The girls wrestling team won third place in the Lady Cougar Duals on Nov. 19 at The Colony High School. The team went against Emerson, The Colony, Plano, Frisco and Lewisville. 

“Wrestling is a male-dominated sport,” sophomore Annalisa Afrifa said. “It’s important to show that there are females interested in the sport [too.]” 

The event started with all the wrestlers warming up on the mats. Coaches Dominique Ellis and Maria Mulero were watching over for Hebron, as head coach Jacob Green wasn’t at the event due to caring for his newly born child.

“[Coach Green not being present] did not bother me at all, but I could tell it bothered other people,” sophomore Hailey Kennedy said. “I tried to make sure that it [wasn’t] any different [and that the team] still should be focused, even if he isn’t here.” 

The event started with the team going against Emerson. The first four students to wrestle were freshman Isabelle Anglynn Herrera, sophomores Hannah Le and Austin Angelot and junior Leo Yeo. Le was the first and only one who lost her first match, leaving the score at 0-3. Herrera and Angelot won their matches. Yeo gained automatic points because Emerson didn’t have her weight class. The team won against Emerson with a final score of 24-15.

The next school the team went against was The Colony. Le, Kennedy and Angelot won all their matches, the rest of the wrestlers did not go as they had automatic wins. This left the overall score at 12-15 against the Colony. 

The six girls to go against the Plano wrestlers were Angelot, Le, sophomores Tiffany Cole, Annalisa Afrifa, Jaidy Camacho and Yeo. All six wrestlers lost to their opponents from Plano. Even with the automatic wins from Kennedy and Herrera, the team lost against Plano, leaving the score at 6-60 against Plano.

All eight wrestlers went against Frisco. Kennedy, Angelot, Afrifa and Cole were the first wrestlers to go. Kennedy was the only one to win of those first wave of wrestlers from Hebron. 

During Herrera’s match, she got a bloody nose after she was thrown to the ground by her opponent. The staff cleaned the wrestling mat while Herrera cleaned herself off and recovered. Herrera resumed fighting, but eventually lost. 

The next two girls were Camacho and Le. Camacho ended her match with a draw, and Le lost hers. Frisco ended up receiving extra points as they had a weight class that Hebron did not have. With the losses and the extra points combined, the team lost to Frisco. 

Angelot, Camacho, Afrifa, Le and Kennedy fought against Lewisville. Angelot and Le lost their matches, but Camacho, Afrifa and Kennedy won. Lewisville gained automatic points. The team was able to catch up as Cole, Herrera and Yeo had automatic wins. With third place, that marked the end of the ranking of the female wrestling team from Hebron. 

“Pretty much these first three competitions are for them to see what their [fighting] style is, and to build off of it,” Mulero said. “There were some mistakes [they made], but a lot of them fought hard and they still were reaching [to win].”