The Saint Francis Girls’ Wrestling team has had an impressive season so far. With an undefeated record of 5-0 in the West Catholic Athletic League, preparations are underway for the fast approaching Central Coast Section matches. Despite being a relatively new program, the Lancers have proven their strength as a team. But what fuels the impressive success of our Lancers?
Practice is essential for any athlete’s success. For wrestling, a typical week of practice starts with head coach, Joey Bareng, setting expectations for the week and discussing what the team should work on. This is a great time for the team to set goals for what they would like to accomplish. During this discussion, the team gets ready for practice, slipping on their wrestling shoes and other equipment. Assistant coaches then lead the team through a warm-up, followed by technique and position drills. Finally, the Lancers end practice by wrestling each other like they would in a match. Occasionally, they end with conditioning, which is crucial for building stamina.
The formation of a distinctive Girls’ Wrestling program occurred only last year when the team was provided their own coaches and practices separate from the boys, allowing for more individual improvement and specific training. Krithi Sagayaraj (’25) comments, “Our team is very young and we are all still learning a lot.” She adds, “our team has grown and picked up the sport really fast.”
One of the team’s major accomplishments was winning first place at the Kusumoto Klassic tournament at Prospect High School, demonstrating how the team’s dominance extends beyond the WCAL. The Lancers came out on top among twenty-seven teams and earned 161 points, with ten wrestlers earning medals. Katherine Love (’27) and Sa’o Loia (’24) placed first in their respective weight classes. Sagayaraj considers the significance of this tournament for the wrestling program at Saint Francis as the team brought home their first first place trophy. “This was a huge step for the girls program [and] it was definitely a really exciting and important day”, she says.
The team experienced further success at their Senior Night against Archbishop Mitty High School, with a final score of 48-30. Moreover, they placed second at the Lady Mustang tournament in Sacramento. Meets and tournaments are structured a little differently, but have many overlapping aspects. For tournaments, weigh-ins typically happen in the morning followed by wrestling matches two hours later. Athletes start their warm-up approximately fifty minutes before their match to ensure they are ready to wrestle. Tournaments tend to last all day and end with awards and team pictures. For meets, weigh-ins typically happen at four in the afternoon, with matches starting at five. Since they only wrestle one team during a meet, meets do not typically last as long as tournaments.
Team culture is crucial to the success of our Lancers. Sagayaraj notes, “having a team or people there is very important because while we’re on the mat or even at practice, we always cheer for each other and help each other out, especially when people have hard weight cuts, [are] getting through injuries, or having a tough time…our team is really good [at] comforting and supporting one another.” Make sure to come support our Girls’ Wrestling team as they advance through the rest of the regular season and beyond!
