The Selma High’s Girls’ Wrestling team has jumped back after a long test period and is in the process of rebuilding its skills for another successful season. 

The 2021-2022 wrestling season commenced in December. Since then, the team has conquered many challenges and grown as a whole. The team has currently only had one dual against Reedley. They wrestled well and were in a 30-30 tie, but ended up losing on criteria. 

Competitions tend to be individual matches, but each competition plays a part in an overall team title. The team has competed in four tournaments and has finished in the top three in them all. Their most recent tournament was a Lady Hawk Invitational at Mission Oak High School, in which multiple Lady Bears took first. 

These Bears include Ani Arias, Ireri Mares, Kailey Salazar, and Marina Hernadez. 

Although sports have come back to a state of normalcy within the past few months, the sports world hasn’t gone untouched during the pandemic. 

“I believe that it [the pandemic] has affected the team. We have lost a large number of girls that competed two years ago who chose to not come back,” Coach Romero states. “We’ve missed out on developing skills and having more time to prepare ourselves, as well,” he further expresses. 

Fortunately, sports have come back and athletes are slowly but surely reaching a stable state of student-athlete life. 

As there is almost always room for improvement, the team works to acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses in hopes of creating a better and stronger team every day. 

“I believe that the people on this team just need to communicate more efficiently and come together as a whole,” states Arieana Arias, who has been wrestling for ten years.  

“The biggest thing is just experience. I have a very young team and due to the course of the pandemic, my sophomores come in a bit behind,” Coach Romero comments. 

As the season draws to a close the team keeps both their shortcomings and goals in mind and begins to prepare for a new season in a new year.

“The overall team goal would be to try and win another section title and another state title. That is always the goal, but for this immediate season I would like to end the season with a couple of state placers,” Coach Romero adds. 

“We aim to improve as much as we can, to make it as far as possible in the postseason,”

Sophomore Marina Hernadez further explains.

Within this season, hopes and goals remain alive to keep the team’s heads up and motivated. 

“As a team, the girls are doing well. I believe we’re moving in the right direction. We continue to better ourselves every time that we compete,” Coach Romero explains. 

The Selma High Girls’ Wrestling team embodies an optimistic mindset, for the remainder of this season and is looking forward to many more matches.