Buena wrestling has been increasing in popularity as is evidenced by the fact that for the fist time ever there is an all girls wrestling team.  In, the past the wrestling room on campus has been split in half to build another weight room for other sports. Before COVID hit, the wrestlers had almost a full boys varsity team and only a couple girls. After COVID, many student athletes wanted to get back on the grind with renewed enthusiasm and there are more wrestlers than past years; especially in the girls department. 

“This year there seems to be more people that want to do it” Sophomore and girls wrestler Lillian Bossoletii said.  “We are getting more duals and more “ok’s” to host duals and tournaments. It feels like it’s happening, and it feels like everything is almost back to normal.”

In years past, they have had to wrestle boys and compete in the boys varsity league. With new head coach Eddie Martinez, all of that is changing. He as well as John Smithson, the second head coach, have many things planned for the girls including new team uniforms, warm ups, all-girls tournaments, as well as letting the girls team compete in a female league instead of the boys league.

“it’s really great, it’s going to be fun to have matches count and to have our own league, rather than just competing in the buena boys league,” Bossoletti said. 

For other sports, funding usually is not a problem, however for the wrestling team it is a major issue. While the student athletes and coaches fundraise, a lot of the tournaments, equipment, uniforms, etc. comes out of the coach’s pockets. Despite the financial difficulty, the wrestlers enjoy every second of the sport and try to attend as many tournaments as possible.

Saturday Nov. 20, three girls wrestlers participated in the Triton Scramble Tournament at Pacifica high school. Among them was sophomore Lillian Bossoletti, who received a medal for placing third in her weight class of 116 lbs. Freshman Amilia Slocom, and sophomore Yulisa Banderas, also wrestled however they placed in lower brackets.

Wednesday Dec. 1, the wrestlers took on the Santa Paula Cardinals in an away dual and came out on top, especially the girls. While the boys varsity and JV did exceptionally well, beating the cardinals 50-18 and 30-6, the girls team made history. Not only are they the first ever girls team here at Buena, but they swept the cardinals 36-3 in their first dual.