Huskies Top Both Victory Valley and Bakersfield in Home Tri-Dual

by Cerwin D Haynes

After having about a month off from competition, East Los Angeles College women's wrestling returned to the mats, making their home debut in a tri-meet versus Victor Valley and Bakersfield colleges. They bested both visitors on team scores, beating he Victor Valley Rams 29-14 and Bakersfield Renegades 35-14.

The Huskies had a number of standout performances that powered them over the Rams. Sophomore Mollie Jimenez (117 lbs), freshman Haely Lemus (124 lbs), freshman Alondra Feliciano (131 lbs) and freshman Jade Seitz (207) all notched pinfall victories. Freshman Bella Arrendondo (145 lbs) earned a Tech fall, while freshman Jennifer Contreras (180 lbs) won by forfeit.

Against the Renegades, the Pack did not have to do much on account of Bakersfield only having four wrestlers. But although the home Green picked up six forfeit wins (124, 131, 138, 145, 160 and 207 lbs), sophomore Mia Ramirez (117 lbs) had herself a good outing with an impressive pinfall over Alina Hernandez.

HUSKY BITS

3C2A and California Community College Wrestling made the switch this season from NCAA/collegiate-style wrestling to Freestyle wrestling, which is used on the national and Olympic levels of competition. Retired head coach of ELAC men's wreatling and National Wrestling Hall of Famer Ralph Valle was on hand tonight, and said that he favors the Freestyle method. "I did the NCAA style for five years, and then I did Freestyle for 10," said Valle. "It was my favorite."

UP NEXT:

Tonight was the first of five scheduled meet dates in the month of March for ELAC; to date, they've only participated in two meets so far. This was due to a series of rescheduling caused by a couple of teams in the state deciding to suspend their programs right as the season began.

East LA will head up to Fresno for the State Duals this Saturday March 8. They'll be back in the "E-rena" next Wednesday March 12 to host two-time defending state champion Cerritos College at 7pm.