Freshman Addison Hay dedicates himself to the Bakersfield College wrestling team and does so by staying focused before and during a wrestling match. Hay does not need any pre-match rituals. As Hay said, “I just clear my head.”
Hay, 21, discovered wrestling in 2002 at Foothill High School and has enjoyed it ever since. Hay admitted that it was in honor of his late grandfather’s wish when Hay was growing up.
Hay’s job outside of school and wrestling is working at the local correctional facility in town, Mesa Verde, in east Bakersfield. Hay’s major is criminal justice, and he said, “I’d like to stay in the correctional fields.”
Hay’s activities outside everything else include video games and not much more. Hay does not have much time left over with work, school and wrestling. Hay said, “I play Rock Band, sleep and eat.”
Hay is highly inspired by mixed martial artist Urijah Faber.
Hay said of Faber, “He’s bad. He’s probably one of the best.” Faber is ranked as the number-one featherweight fighter in the world to which Hay adds, “I love his style.” Hay’s dietary plan is “junk food.but two days before weigh-in, I stop.” Hay stops eating those kinds of foods so he can make weight before a tournament.
Hay said he was “doing all right,” so far in the season, but he added, “I need to get everything going on cylinders,” when it comes to wrestling in the coming weeks. Hays’ goal for the season is to win state, and he wants the rest of the team to “get into top three in conference,” he said.
On Oct. 11, Hay finished fourth in the 125-weight class as the BC wrestling team competed against 19 other colleges at the West Valley Tournament. The BC team finished 14th out of 20. Santa Ana won the overall team score with 132.00
Hay won his first match 17-2 by pinfall but lost the second to Jaime Martinez of Santa Ana by pin at six minutes. Martinez went on to become the 125-weight class champion.
In another round, Hay won his first three matches against Santa Rosa, Cuesta, and Modesto but lost to Fresno’s Marty Rubalcaba 5-4 in the final round. Rubalcaba won third place. David Travis won his first match in the 159-weight class by defeating Fresno’s Zane Platt with a pinfall of 2 minutes, 34 seconds but lost the next to Cerritos’ Juan Enriquez by pinfall of 4 minutes, 54 seconds. In Travis’ last match, Mt. San Antonio College’s Frank Ayala defeated Travis by pin of 4 minutes, 20 seconds.
The tournament for BC was plagued with problems for the wrestlers as Bill Kalivas, head coach, said. “We got guys with skin infections and injuries,” which caused many of the wrestlers to forfeit. However, Kalivas is optimistic; he said that the team will do better in future tournaments. The next tournament for the BC wrestling team is the North/South All Star Meet on Oct. 25 in Monterey.