State Championship Report
Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield was the site of wrestling history Saturday night at the 51st Boys and 13th Girls CIF State Championships, presented by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
Led by 105-pound state champion Anaya Falcon, only the seventh girl all-time to win three or more state titles; Walnut broke open a tight team race to capture its first girls’ championship. The Mustangs edged emerging power Newport Harbor by nine points for the title.
“This achievement holds immense significance for our girls, who have dedicated themselves tirelessly over the past few years,” said Walnut coach Cecil Sebastian. “Having been runners-up at CIF (Southern Section), Masters, and State last year, their perseverance this year really shined through after starting the day in fourth place.”
“As a team, it’s nice knowing all of our hard work individually comes together in the end,” added junior Deandra Meza.
On the boys’ side, Poway captured its first title since 2009 – fifth all-time – and ended Buchanan’s seven-year title run in the process, by parlaying an unbelievable Friday into state records for most state placers (12) and highest team score (290.5). The team total was 14 better than the mark set by Clovis in 2015, one year before Buchanan’s remarkable run began.
“I’m really proud of these guys and our coaches,” said Poway’s John Meyers. “Not a lot of people see what goes on behind the scenes. No one sees what these kids have gone through. The discipline and dedication…”
Walnut had long since clinched the team title when Falcon stepped onto the mat to wrestle Hamilton’s Olivia Lopez, who placed third at 101 pounds last year and whose only loss this season had come versus Falcon.
The final girls’ bouts started Saturday at 110 pounds, in order to allow Falcon to be in the spotlight for the final match of her career. This proved apropos because it allowed her Mustang teammate, Meza, to open the session with her first state title, a 5-0 decision over Kaiya Maggini of Del Oro (Loomis).
Meza started cautiously and could have been down 2-0 after one period, except that Maggini’s last-second takedown was ruled to have occurred after the two minutes had expired.
Meza, the top seed in her bracket, got going in the second, with an arm to a takedown that almost also produced a near fall. She worked for the back the rest of the period and was in complete control. A third period escape and one last takedown provided the final margin.
“I wrestled her before and knew I needed to stay solid and in good position throughout the whole match, because she’s really funky and is a really good wrestler,” Meza said. “I knew if I stayed composed that I would come out on top.”
“Being a state champion is a representation of all that I’ve done throughout the past years of my life,” added Meza, who finished 42-2 on the season.
Falcon had just as easy a time in her final bout, in contrast to her nail-biting, one-point semifinal win over Jazmine Turner of Grace Davis.
Falcon took the mat for the championship match 33-0 on the season and 118-0 over her career. After one period, where she and Lopez got settled in, Falcon dominated the rest of the way. The recent Life University commit earned an escape to get on the scoreboard early in the second frame, then attacked Lopez with a blistering double-legged attack to a three-point near fall seconds later. Just like that, the score was 6-0 and the match was essentially over.
“I had to stay focused,” Falcon said. “I knew what she was going to try to do to me and was able to counter everything she did.”
The win validated Falcon’s decision to cut weight to 105 this year, with a vision of winning the state team title.
“Last year, taking second, it hurt me,” she explained. “I felt like if I dropped it would help my team get that title. It’s amazing and relieving.”
Poway went into the final bouts with a record seven vying for state titles, including three who were seeded first in their brackets, two who were two seeds, and one, third-seeded Laird Root, who knocked off two-time returning state champion Miguel Estrada of Frontier (Bakersfield) in a tense semifinal.
Only three Titans won championships, one shy of matching the record of four achieved by Bakersfield teams in 2002 and 2004.
One of those champions was fifth-seeded G. Elias Navida, a senior who pulled off three straight upsets to win at 132 pounds after failing to place last year. Navida trailed third-seeded Jesse Grajeda of St. John Bosco, 4-3, before escaping with just over one minute left in the bout. The match went into sudden victory. Grajeda had a leg hold and tried but failed to turn Navida onto his back. Navida countered, put Grajeda in peril, and got the two-point takedown in the final seconds to take the win.
“I feel like I should have done a lot better on my feet, but I got it when it mattered,” Navida said.
Navida was a second seed last year at 126 pounds, but went 2-2 and did not place after placing as a sophomore. His dedication netted him an individual title in 2024 and earned him the right to celebrate a team title as well.
“It means everything for my parents, my coaches, everybody who made a sacrifice for me and it paid off,” he said.
“I love these guys,” he added, pointing to his teammates. “They’re amazing. We all fight together. We lose together. We win together. We are a family.”
One Poway top seed, Angelo Posada at 175 pounds, and returning champion (and No. 2 seed) Robert Platt, at 215 pounds, joined Navida in celebrating individual titles.
The junior, Posada, a Stanford commit, completed a 31-0 year by controlling Pitman’s Mason Ontiveros in a 5-1 win. A fast takedown seconds after the opening whistle set the tone for the workmanlike win.
Platt won a rematch of last year’s final at 195 pounds by edging JW North sophomore Coby Merrill, 2-1, in overtime. Platt beat Merrill last year as well but lost to the undefeated Merrill at Doc B, which gave the powerful Merrill the top seed at state.
Merrill destroyed his first three opponents at state but had a tough time in the semifinal, a bout in which he also injured his right knee. That knee was heavily wrapped for the final, and Merrill hurt the other knee in the third period. He managed to escape to tie the match at 1-1, but nothing much happened in sudden victory time and Merrill could not crawl away from Platt to earn that escape point in the first 30-second overtime. Platt did escape in the second OT and escaped, figuratively, in the final seconds when Merrill executed a fireman’s carry but could not complete the takedown in the waning seconds before going out of bounds.
For all its success, Poway actually got off to a rough start in the Main Event, when two top seeds, freshman Arseni Kikiniou at 106 and senior Edwin Sierra, at 113, both suffered close losses.
Kikiniou fell, 6-3, to acrobatic Birmingham sophomore Henry Aslikiyan, a six seed despite a sterling 43-1 record entering the final. Aslikyan walked around Kikiniou for a first-period takedown and never trailed in the bout.
Rocklin Zinkin of Buchanan prevails over Poway foe Edwin Sierra in the 113-pound final
Sierra, a Stanford commit, suffered an excruciating loss to Buchanan sophomore Rocklin Zinkin. Sierra had the better of the action for much of the match but only matching escapes provided points through six minutes, plus Sudden Victory plus overtime. Zinkin had choice in the tiebreaker and picked being on top, something that his corner may have disagreed with by the look of things. To win, Zinkin had to keep Sierra from escaping for 30 seconds. He’d just done the same thing, barely, in the second overtime and did so again to win state, one year after coming in second at 106 pounds.
Two other Titan wrestlers, Root at 150 and Paul Kelly at 138 pounds, finished distinguished high school careers one win shy of individual titles.
Root gave Palm Desert’s undefeated senior, Brock Mantanona, the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the nation at 150 pounds, all that he could handle before losing, 5-4. Root jumped on top with a two-point takedown but a reversal tied things up. The match was tied 3-3 late in the last period when Mantanona pulled on Root’s leg to keep him in the circle then got an arm of two. Root escaped and twice in the closing seconds tried to make magic happen, with Mantanona holding his position, by leaping over him, to no avail. The win was Mantanona’s second in a championship final in three years. Only a championship loss last year, to Dario Lemus of Clovis, prevented Mantanona from graduating as a three-time champion.
Kelly’s challenge was to dethrone returning state champion Daniel Zepeda of Gilroy. Zepeda proved just too good on this night. The junior built a 5-0 lead before giving up a late take down in a 6-2 win.
Going 3-for-7 hardly put a damper on Poway’s team celebration, which was expected, then unexpected, then expected again.
Both Poway and Buchanan brought 14 wrestlers to Bakersfield, though Poway was without one of its top scorers due to injury. Buchanan won Day 1, putting 13 wrestlers into the quarterfinals. Poway only advanced 10 to the round of eight and found itself trailing by 17 points going into Friday.
“I felt strongly about winning the tournament still after Day 1,” Meyers said, “because everything went to seed. We beat everybody we were supposed to. We lost to guys we hoped to beat.”
Day 2 turned historic for the Titans. Ten wrestlers competed in the quarterfinals. ALL 10 won to reach the semifinals.
“Going 10-for-10…I’ve never seen anything like that,” Meyers said. “The second day we beat a bunch of higher seeded kids. The kids really turned it on.”
The 17-point deficit after Thursday became a 20.5-point lead heading into the final day. Poway further extended its advantage in the semifinals.
“It wasn’t in my mind that we would win it the way we did, with 10 in the semifinals and seven in the finals,” Meyers said.
Buchanan, for its part, wrestled well. The Bears had 12 of their 14 wrestlers place, with eight finishing fourth or better. Poway just was better.
Buchanan got to the top of the podium with Zinkin and could have had a second champion in favored Joe Toscano, but the sophomore suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss in the championship for the second straight year.
Taking on Gilroy senior Moses Mirabel, Toscano led 1-0 and was looking for back points with fewer than 20 seconds remaining when Mirabel executed a remarkable move to score two with five seconds to go, which proved to be the winning margin.
“I just changed position a little bit,” Mirabel explained. “Instead of rolling side to side, which he wanted, I reached straight back and got that reversal with short time and rode him out.”
“It’s such an amazing feeling,” Mirabel added. “To go from sophomore year not even placing to be a state champion is amazing. My senior year, I needed to leave it all on the mat to do what I needed to do.”
Six boys had a chance to become two-team state champions on Saturday night. Five succeeded. The only one who didn’t was St. John Bosco junior Nicholas Sahakian, who lost the featured heavyweight bout, 3-2, to another former state champion, Cody Merrill of Gilroy.
Cody Merrill missed the state tournament injured last year after winning a title as a sophomore and came into the bout undefeated for his career, including a win over Sahakian (40-1) in the finals at the Doc B.
After no blood in the first period, Sahakian was imperiled while in the down position in the second but managed to survive and earned an escape for a 1-0 lead. Merrill then got the only takedown of the match to go on top. Sahakian escaped again for 2-2 heading to the third with Merrill down. Merrill used his low center of gravity to escape Sahakian’s clutches in the third period and did just enough to hold on to the Bosco beast, 3-2.
Ronnie Ramirez, the 2022 state champion at 113 pounds from Walnut, was 56-0 this season heading into his final bout with Bosco’s Nathan Carillo. It was a battle with Ramirez leading 2-1 late in the match before a takedown gave the junior breathing room to the final whistle.
The Ramirez family now has four wrestling state titles, with Ronnie’s two and one each for his father and brother.
“It means a lot coming from great bloodlines,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez had a lot of close matches on the way to the title, including a semifinal win in a tiebreak.
“You have to stay composed; you can’t freak out,” he said “You have to get gritty in those matches and seal the deal.”
The most dominant performance in the finals came from Sonny Kling of Canyon Springs. The senior, who was a state runner-up a year ago at 182 pounds, showcased strength and agility in cruising to an 11-2 majority decision at 190 over Brokton Borelli of Los Banos.
The other three boys brackets were all fairly close. Collin Guffey of Granite Hills capped off his unbeaten season by defeating St. John Bosco’s Joseph Antonio at 165 pounds. Antonio had been one of the meet’s most impressive wrestlers heading to the Main Event, but couldn’t muster any offense against Guffey, who led 1-0 heading to the third then scored two near fall points to clinch victory.
At 126 points, Clovis junior Nikade Zinkin joined his cousin, Rocklin, in winning a state title, 3-0 over Jeff Lopez of Clovis West.
“I knew the first takedown was going to be huge,” Zinkin said. “I went out and got it and rode the wave home.”
The title was sweet for Zinkin after placing third at 120 pounds last year.
“Losing a heartbreaker last year made me practice 30 times harder and want it 30 times worse practically,” he said. “It stung worse at the time but the bounce back was worth it.”
Grigor Cholakyan of St. John Bosco can't contain his excitement after a hard-fought win at 157 pounds
St. John Bosco senior Grigor Cholakyan finished fifth at 126 pounds as a sophomore and fourth at 138 pounds last year. In 2024, the Stanford-bound senior took the top prize at 157 pounds, defeating the top seed, senior Andrew Barbosa of Palm Desert
Cholakyan and Barbosa were tied 1-1 into the second overtime when Barbosa was working to put the second seed on his back for the win. But Cholakyan had a different idea and executed a reverse for the deuce that paved the way to victory.
“I worked that move with my training partner,” Cholakyan explained. “I saw it and thought, ‘It’s going to work!’ and it did.”
“This state tournament is on a different level,” he continued. “This is the hardest state tournament. It feels so good! I’ve been training so hard for this. It feels like I’m dreaming right now.”
Turning back to the girls’ side, pins, which characterized the finals last year when seven finalists had their shoulders to the mat, showed up again on Saturday. Six of the weight classes in 2024 concluded with pins, three the result of dominance, and two of the shocking variety.
Christina Osorio (background) celebrates a stunning finals fall over Samantha Sachs at 125 pounds
Let’s start with the shocking. At 125 pounds, Christina Osorio of Downey twice erased two-point deficits to Glendora’s Samantha Sachs with reversals before the senior used her power to push Sachs onto her back for a second-period pin.
“I knew I had to get her to her back and squeeze once I got there,” Osorio said. “She’s really tough. Her takedowns are strong and she got me a couple of times. I knew how to come back. I’ve been practicing being on bottom lately and I chose the right things to do during that match.”
Osorio said that winning fulfills a vision she had for herself since this time last year.
“I remember sitting in the stands last year, because I took fifth, thinking, ‘I want to be down here one day.’ It feels really good.”
Danica Kelley’s win at 135 pounds was even more shocking. The undefeated Scotts Valley senior trailed Alex Maday of Whitney, 5-0, with Maday so very close to ending the match by fall herself, when Kelley executed a lightning-fast reversal to a pinning move using a chin whip so quickly that it was hard to believe.
“I’m known for that,” Kelley said.
Kelley said that the win meant a lot to her but even more for her community, between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz, who put their time and energy into getting her to this place.
“I’m so excited and did it for them,” she said.
There also were three first-period pins.
At 120 pounds, Shayna Ward of Oakland Tech made history by becoming the first Oakland Section wrestler to make a final in 35 years and the first girl ever to do so. The fourth seed, however, was overmatched by second-seeded Alejandra Valdiviezo, who put her shoulders to the mat late in the first.
At 190 pounds, Juliana Marquez of Gabrielino, who was fourth at 160 pounds while wrestling for San Dimas; dominated Kathryn Hingano of Rio Linda. Hingano, the state runner-up last year at 170 pounds, had looked indestructible, as the top seed, on her way to the championship match, but ran into Marquez, the second seed, who was in control on the scoreboard long before the second-round pin.
The 145-pound winner, undefeated Delarie Juarez of Brawley, pinned four of her five opponents on the way to the title. Her pin in the final, over Samantha Arce of Mater Dei, was the fastest of them all, coming in 56 seconds.
“I used all my strength with the half and pulled her towards me,” Juarez said. “I just wanted to do what I do best. I wrestled her before and pinned her in like 20 seconds so I just was hoping to do the same as last time.”
Duda Rodrigues exalts after a dominating win at 155 completes an undefeated season for the two-time champion
The second-fastest pin, at 1:28 of the first round, assured that undefeated Duda Rodrigues of Newport Harbor would graduate as a two-time state champion. The impressively fit Rodrigues had Angelinah De Leon of Santa Clara on her heels from the start.
Rodrigues’ state title capped a terrific showing for the Sailors, whose team of five, including three qualifying freshmen, placed second overall, with four placers; after never before finishing among the top 10.
“The girls were all excited to contribute,” said Newport coach Mike Whitt. “Every match, every point matters when it is about something bigger than just you.”
Besides Falcon and Rodrigues, two other 2023 champions took home the gold medal again on Saturday.
Isabella-Marie Gonzales preps for a hug from her corner after winning state for the second straight year
Junior Isabella-Marie Gonzales of Clovis East won convincingly at 115 pounds over Kylee Golf of Trabuco Hills. The 6-1 win completed a 46-0 season for the junior, who can become a three-time champion next year.
“I used to have a hard time staying calm and keeping my composure,” Gonzales said. “Now, I just focus on what I need to do on the mat.”
Leilani Lemus doles out punishment on her way to a second straight title at 170 pounds
At 170 pounds, Clovis sophomore Leilani Lemus added another medal to the Lemus family trophy case with a 5-0 win over Alexandria Perez of La Costa Canyon. Lemus was in control the entire way and had two take downs, but could not move Perez, a three-time state placer; to her back for a pinning move to replicate how she won in 2023.
Two other No. 1 seeds, Jillian Wells of Central Catholic and Gemma Templeman, won their first state titles. Wells and Pitman’s Lily Dizon, wrestling at 100 pounds, were in a pitched battle with the margin just one point before Wells came through with a takedown at the final whistle to win, 4-1.
Templeman, from Rocklin, completed a 43-0 year with a 2-1 win over unseeded Fernanda Canedo of Ridgeview at 235 pounds. Templeman had recorded 39 pins this season and was 2-0 over her opponent, but Canedo proved to be a tougher out this time. Templeman got on the board first with a reverse in the second period but did not have enough time to get Canedo to her back before time ran out. Templeman spent the final two minutes on the mat, holding off Canedo’s attempts to turn her and waiting for her hand to be raised.
Two additional matches produced first-time champions in wrestlers seeded outside of the top three.
At 130 pounds, Pitman sophomore Yzabella Austin, the sixth seed, dominated top seed Tamara Grace of Gilroy, 7-0. And Northview’s Faith Bartoszek overcame a leg drag takedown and two-point near fall in the second period, to score the next seven points in a 9-5 win over Olivia Davis of Monte Vista (Danville) at 140 pounds. A cradle to a three-point near fall as time ran out in the second proved to be the winning points.
The State Championships are so much more than just the wrestlers and teams that reach the pinnacle in their sport on Saturday night at Mechanics Bank Arena. More than 1,000 wrestlers, representing almost 400 high schools, attended and competed. They are all part of the story. Let’s honor each and every one by going back to the beginning of the championships to describe, as much as possible, the journey that everyone went on to reach their ultimate destinies.
The first day…
The first day of the three-day CIF State Championships serves several purposes.
1. Getting into position
Teams that do well collectively over the first two rounds (plus outbracket matches) of the championship bracket set themselves up for a high finish.
Buchanan, the seven-time defending boys champion, had an exceptional start, getting 13 of 14 wrestlers into the quarterfinals. As a result, the Bears enjoyed a 17-point advantage after Day 1 over their biggest threat, Poway, which advanced three fewer of its 14 who started the day.
Not that any of the losses were unexpected, though. The four Titans who lost all fell to higher-seeded opponents, including Robert Jones at 120 pounds. The No. 10 seed lost the first of what should be a few Buchanan/Poway head-to-head showdowns. Seventh-seeded C.J. Huerta of Buchanan got an early takedown, then played defense the rest of the way in a 3-0 win, including a brilliant two-minute ride in the second period.
That was a golden opportunity lost. To beat a dynastic team like Buchanan, a team needs to do more than hold serve; it needs to be better than that. Poway was good on Day 1; just not as good as it hoped or needed to be.
Gilroy, St. John Bosco, and Clovis rounded out the top five boys teams after the first day. Clovis probably expected to be higher, but lost a 3-seed, junior Adrien Reyes at 165, before the meet even began, due to a school issue.
On the girls’ side, the three teams expected to contend for the state title, Walnut, Gilroy, and Newport Harbor, were 1-2-3 after the first day, with only a five-point difference between first and third. No school had more than four wrestlers left in championship contention. No school outside the top two had more than three.
2. Looking for upsets
As the CIF State Tournament is one big all-comers meet, being a state-tournament qualifier is quite an exclusive club. That said, it is impressive to watch the top seeds in each weight division dismantle their opponents like they’re wrestling in a weekday dual against an overmatched squad.
Excluding Reyes, who did not compete, every one of the top four seeds in every weight class, except for two, won two matches on Thursday to make the quarterfinals. That means 109 out of 112 top seeds remain in contention. Truly a remarkable number!
The upset on the boys’ side came when junior Adam Stanley of Bakersfield lost an 8-5 decision, in the second round at 285 pounds, to 13th-seeded Troy Ceja of Pitman.
The upset on the girls’ side came in Round 1, when Northview senior Andrea Mateo, a 3-seed at 155, lost a 3-1 decision to Alexandra Keirsey of El Dorado (Placerville).
3. Discovering who’s in proper form for a championship run
Dominating the opening matches provides both momentum and confidence and also is a hint to those wrestlers who might challenge for the top of the podium on Saturday.
A fast pin is usually a clear sign of such dominance.
Here were the fastest pins on Day 1:
Boys
12 seconds
Cody Merrill, Sr., Gilroy, 285
14 seconds
Alex Mallot, Jr., Ponderosa, 106
15 seconds
Diego Costa, Sr., Palm Desert, 190
18 seconds
Billy Townson, Jr., Poway, 126
20 seconds
Ryland Whitworth, Sr., Fountain Vallet, 215
*All but Mallot, whose pin came in a pigtail match, were top-four seeds.
Girls
16 seconds
Maleah Ballejos, Sr., Paradise, 105
18 seconds
Delarie Juarez, Jr., Brawley, 145
22 seconds
Eenni Alay, Sr., Fremont, 235
Cody Merrill is the undefeated top seed at 285 and the top-ranked heavyweight wrestler in the nation. There were no signs on Day 1 that he intended to do other than steamroll his way to the championship bout.
Nicholas Sahakian controls Buchanan's Bryson Harrington in a workmanlike semifinal win in the heavyweight division
Another heavyweight, second-seeded Nicholas Sahakian of St. John Bosco, also had a strong start. His sudden double-leg takedown in the second round of his second match, which led to a fast fall, was a thing of beauty.
Coby Merrill shows his dominance at 215 pounds in an early-round win
Perhaps the most impressive wrestler on Day 1 was Coby Merrill of JW North, Cody’s younger brother. The muscle-bound sophomore overwhelmed his three opponents Thursday with pinning moves in less than one minute. A state runner-up a year ago as a freshman, the undefeated sophomore showed form that could make him a champion. He exemplifies what happens when power and technique collide.
Isaiah Quintero (in gold) barely gets the best of Antonio Rodriguez of Los Gatos in a quarterfinal bout
One dominant trend among high-seeded wrestlers on Thursday was the early single-leg takedown. Isaiah Quintero of El Dorado (Placentia), Elijah Cortez (Gilroy), Collin Guffey (Granite Hills), and Elias Navida of Poway all demonstrated this technique in dominating victories.
Another dominant trend among top dogs is the ability to escape when in the down position. It’s a free point for almost all of them when, for others, starting a round on bottom puts them that much closer to going shoulders to the mat for back points or a pin.
Others who impressed with their complete control on Day 1 included Brock Mantanona of Palm Desert, Sonny Kling of Canyon Springs, Thomas Sandoval of Vacaville, and Beau Priest of Bakersfield. Mantanona is long and lanky and looked tactical in his Thursday wins. Priest used his physical superiority to dominate his opponents.
Day 2…
The second day at the state championships really is a test of what a wrestler is made of.
For those still in championship contention, one more win guarantees a spot on the podium. Can you get it done?
More interestingly, Friday at Mechanics Bank Arena tests the mettle of those who lost on Thursday. It might be easy to call it a season now that you’re in the consolation rounds.
Lose and you can binge eat what your body’s been craving for months.
Are you willing to delay that gratification and fight one more day? Do you have that internal drive and determination to go as hard as you can to finish as high as you can?
After four hours of consolation wrestling, which eliminates most of the field in this double-elimination event, the quarterfinals begin. Although we emphasized above about how well top four seeds did, about 20 percent of the wrestlers remaining in the championship bracket were unseeded going in. Twenty percent, who were not among the top 16 boys or top eight girls at the start of the state tournament.
The unseeded wrestlers skew heavily towards the girls. Indeed, the only unseeded boy in the quarters is Mira Mesa’s Sardor Usmarov at 126 pounds. He has the misfortune of facing a returning state champion, Gilroy’s Isaiah Cortez, and lose, 6-1.
There are 22 unseeded girls wrestlers trying to make history.
The first to take the mat, Destiny Huitron of Arroyo, loses by first-round fall at 100 pounds. The next, however, Maddison Heinzer of Gilroy, comes oh so close to getting to the semifinal round and to sending a shot heard round the world in the process.
The senior, wrestling at 105 pounds, takes on Anaya Falcon, the two-time state champion from Walnut, who is undefeated for her entire career, and trails just 2-0 to start the third period. After an uneventful first two minutes, Falcon earns a reversal for a deuce, but cannot extend the advantage headed to the third. Heinzer chooses neutral for the third but shoots only once as Falcon plays defense like a champion to survive with the 2-0 win.
“I wanted to slow her down because she’s really fast,” Heinzer says afterward. “I was trying to see her first attack, but she wasn’t really shooting. She had her hips back a lot; it was hard to get her legs.”
At 135 pounds, Lena Nelson has a shot to make the semis when her bout with third-seeded Maci Stemmons of Monte Vista (Danville) goes into Sudden Victory with the girls tied at 5-5. Stemmons, however, is able to hold Nelson off with a double-leg takedown in extra time for the win.
“She tried for the head and arms she’s been trying all match,” Stemmons explains. “I get to her leg, switch it off to a double, and run it to death. I landed her straight on her back.
“I’m happy with myself. I was injured last year. I was able to make it back to state this year and was happy to be here. But now I’m hungry for some hardware.”
Of the “unseeded 22,” only two survive the quarterfinals to make the semifinals.
Skye Schneider of Elk Grove, who opened Thursday by edging a seeded opponent; does it again on Friday, taking down second-seeded Jasmine Macias of Walnut, 4-2.
Another 2-seed falls, this time by pin, when Canedo registers her third straight fall at 235 pounds by taking out Liberty (Apple Valley) sophomore Anna Bozanic, a semifinalist a year ago.
As the quarterfinals play out, two distinct trends emerge. Some of the highest seeds register dominant wins. Gonzales, Juarez, and Lemus, top seeds on the girls’ side, advance with fast pins. That was also true on the boys’ side for the Merrill brothers, Sahakian, Zepeda, Guffey, and Antonio.
Most of the wrestlers, however, like Falcon, have to work for their wins.
Skyler Gassel was one such wrestler. Taking on fourth-seeded Adeliada Fernandez of Birmingham, the fifth-seeded Newport Harbor senior parlays a two-minute second-period ride and a third-period escape into a 1-0 win, which not only helps her advance but also helps the Sailors tremendously in the team score.
The close matches start early on the boys’ side, as Poway freshman Kikoniou, the top seed at 106, breaks open a scoreless tie with an escape and scramble take down in the second period and holds on for a 3-1 win.
Quintero wins in a similar manner at 120 pounds, as does Gavin Bauder of Buchanan at 138. There are a lot of matches where one takedown, or one reversal, proves to be the difference between the semifinals and a slog through consolation matches.
At 190 pounds, second-seeded Diego Costa of Palm Desert finds himself trailing No. 10 Mark Marin of Clovis before a couple of take downs trump a couple of escapes in a 5-4 win. Also at 190, Sandoval edges Fountain Valley junior Khale McDonnell, 5-3, by building a 3-0 advantage 30 seconds into the second period and holding on.
Moses Mendoza of Gilroy and Slater Hicks of Valencia provide great entertainment at 120 pounds. The final score was 11-3 in favor of Mendoza, the No. 4 seed, but the fifth-seeded Hicks twice puts Mendoza on his back. The right amount of control in those situations might have yielded a far different result.
Another 4-5 match-up, between fourth-seeded Richard Murillo of Canyon Springs and the fifth-seeded Navida at 132 pounds yields high drama, so much in fact that it takes several minutes after the six minutes are up to determine a winner. Navida leads 1-0 after two periods and twice holds off Murillo in the third as he tries to bridge his way to an escape or reversal. With 10 seconds left, however, in a final frenetic finish, someone scores points for a near fall. Is it Navida or Murillo? Often in wrestling, the action is so fast and the bodies so intertwined that it is difficult to tell who’s scoring offense and who’s playing defense. In this case, the officials award the points to Navida in a 3-0 win.
The 4-5 match at 157 pounds between Leo Contino of Buchanan and Beau Priest of Bakersfield also has a dramatic finish. The score is knotted at 2-2 with 22 seconds left when Priest gets to Contino’s legs for a takedown. Contino manages an escape but there isn’t enough time to do anything else.
Those two matches tell the story of the day for the two team favorites. While Buchanan appeared to be in the driver’s seat after Day 1, with 13 of 14 wrestlers in the quarterfinals, the Bears faltered on Friday, winning only five of those 13 bouts. Poway, by contrast, sees EVERY ONE of its 10 quarterfinalists become semifinalists, a remarkable achievement. That helps turn a 17-point Thursday deficit into a 20.5 lead in Poway’s quest to wrest the state title from Buchanan and snap the Bears’ seven-year run.
The girls’ team chase is equally exciting, because of how close it is. After two days, Newport Harbor and Poway are tied atop the standings with 46 points. Gilroy is third with 45. Walnut is fourth with 44. All have four or more wrestlers still wrestling, making it anyone’s game with one day remaining.
One final note: after two days every top-seeded wrestler has reached the semifinals. Not one falls victim to an upset.
On the girls’ side, the top four seeds are in the semifinals at 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 135, 140, 170 and 190.
For the boys, the top seeds are all still alive at 113, 120, 126, 150, 157, 175, 190, 215 and 285.
Day 3…there will be blood
The third day of the state championships starts with consolation matches, but not just any consolation matches. Winners of the first match on Saturday celebrate like they’ve won a state title themselves, because they earn the right of finishing “not ninth.”
These are the blood rounds, where winners guarantee themselves a medal for finishing no worse than the top eight and the losers lament what might have been.
Aliaksandr Kikiniou points the way to a Poway state title after defeating a Buchanan opponent in the blood rounds
The most meaningful win in this round might come at 165 pounds, where senior Aliaksandr Kikiniou of Poway defeats Blake Kitchen of Buchanan, 6-3.
While Poway has built a strong lead in the team standings over the first two days, Buchanan is having a strong run in the blood round, including Contino’s 3-1 win over Poway’s Jack Estevez. The Titans need to stack wins to make sure they’re on top at the end, and what better way than to eliminate a point scorer from the rival Bears?
Kikiniou, a senior who placed last year at 152 pounds, goes into the match winless over his career against Buchanan wrestlers. He leads early in the second but finds himself tied with Kitchen going to the third.
A quick reversal early in the final period puts him ahead for good and Kikiniou finishes off a Titanic win with a takedown in the closing seconds.
“My coaches told me to tie him up and look for him to make a mistake,” Kikiniou explains. “I saw it and I got those extra points.”
Why this time after so many failed attempts?
“I feel like our coaches got me ready and my mindset was right,” Kikiniou says. “I finally beat one of the Buchanan guys and I feel really great! I feel amazing!”
Kikiniou goes on to win one more match and places sixth overall, but the Buchanan win…that’s the one he’s going to remember.
“It's us versus them,” he says. “Taking one of their guys out is making that victory closer and closer for us. My senior year, it’s like the perfect finish.”
Buchanan ends up winning seven of its nine blood matches and has both Contino and Blake Woodward work their way back to third-place finishes. Woodward wins his blood match at 106 pounds thanks to two near fall points in the second period for a 2-0 win over Camarillo freshman Caine Martin.
As the placing matches continue, a scary situation develops on Mat 6. Quintero, a state champion in 2022 and runner-up in 2023, is dropped on his head in the 3/4 bout. Out of an abundance of caution, he is taken from the arena on a stretcher.
“Thank you for checking up on him,” El Dorado coach Gilly Cordero, Isaiah’s dad, reports by email afterward. “All is ok. CT scan and MRI are good. A little rest and recovery, then back at it to try and improve. Congratulations to all! It was a great weekend for California wrestling.”
On the girls’ side, the tightness of the team race makes blood matches involving Newport Harbor, Gilroy, Poway, and Walnut especially meaningful. Freshman Marlee Solomon of Newport does her part with a pin in the blood round and another pin one round later on her way to fifth place overall at 100 pounds.
Solomon admits to being nervous first thing in the morning.
“I was really, really nervous,” she says. “The blood round is the most stressful there is. I just stuck with it. I wanted to do it for my team because it’s Duda’s [Duda Rodrigues, state champion at 155] senior year and she hasn’t really had a team.”
Eva Garcia, another one of Newport’s vaunted freshman class, wins her blood match convincingly and works her way to a fifth-place finish at 170 pounds, adding more points to the team total.
Gilroy has two wrestlers, Heinzer at 105 and Mary Jane Porter at 125, win blood round matches to help the Mustangs’ team score. Porter’s win comes in Sudden Victory time over Alyssa Jones of Poway. Porter has Jones compromised early in the period but an official’s whistle blows the action dead for safety concerns. Porter stays focused and uses her leg drive to put Jones on the mat for the winning points.
The biggest story of the blood rounds, however, is Macias of Walnut, the second-seeded senior who was upset on Friday. She overcomes the flu to win the blood round and three more matches, all by fall, to essentially clinch the state title for her team. The last win is especially sweet, as it comes over Schneider, the girl who knocked her out of championship contention in the quarterfinals on Friday.
“Jasmine is a true warrior,” says Walnut coach Cecil Sebastian. “Her remarkable comeback today is a testament to her resilience. She’s a dedicated and relentless hard worker who never backs down from a challenge regardless of the situation. We are very proud that she ended her high school career on a high note.”
Eliana Garcia also wins her blood round match to finish eighth overall and adds to Walnut’s point total.
Day 3…a little later on…the final four cuts in half
After the blood matches conclude, the tournament gets down to the nitty-gritty with the semifinal bouts.
The wrestlers are so skilled at this level that often one takedown wins it. Both wrestlers know how to score and how to defend, creating long periods of stasis. One extraordinary move and you’re in the finals. One slight misstep and your championship dreams melt away.
On the girls’ side, Wells makes her second straight final at 100 pounds by coming from behind versus Christina Estrada of Buchanan in the second period and controlling the third, culminating in a fall with four seconds remaining.
At 125 pounds, Lilyana Balderas of Anaheim’s quest for a second straight trip to the finals is foiled by Sachs, whose two takedowns give her a 4-0 lead going to the final period. Balderas scores three quick points to start the final stanza and makes it interesting, but Sachs escapes late in the match and holds on to win by two.
At 135 pounds, Maday pins Kayla Edwards of Rancho Buena Vista in the third period. Edwards becomes the third top seed to fall over the first seven girls semifinals, joining Me’kala James of Central, who loses by a point to Ward at 120; and Central Catholic’s Dulcy Martinez, who falls by three to Osorio at 125.
At 145 pounds, Gassel becomes the only one to keep her shoulders off the bat versus Juarez. The Brawley wrestler controls the bout, however, and wins, 4-1.
Rodrigues has no trouble at 155 pounds versus Nisa Rogers of Righetti. The returning state champion leads 12-1 before pinning with three seconds left in the bout.
At 190, Hingano looks intimidating stepping on to the mat and is just as impressive once her match with Briana Alvarado of Highland begins. She goes from takedown to first-period pin in a flash to make the finals.
At 235 pounds, Templeman imposes her will on Estrella Vasquez-Gutierrez of Greenfield and makes the final after a second-period fall.
On the boys’ side, Ramirez keeps his quest to become a two-time champion by defeating Moses Mendoza of Gilroy in a tiebreak. Ramirez needs to ride Mendoza for 30 seconds to advance and does so, barely, snagging the leg of a fleeing Mendoza just enough to prevail.
A similar situation arises in overtime at 126 pounds between Nikade Zinkin and Poway’s
Townson. After Zinkin escapes in the first overtime, Townson’s bid to return the favor in the second is denied when Zinkin manages to hang on to that leg just long enough.
Also at 126, the first returning state champion, Isaiah Cortez, loses to Lopez, 5-1.
A moment later, another returning champion, Elijah Cortez, the brother, also loses, falling to Bosco’s Grajeda, 3-2.
They are not the only reigning state champs to lose in the semifinals. Shockwaves reverberate around Mechanics Bank Arena when Estrada, a two-time champion from local Frontier, loses to Root in Sudden Victory time. The match is scoreless after periods and 1-1 after six minutes, In Sudden Victory, Estrada grabs Root's leg, something he does several times in the match. He cannot convert the hold into a takedown, however. In the closing seconds, back at neutral, Root dove and took Estrada down with a double leg to stun the hometown favorite.
At 132, Navida continues his vanquishment of higher-seeded rivals by taking down top-seeded Victor-Alexander Gutierrez of Central Catholic, 3-1. Gutierrez is one of two top seeds, joining Elijah Cortez, to go down to defeat this round.
In other results, Kelly of Poway wins his showdown with Gavin Bauder of Buchanan, as an escape in period 2 followed by a super quick takedown gives him all the points he needs.
Toscano, the top seed at 144, trails Max del Bosque of Clovis North 1-0 into the third period before scoring two for the 2-1 win.
At 150 pounds, Ethan Parco of Los Gatos leads Mantanona, 3-2, and briefly has the No. 1 wrestler nationally on his back, but not long enough for points. Mantanona escapes in this period and the next to grab the lead. Parco has a leg grab late is comes so close to getting the two and the monumental upset but cannot as Mantanona survives.
Posada shows his dominance at 175 in a 36-second win over Clovis’ Joseph Buck. Posada gets two right after the whistle and is able to turn Buck onto his back and ultimately pin him in a tremendous display of wrestling against a very good and seasoned opponent.
Kling also impresses by building a 7-3 lead on Sandoval in less than one minute at 190 pounds. That is the final score as well.
Fountain Valley’s Ryland Whitworth gives Coby Merrill all he can handle in a 215-pound semi. Whitworth scores a takedown in the second to take the lead but two escapes from Merrill tie the score in the third. Merrill shakes off a right knee injury to run around Whitworth for a go-ahead takedown that proves to be the final points in the close 4-3 win.
The other 215-pound semifinal is as tight. Platt trails Michael Murillo of Bakersfield in the second period and the two are tied at 3-3 in the third when Platt stuns with a reversal that cements the 5-4 win.
Finally, Sahakian shows his power with a second-period pin of Buchanan heavyweight Bryson Harrington. Cody Merrill does the same to Poway’s Adam Farha.