Stored in a room since the beginning of the school’s establishment, the Wolfpack wrestling uniforms have finally been getting put to use starting last year. Although this first team was very memorable, it wasn’t very diverse. While the male wrestlers had almost all the weight classes filled, the female wrestling team only consisted of four girls making it hard for them to practice and find matches against other schools.

      “Last year most of the team was filled by guys so when we went to duals and tournaments not a lot of girls would get to wrestle, because we didn’t have all the weight classes filled,” said Alexa Godoy, a sophomore heading into her second year of wrestling. This season, it seems as if that won’t be an issue for incoming wrestlers with a lot of them being female.

      Godoy is one of the two girls who came back to the team as returners this season, automatically implementing her as a veteran presence for the newcomers. “It feels good coming back because you see a lot of new faces, and also having more girls on the team makes us feel more comfortable,” said Godoy.

      Last year’s squad did not have the guidance that this year’s team does from experienced wrestlers since everyone first joined with little to no experience in not just wrestling but combat sports in general. The new group of girls have had a few weeks to practice and learn the basics before going into their first match on the 17 and are looking very promising.

      Eliana Perez, a senior and also the opinion editor for the Wolfpack Times, is a student who decided to join the wrestling team this year and is ready for her match on November 17. When talking about her first-ever match, Perez seemed very confident, saying, “I’m physically confident because I feel like I have the physical attributes to wrestle and mentally I am just excited to get started and get my first match in.”

      Perez has her younger brother, Isael Perez, a sophomore, to thank since he taught her everything he knows about wrestling even before Eliana decided to join. Isael was a member of the first team and won an award for the toughest wrestler, sometimes wrestling others above his weight class.

      When asked who she thought could make a big impact on the team these upcoming years, Godoy didn’t hesitate to give her answer. “Kimberley [Montes], she’s a sophomore and you can tell she puts in a lot of effort. Even after only a few weeks, she has most of the moves down.” Godoy went as far as to say that she sees Montes placing in CIF championships by the end of the season which is an impressive accomplishment even as a veteran wrestler.

      Last year’s success was a big reason why there were so many newcomers. The first team had all their wrestlers go into regionals and then advance to championships at Birmingham High school. A lot of the wrestlers placed in their weight class which of course sparked a lot of news and got people talking.

      “Coach Lopez had a lot of people going up to him and asking about the team after news spread around and he received a lot of compliments,” Godoy said. A lot of the credit is owed to Coach Lopez for leading this young team and creating a name for the program.

      “The team will for sure make a bigger impact this year and we will for sure be placing in CIF and regionals more than last year,” Godoy said.