Skyline women’s wrestling finished in second-place in the East Los Angeles Leader of the Pack Tournament on Saturday, April 5. The Lady Trojans competed with 11 teams and finished with a total of 72.5 team points.

“This result shows just how far these women have come in such a short time,” head coach Olga Camacho said. “Every wrestler fought with heart and purpose, and we’re only getting started.”

Skyline took seven of their 15 wrestlers to the match. Freshman wrestlers — Graciela Caro, Jaimie Micallef, and Alia Vunipola — delivered stellar performances, each finishing in first-place in their respective weight classes.

When asked what this match showed about the team so far this season, Vunipola said it showed the importance of having fun at competitions.

“I feel like this is the first time we really let loose and kind of got to know each other a little bit more,” Vunipola said.

Alongside Skyline’s top performers, Arianna McPike, 138-pounder, took home third-place in her weight class as she contributed 16.5 points for the team.

Shannon Cleary and Joselyn Gutierrez, 145-pounders, combined for a total of 20.5 points.

Cleary said that it felt good to see how well the team supported each other throughout the competition.

“We’re going all the way down to play the best teams in California, and putting ourselves out there… so to see how well we’ve done, how well we support each other, and just the fact that in the end, we did that well with each other, it was good,” Cleary said.

Annette Beltran, 160-pounder, said the match has motivated the team to finish strong going into the State Championship.

“I think this tournament brought us together, and we all motivated each other to keep going,” Beltran said. 

Building on preparation for the State Championship, Camacho said this match allowed the team to scout many of Skyline’s possible opponents.

“We’re videotaping, we’re looking at the videos, analyzing them, and getting ready for [April] 19th the big time show,” Camacho said.

Skyline will finish their season back at East Los Angeles College to compete in the 3C2A State Championship on Saturday, April 19.