Room 149 at Nipomo High School is filled wall-to-wall with wrestling mats. The heater makes the room unbearably stuffy for those who aren’t used to it. Above the white board hangs a banner that says, “Champions are built, not made.”
Building for the future is exactly what head girls’ wrestling coach Justin Magdaleno is doing.
“I call it a ‘getting better every day’ year,” Magdaleno said. “They’re getting better with each tournament. I have big expectations, and they are working hard.”
For the first time in school history, Nipomo has its own girls’ wrestling team. When Magdaleno came to Athletic Director Jim Souza with the idea, he was all for it.
“I basically told him if he could make it happen, then do it—it would not have happened if Justin wasn’t here,” Souza said.
The athletic director said having a teacher on campus who is a coach is a huge asset when adding a new program because he can provide support and recruit. Magdaleno teaches science.
The squad, which is now up to 15 wrestlers, is currently 2-6 in league (as of press time) and took fifth place at the Santa Paula duals, which is quite feat because the team is carrying 12 novice wrestlers.
Magdaleno, a Righetti graduate who went to Cal Poly, started coaching in 2005. After serving as assistant wrestling coach at Pioneer Valley High School and helping jump-start the girls’ team there, he was hired on at Nipomo last year.
Coming into this season, Magdaleno had some serious goals for his lady wrestlers.
“I would like to place in the top three at CIF division tournament, to be in the top five at masters, and in the top 10 at the state tournament,” he said. “If they wrestle to their potential, it’s very possible we can reach our goals.”
But like every other team, this one has dealt with some unfortunate injuries.
Magdaleno describes his coaching style as old school and aggressive, something he said was a shock at first to his students, but the girls handle it just fine.
“If you don’t leave bruised, you didn’t wrestle very hard,” Magdaleno said.
Female wrestling is still a growing sport, with California at the forefront of its growth. Even a few years ago, female wrestlers could be counted as obscure athletes. But with more than 5,000 female high-school wrestlers, these athletes are taking point as competitors on the mat.
Magdaleno said the same techniques and principles used in male wrestling apply to female wrestling.
“They need to be in phenomenal cardio shape—the third round goes to the best conditioned,” he said.
For these wrestlers, the focus has been on finding what moves are most comfortable for them, and executing those moves with a speed and precision that often go unnoticed in wrestling.
The veteran coach did admit there are some differences between female and male wrestlers outside of their gender.
“Girls try harder, believe it or not. They listen and have greater attention to detail,” Magdaleno said.
He also said you have to account for more flexibility with girls, which allows them to escape holds that boys wouldn’t. However, that also means they need to execute their moves more tightly.
Magdaleno said he demands a lot from these girls, both on the mat and in the classroom.
“I expect them to strive for a 3.0 [GPA] and emphasize the student-athlete aspect,” Magdaleno said. “I tell them I’m going to push and yell. These girls know it, and they push hard.”
The Titans’ strongest wrestlers are also the only veterans. Caitlyn Cobb, a senior, wrestles in the 121lb category.
“She is a tough, feisty fighter, and is in great cardio shape,” Magdaleno said. “She goes after high-risk moves and rarely makes the same mistake twice.”
Nayeli Maldonado, also a senior, carries a 10-1 record. Described by her coach as a “no-frills, blue-collar grinder,” Maldonado has placed at every tournament thus far.
“She isn’t flashy; she wears down her opponent and won’t let them score,” Magdaleno said. “Her best attribute is that she is a tremendous leader.”
Magdaleno also mentioned freshmen wrestler Angelica Quezada-Ridge and sophomore Champaine Mansera, who are both showing a lot of potential.
Cobb followed in the footsteps of her wrestling father and took the sport up in seventh grade.
“I wanted something more physical, something that would push me,” she said.
Maldonado wanted to do something outside of the family sport of soccer—although she did encounter resistance at first.
Though there is risk with wrestling, Cobb said she loves the sport because it’s something no other girl wants to do.
“In wrestling, you have to give everything and have good dedication,” she said.
Both of these wrestlers spent the last few years working with the boys’ team, but they’re looking forward to the perks that come with of having their own team.
“Girls have the opportunity to show what we have now, and we are held to higher standards here,” Maldonado said.
Coming into this season, both seniors said they want to go big since this will be their last year of wrestling. They have their eyes on CIF and the master’s tournament.
Cobb and Maldonado admitted that the sport is full of challenges.
“The most exhausting thing is the mental aspect,” Cobb said.
Maldonado agreed, adding, “Your body is giving up, but your mind is saying otherwise. If you think you’re weak, you will act weak.”
The Titans’ toughest competition this season will come from Pioneer Valley. Magdaleno said the team needs to increase its numbers so it will have full lineups for competition. In the future, the coach hopes to have a lineup of 30 wrestlers and to see girls have the same amount of tournaments available to them as boys. With coaches slowly coming around to the idea, Magdaleno thinks wrestling will become a big-time sport for female athletes.
In addition to building a winning team, Magdaleno wants his wrestlers to walk away from his program knowing they can do anything, using the work ethic and determination they learned in wrestling to tackle adversity in life.
“Building the team and seeing when it first started—kids who were scared and insecure and watching them become confident and determined has been amazing,” Magdaleno said. “Through all their differences they have grown together and become a sisterhood.”
Staff Writer Kristina Sewell wants to learn the half nelson. Contact her at ksewell@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 16-23, 2014.