probably will miss the next tournament. He put himself in an awkward situation and it’s all about watching your position but he showed good pride by getting back out there and finishing the match,” said Kalivas.
Robles explained how he hurt his ankle.
“I was carrying him back. As I was doing it, I fell awkward on my ankle,” he said. “It felt numb and I couldn’t put pressure on it, but I knew I needed to finish the match. I thought I could’ve done better because mistakes killed me like trying to make impossible moves.”
“I need to improve on getting my shots in and not giving up 2 legs, but I thought I sprawled well,” said Robles. “I want to get healthier and continue to improve as a wrestler.”
Lance Castenada, a freshman in the 174 weight class, gave his take on his and the team’s performance.
“I think I did OK for my first tournament at the junior-college level, but I have a lot to improve on,” said Castenada.
“I have to focus on eliminating mistakes, but that will start to happen when I get more mat time because I haven’t been on the mat for over a year,” Castenada said.
“I was impressed with my conditioning and, for me, mentally, that was big, but as a team I think we didn’t live up to our potential. We need to eliminate mistakes and make better decisions, but as we progress we will get better.”
Pendelton, a freshman in the 165 class, said, “I think I was a little out of shape, but it was a good learning experience. I need to work on my basic stand-up game because I wasn’t scoring with moves that I would usually score on.
“I was impressed how tough I was when I was riding. We’re a young team, but I didn’t expect us to go 0-4. I thought we would win some, lose some, but I think by the end of the year we will be one of the toughest teams and that’s a guarantee,” said Pendelton.
They had a match against East LA on Sept. 30 that got canceled due to a gym conflict for East LA. They have decided to postpone it to a later date, to be determined.
BC’s wrestling team had a chance to show their improvement on Oct. 1 when they had a tournament with fourteen other schools at Santa Ana.
Perennial power Fresno City got first, Sacramento City got second, Mt. SAC got third and Santa Ana ended up in fourth.
BC ended up ninth, but Kalivas thought that there were many positive things in that performance.
Their next tournament will be on Oct. 8 at Modesto.