Since starting the season on Jan. 31 at the Wolverine Open hosted by Sierra College, Mustangs wrestling finished third out of 11 teams, capping off the first event of the season.
Then, in February, the Mustangs had a busy back-to-back week competing in the Cerritos Open and Sacramento City Open.
During the Cerritos Open, Delta placed 11th out of 18th, and in the Sacramento City Open, the team placed 11th out of 19th.
On March 11, the Mustangs will compete in the 3C2A State Duels at Fresno City College, earning them a bit of rest before this competition.
Coach Mike Sandler said what he’s looking forward to this new season is continued growth.
“I’m looking for us to build on what we did last year,” said Sander. “Women’s wrestling has only been here at Delta for three years, and each year we’ve had to get better and better. Last year, we had a state champion, and she was an outstanding wrestler and got a full ride. We had another girl, and we had three in the finals. Another sophomore got a scholarship,p and so my goal is to have more in the finals, hopefully this year, and move up from fifth to a higher spot.”
One of the many bright spots that the wrestling team has is Alejandro Ochoa, who currently earned top 8 finishes during the Cerritos Open and advanced to the semifinals in her same weight class.
“So, I think that actually what’s so special about any sport, but especially from wrestling, I learned that you really need to build your mental toughness to overcome those obstacles because sometimes they’ll be really easy, like even the middle of a match, just give up, or if you’re having a bad practice having to show up the next day still that mental toughness allows you to just to keep showing up and working harder even when things don’t go your way,” said Ochoa.
The Mustangs are competing in matches until April 18, when the Delta College Invitational competition will take place at Delta College, but that won’t be their game if they advance to the State Tournament on May 2 at Fresno City College.
Until then, the Mustangs have a long way to go before proving that their post-season ready.
“The biggest thing that we had to get better at was understanding what goes into being a champion so practice working hard in practice and working hard in the off-season, and we started to instill that in the girls this year, and they’re stepping up quite well,” said Sandler
