The Bakersfield College wrestling season is under way as BC hosted duals on Sept. 27 in the school gym. BC competed against Mt. SAC, West Hills College and Cuesta College who were already several tournaments into each of their seasons.
BC finished third in the duals, but some wrestlers did not meet weight requirements or failed to appear at the tournament. Coach Bill Kalivas said, “We didn’t do too badly,” as BC had 12 points taken away for the violations.
Kalivas said about the duals, “It’s not where you start; it’s where you end up,” which was shown by BC wrestlers Addison Hay (125 pounds) and first-year wrestlers Brad Carls (197 pounds) and Anthony Webber (184 pounds), as each had two or more wins on the day.
For the heavyweight division, BC’s David Travis defeated Cuesta’s Travis Horn by pin with a time of 21 seconds.
Kalivas said about the team, “We like to rely on each other.” It showed as the BC wrestlers were yelling and cheering for each of their teammates as they wrestled in the BC gym against the three teams.
Kalivas said about improving as a team, “It’s still early in the season.” He added, “We’re still adjusting,” with this being their first real test of the season.
On Oct. 3, the BC wrestling team finished ninth overall and defeated Santa Ana 24-21 at the Santa Ana invitational. Santa Ana’s Lewis Onofre forfeited the 174-pound match against BC’s Mike Cavanaugh and Cavanaugh won the match by default.
BC’s Vincent Rivera (133 pounds) placed fourth and teammate Addison Hay finished seventh. The rest of the BC wrestlers that won at the tournament were Frank Castillo (149 pounds), Chris Hernandez (141 pounds) and Brad Carls.
The BC wrestling team will travel to West Valley College on Oct. 11 for the West Valley Invitational.