By Nova Gallegos, Opinion Editor | February 2, 2023
Photo courtesy of Carson High Yearbook
The start of the season for Carson’s Wrestling Team has been tough, suffering more losses than wins. Though they have lost, this does not mean the wrestlers don't work hard or win. Wrestling is a team and 'I' sport. When a wrestler wins a match at a dual, their win adds team points to the overall dual score.
After many losses, the Colt wrestlers headed back to practice to fix what needed to be fixed.
Thursday, January 20th, 2022 the Carson Wrestling team hosted a three-way dual against Palisades High School and Eagle Rock High school. These Colts were able to pull though in this last dual meet of the season.
They had a close loss against Palisades with the score ending off at 32 (Carson) - 40 (Guest). The Colts came back victorious against Eagle Rock to end off the night with a the score of 38 (Carson)- 36 (guest).
Although both the girls and boys teams practice together, they are two separate teams when it comes to duals and matches.
The girls received a loss against Eagle Rock with a score of 48 (guest) -18 (Carson). But a shoutout is in order for the girls who won, and especially senior student and leader, Captain Nova Gallegos, who won her match against Eagle Rock by a pin in the first period and sophomore Maylene Manson who won her opponent by pin as well. The girls team started the season with a whole new girls roster and one returner, so it was a challenge for them, but they are now making great progress.
"As a team, we tried our best, and definitely showed major improvement from the beginning of the season, but that doesn't mean we're anywhere where we need to be because we still lost to Palisades, but our improvement showed against them [Palisades] and Eagle Rock, especially since we did win,” said Boys Team Captain Calvin Cooper, senior from the Academies of Education and Empowerment.
Being the Captain, Cooper finds areas where the team needs to improve but acknowledges the team’s progression since the beginning of the season. Cooper isn't the only one on the team who has seen a difference in performance.
“We did well as a team considering how our season has been going” said AEE junior Elijah DeGuzman.
The wrestlers themselves have noticed the progress they’ve made and are excited to see where that progress takes them as they approach both regionals and the LA City Section Championships.
As the wrestlers are coming to the end of their season, now is the time for them to showcase everything they’ve been working on. The top 8 placers at regionals advance on to the LA City Section Championships and with tough brackets, the Colts will need to work hard to get there.
“I think we’ve made major improvements over the season, and I expect good things” explained Coach Soltysik of AEE.
Coach Soltysik is confident in the wrestlers and expects good outcomes.
“We’ve had a tough season, however [coach] Solty says it’s not about how we do at the start but about how we finish,” added DeGuzman.
That's exactly how the wrestlers are expecting to finish the season, on an acceptable note. Let's wish the Colt wrestlers good luck and good health as they end off their season.