Mt.Vernon Girls’ Wrestling had a great season, with Dominka Zarate-Alanis, senior, achieving Mt.Vernon’s first girls’ sectional title. The girls’ wrestling team has grown and is working hard, whether it is on the mats or in conditioning.
Zarate-Alanis had a busy schedule both preparing for the season and during practices.
“Practice was everyday from 3:45 pm to 5:30 pm. In practice we would condition hard depending on the day. If we had a meeting the next day, it would be mostly a technical day. But if it was the day after a meet, it was hard conditioning, which was very mentally challenging.”
As a leader of the team, she had to make sure all the girls were taken care of and provided honey, a good source for natural sugar to help provide energy on difficult days or for meets when they needed energy.
During the season she stated that her favorite meets were sectionals and regionals where she got to qualify for state. She said a meet that she did not think about when well was Cascade Duals.
The girls showed perseverance and mental toughness despite being small and still growing. Zarate-Alanis showed leadership and hard work throughout the season, and it was definitely shown on the mat. She inspired other girls to join along with having a clear cut goal in this season.
“Last year I entered the wrestling room with one goal, get my name on the wrestling room wall,” Zarate-Alanis said. “Getting your name on the wall is one of the coolest things a wrestler can do in there. It’s a podium painted on a wall that has all of the MV state placers. I accomplished my goal. Throughout the season, I put everything into it. I cut down my work hours from 36 a week to 8 a week and I was on a strict work out plan including dieting.”
Zarate-Alanis also talked about how much the girls improved this season with everyone having growth in numbers and how proud she was.
With the Girls’ Wrestling team on the rise and winning their first sectional title, girls’ wrestling will hopefully become a promising program at Mt.Vernon and earn many more achievements.