Wrestling is a sport that is traditionally exclusively male: two men fighting it out on a mat using their brute strength. At East Los Angeles College this changes: wrestling pairs are spread out across the floor practicing, but front and center two girls are perfecting their takedowns.
Mariaelena Hernandez and Adriana Rojas are members of the Huskies' wrestling team, a men's sport at ELAC. There are female wrestling teams in high school and some girls even wrestle on male teams, but it is rare to find them on men's college rosters; On the top 10 California Community College rosters there are three females listed, not including Hernandez and Rojas.
Both women credit ELAC head coach Ralph Valle for giving them an opportunity to compete. "They are both very focused young ladies. They are great kids," Valle said. "I can treat them like boys."
After sitting out last year, Hernandez will compete with the Huskies for the first time this year, while Rojas is in her first year and is redshirting in order to better prepare for the competition.
Both girls wrestled in high school but in competing on a college team they are training harder to face the guys.
"On my high school team there were 11 girls so we wrestled against girls most of the time," said Rojas. "Here we are always wrestling against guys. It's more of a challenge."
"I'm not the greatest wrestler in the world. I'm not even close to beating the guys, but my work and my attitude says a lot about me," Hernandez said.
The guys on the team have helped them adjust and have welcomed them to the team. "It is just like having guys on the team," teammate Jonathan Mandujano said. "They have just become like any other guy to us."
While Rojas and Hernandez give it their all at practice, they still have trouble when they are asked to compete against male wrestlers.
"Most of the time, if you ask me if I won a match I am going to say no," Hernandez said. "Obviously the strength of a guy is naturally stronger than a girl, but it is not about winning or losing to me. At the end of the day, if I wrestle a girl, I'm gonna pin that girl."
Hernandez has done just that when fighting female opponents: she defeated girls from both Mt. San Antonio College and Cuesta College in matches this season.
"She beat them pretty good as a matter of fact," said coach Valle.
For Hernandez, competing at the same level as the rest of the team is important, but she has other things she wants to do.
"My main goal is to make girls wrestling big here. I just want to expand it and expand the love I have for the sport" said Hernandez.
She is in the process of trying to start a women's wrestling club team at ELAC. She has had trouble getting girls interested in the past, but is trying something new this season to boost awareness.
"I was offered to coach a Bell Gardens High School. They have 16 girls on the team, and my plan is to start recruiting the seniors and just spread the word," Hernandez said.
Coach Valle said he would help her with the all girls club team, but also says he has bigger goals for her: he wants Hernandez to transfer from ELAC to a school with a women's team.
"I am going to try to get her into an all girls tournament this year because I want her to get exposed," said Valle, "That is the goal for her: to get her into a school with a women's wrestling program."
According to the National Wrestling Coaches Association, there are 24 colleges across the United States that sponsor a varsity women's wrestling program. The majority of these schools are in the Midwest, but or Valle and Hernandez the school closest to home is Menlo College in Atherton, Calif.
While competing on a women's team would be a dream for Hernandez, she is still searching to give girls at ELAC an opportunity to compete.
"I want to spread this sport to other girls. Girls that are doing drugs or involved in gangs because I was there," said Hernandez. "This sport, it completely changed my life and I want to give that to others."