January 22, 2024
Sarmiento Shines, WU Competes at Bearcat Open
The Westcliff women's wrestling team competed in their second event of the season over the weekend at the Bearcat Open at McKendree University.
In their inaugural season, the Warriors are gaining experience with a roster of enthusiastic athletes willing to learn and make their mark.
Head Coach D'Rell Gist is very happy with how the team has responded to the adversity in their first year and the improvement from the first competition to now.
"We definitely saw improvements from the first tournament," Gist said. "We got to wrestle against some tough competitors, wrestled tough, and never gave up.
"As a coach, you've gotta be proud of that."
Coach Gist's go-to attitude and enthusiasm are felt throughout the athletics department. His athletes share those characteristics especially Zitlali Sarmiento who had an impressive performance over the weekend.
"The highlight was definitely Freshman Zitlali Sarmiento earning a tech fall victory and getting the first win for our program," Gist said. "She hit multiple moves that we've been going over at practice and it shows her hard work is paying off."
Sarmiento's performance earned her Warrior of the Week.
Westcliff has one more event on its schedule, the Cerritos FS Open at Cerritos College.
"I'm just looking forward to competing," said Gist of his expectations for the final event. "Every competition makes our team better and provides us with data for what we need to work on.
"I'm also excited that this tournament will be close to home so Westcliff fans can come and watch the action."
As their first year is in its final lap Coach Gist knows that this is just the beginning for the program. There is still more work to be done, which will result in even greater success.
"My biggest takeaway is that our team is hungry to learn and get better," Gist said. "As a brand new program, this year has been a building year but there's so much in store for the future of this program and I can't wait to keep developing/ growing this team."
Make sure to come out and support your Warriors on Saturday, February 10th at Cerritos College.
The event will start at 8:00 AM.
For further updates please follow the Westcliff women's wrestling Instagram account or check on the athletics website, westcliffathletics.com.