BAKERSFIELD — Brawley High School junior Lauren Zaragoza has a lot of faith. She credits that faith as the reason she is now a state champion.
“I barely won some of my matches here in the early rounds, but I trusted in my faith in God and left it up to him,” said Zaragosa. “I place all of my win in him.”
Zaragoza’s belief carried her to a 6-4 win over Tamara Grace of Gilroy in the final to claim the 138-pound title at Saturday’s California state wrestling championships at Mechanics Bank Arena.
“My goal ever since I was little was to win a state title,” Zaragoza explained. “I really didn’t think I would do it but I did it; it had to be God’s plan.”
Zaragoza also credits the experience she’s gained at state, and the experience of watching her former teammate Delarie Juarez win the title last year.
Juarez, who now wrestles at Northview in the Southern Section, faced another former San Diego wrestler Olivia Davis, formerly of Monte Vista. Davis, who is at Anaheim Esperanza in the Southern Section, avenged a one-point loss to Juarez in her section final by downing Juarez 8-3 in the 145-pound final.
The San Diego contingent sent a total of three girls into the finals.
ing Zaragoza in the championships were Rancho Bernardo’s Mary Snider, Poway’s Ava Fodera and Torrey Pines’ Ruby Julien-Newsom.
After just missing out on state a year ago, Snider worked extremely hard in the off season and came into this year’s meet as the unbeaten No. 1 seed at 140 pounds. Her convincing 11-1 major decision in the semifinal over fourth-seeded Jaelyn Unpingco set up a match-up with third-seeded Yzabella Austin of Pitman. Her streak came to an end as Austin scored a 7-1 decision to end her junior year.
Fodera, seeded second at 105 pounds, ran into a buzzsaw in the final. Fresh from her upset of top-seeded Jazmine Turner in the semifinal, Palo Alto’s fifth-seeded Ella Cohen stayed hot. Despite falling behind Fodera 7-6, Cohen scored the pin in 5:20 for the title.
In the 130-pound final, Torrey Pines’ Julien-Newsom was the one facing the unbeaten top seed. Her run to the title ended when Glendora’s Samantha Sachs improved her record to 40-0 with a pin of the Falcons senior in 1:04.
For the second year in a row, San Diego Section girls came home with 13 medals, tying the section mark — even without Davis and Juarez.
Girls from 10 different schools shared in making it happen.
San Marcos had a pair of medalists in Briana Ross, fourth at 115, and Jaala Degannes, sixth at 130. Degannes faced Olympian’s Vania Victoria in the fifth-place match at 130, with Victoria winning the 6-2 decision.
San Diego High’s Keyona Mae Simmons, Mira Mesa’s Angel Hill and Clairemont’s Roxanne Raab represented the city schools, winning medals in the process. Simmons took sixth at 170, Hills finished sixth at 285 and Raab placed for the second year in a row, taking eighth at 135.
In the team race, Clovis East won with 84 1/2 points. Poway finished a distant sixth with 62 1/2 points. San Marcos was 19th with 38.
CIF state wrestling championships
At Mechanics Bank Arena, Bakersfield
Girls
Team: 1. Clovis East 84.5, 2. Northview 77, 3. Buchanan 68, 4. Orange Vista 67.5, 5. Marina 63 Others: 6. Poway 62.5 .
Finals
100 – Edwards (Buchanan) md Wells (Lakeside) 14-2; 105 – Cohen (Palo Alto) pin Fodera (Poway) 5:20; 110 –Gutierrez (Marina) pin Cooper (Clayton Valley) 5:55; 115 – Elison (Los Altos) pin Maggini (Del Oro)3:17; 120 – Gonzales (Clovis East) pin Martin (Granda Hills)1:47; 125 –Stewart Orange Vista) pin Ward (Oakland) 5:30; 130 – Sachs (Glendora) pin Julien-Newsom (Torrey Pines) 1:04; 135 – Zaragoza (Brawley) dec Grace (Gilroy) 6-4; 140 – Austin (Pittman) dec Snider (Rancho Bernardo) 7-1; 145 – Davis (Esperanza) dec Juarez (Northview) 8-3; 155 –Blanco (Chino) md Jiang (Gunn) 13-4; 170 – Lemus (Clovis) md Tuavao (Tokay) 19-7; 190 – Vargas (Merced) dec Marquez (Gabrielo) 5-4; 235 – Tipton (Camirillo) dec Smith (San Dimas) 8-6
Third-place matches
140 – Unpingco (Clovis East) pin Ledezma (2:21);
Fifth-place matches
115 – Borelli (Los Banos) md Ross (San Marcos) 11-2; 120 – Ebrahimi (Poway) dec Kakuk (Chino) 6-3; 130 – Victoria (Olympian) dec Degannes (San Marcos) 6-2; 170 – Guzman (Orange Vista) dec Simmons (San Diego) 4-2; 235 – Matigi (Nipomo) dec Hill (Mira Mesa) 11-4.
Seventh-place matches
110 – Cordero (Poway) dec Witzerman (Peninsula) 4-0; 135 – Padilla (Excelsior Charter) tech fall Raab (Clairemont) 3:21 (19-4);
