The Goddess of Olympia girls wrestling tournament Dec. 17 at Olympian High School was the largest event of its kind ever held in San Diego Section with 477 participants – 238 at the varsity level and 239 at the junior varsity/novice level.
“Separately, biggest numbers of their kind and happened all in the same day at Olympian,” Olympian High School coach Jay Lord Fabunan explained. “Goddess of Olympia was probably the biggest one-day girls tournament held in the nation at the time.”
A total of 58 teams participated. The top five teams included Slam Academy (Las Vegas) in first place, Shadow Hills in second place, San Clemente in third place, Brawley and Redwood Visalia in a tie for fourth place, followed by tourney-host Olympian.
Local teams in top 10 included Mira Mesa (sixth place), Central Union (eighth place) and Steele Canyon (ninth place).
A further breakdown: 17 out-of-section teams participated, 14 teams were from Southern Section, one from the Central Section and two from Nevada.
As for the quality of the teams? The Slam Academy is ranked fifth in the nation.
Mira Mesa junior 106-pounder Birta McGaskill becasms the first three-time weight class champion and three-time most outstanding lightweight wrestler.
Slam Academy sophomore 170-pounder Billie Bonwell captured the most outstanding heavyweight award.
Other local champions included Brawley’s Lauren Zaragoza at 121 pounds, Rancho Buena Vista’s Kayla Edwards at 126 pounds, Mt. Carmel’s Melanie Hayslip at 160 pounds and Steele Canyon’s Faith Manis at 189 pounds.
“Goddess of Olympia has grown every year,” Fanunan said. “During the COVID season, we were the only school to host a regular season tournament – outdoors on three mats and 130 girls and planned within a week. People liked it a lot and it we take pride in its organization. We’ve been very lucky to continue hosting and growing as a tournament”
“Girls wrestling has truly grown by leaps and bounds as evident by the size of this year’s tournament. Every year the tournament has grown and the level of competition continues to rise. We saw many undefeated seasons end and we also saw girls exceed their expectations. Medaling at Goddess was very hard.
“We are planning to make Goddess a two-day tournament next season and continue to build it as a premier tournament to showcase the best girl wrestlers in California and the nation. We want people to come to San Diego every year and see that we have great talent here.
“Very proud of our girls as we continue to build in numbers and talent. This year we have 37 girls on the team, and we expect it to grow. Olympian girls wrestling is one the best programs on campus, We have amazing coaches and a loving and family-oriented program. We hope that girls everywhere will step out of their comfort zone and try out this amazing sport.”
The tourney-host Lady Eagles had six place-winners in the varsity bracket: Alina Solis (fourth at 137 pounds), Daia Kawashiro (fourth at 160 pounds), Elisa Najera (fourth at 235 pounds), Natasha Mason (sixth at 106 pounds), Makenna Harbin (sixth at 131 pounds) and Sophia Gonzalez (sixth at 170 pounds).
Additionally, Mater Dei Catholic’s Samantha Arce placed runner-up at 143 pounds, Mar Vista’s Tavia Ostheimer placed fourth at 131 pounds and Eastlake’s Isabella Lamadrid placed sixth at 116 pounds in the varsity field.
Olympian finished second in team standings and had 21 total top 6 finishers for JV and varsity at the preceding University City girls tournament.
1st 106 JV Zara Contreras
2nd 106 Natasha Mason
2nd 111 Mia Zazueta
2nd 137 Alina Solis
2nd 150 JV Natalia Righellis
3rd 170 Sophia Gonzalez
3rd 137 Makenna Harbin
3rd 111 JV Dani Bravo
4th 116 Cheyenne Sandoval
4th 121 Bella King
4th 106 JV Emily Topete
4th 143 JV Maddie Hogue
5th 160 Daia Kawashiro
5th 101 JV Aiyanna Sinohui
5th 121 JV Bella Machuca
5th 235 JV Elisa Najera
6th 101 Isabella Ramirez
6th 150 April Jiron
6th 106 JV- Maia Arellano
6th 126 JV- Avery Diaz
6th 137 JV- Sofia Ochoa
