Bakersfield College’s wrestling team put together a good team effort tying for second at the Western State Conference Tournament.

BC hosted the tournament on Nov. 12. West Hills took first, while BC tied for second with Cuesta College and East Los Angeles College.

BC went 2-2 in the tournament beating East LA 28-19 and Victor Valley 50-3, but lost to West Hills 33-9 and Cuesta 25-18.

“I think that we improved because we did some positive things, but I thought we still did some dumb things we need to work on,” said wrestling coach Bill Kalivas.

“I think we did a better job getting out of the bottom position, but I still thought we gave up too many back points.

“I thought that Ryan Robles, Marc Collier and Jonathan Gomez wrestled good, and I thought that Jacob [Pendelton] did really good, but the knee injury is still bothering him,” he said.

Kalivas added that Lance Castenada suffered an injury during the tournament.

“He injured an achilles tendon because he may have moved the wrong way,” he said. “Things happen like that.”

Marc Collier, who’s in the 125-weight class, commented on his performance.

“I did okay, but there is definitely room for improvement on my standup, cardio and shot defense,” he said.

Collier added that he thought the Cal State Open, which was on Nov. 5, really helped him prepare for this tournament.

“I think it got me a little more prepared for these upcoming matches and I felt as a team we’re getting into our midseason stride,” he said. “It’s getting into everyone’s head that we’ve got to keep it up to get to the next level.”

Collier added that he thinks the team still needs to work on their intensity and keeping their mental game strong.

Jacob Pendelton, who’s in the 165-weight class, gave his thoughts on his and the team’s performance.

“I think I did really well, wrestled smart and did some good things,” he said.

“I think we definitely improved and were a tough top five team, but it depends on if we bring it because sometimes our intensity is there and sometimes it’s not.”

He added that the team needs to also finish some takedowns and that they need to be more mentally tough in terms of believing they can compete with any team.

The Cal State Open was an exhibition tournament, and it gave BC a chance to compete with universities around the country.

BC will head to East LA on Nov. 19 for the matchup that was canceled on Sept. 30.