A golden age of wrestling

Already an established soccer standout when she arrived at Menlo-Atherton in 2015-16, Calhoon opted to forgo high school soccer as a freshman to join the girls’ grapplers. Now a senior, she has emerged as a cornerstone of a Lady Bears wrestling team ranked No. 1 in the Central Coast Section.

“Something just drew me to the wrestling room,” Calhoon said. “The girls, we’re all best friends now, but as freshmen there was no team, so there was just something about being able to start a program that was really cool.”

Calhoon’s future is still focused on the pitch. Through four years of high school, she has continued to play club soccer during the spring and summer. She is committed to play Division I women’s soccer at Brown University, where she is set to debut in 2020-21 after a gap year next season.

The wrestling career has only helped her soccer prospects, Calhoon said.

“Making me strong, being able to hold people off the ball,” Calhoon said. “So, it’s just made me so much tougher.”

As Calhoon’s wrestling career winds down, the senior is intently focused on the present. One of six M-A seniors who have grown into top-flight contenders on the CCS wrestling stage, the goal is to leave not just a legacy of having helped found the team. Calhoon and company are looking to go out on top, shooting for a state championship as their ultimate goal.

The essential stepping stone comes this weekend, with the CCS girls’ wrestling championships Friday and Saturday at San Jose’s Independence High School. M-A is looking to earn as many top 4 individual finishes as possible, to qualify as many individuals for the state championships as possible, in its quest to write the ultimate closing chapter for the team’s founding members.

Last year, the Bears won the CCS team title, sending six wrestlers to Visalia for the state championships. They left Visalia with an individual silver medal from Fola Akinola in the 189-pound division and took fourth place as a team.

This season, just one of last year’s qualifiers is a non-senior in junior Anna Smith. So, when the team celebrated its Senior Night Thursday, Jan. 22, it was a culmination of all the blood, sweat and — especially — tears the core group has invested in the program.

“This is history,” Menlo-Atherton head coach Phil Hoang said. “It was a super emotional night because it was senior night and all the girls were talking about how they’re leaving something they love.”

Calhoon is ranked No. 1 in the CCS in 121s. Other M-A contenders are seniors Lauren McDonnell, No. 1 in 143s; Abby Ericson, No. 1 in 160s; Akinola, No. 1 in 189s; Angie Bautista, No. 2 in 126s; and Paola Ramirez, No. 4 in 116s. Smith, a junior, is ranked No. 1 in 131s.

M-A is not the only PAL program with high expectations, as the top seeds in each division are peppered with county wrestlers. Hillsdale’s Kristaal Betanzo is seeded No. 3 at 101; Elis Caravalho (Terra Nova) and Lilsel Badajos Zamora (Half Moon Bay) are No. 3 and 5, respectively, at 116; Taylor Micallef (HMB) is third in Calhoon’s 121 class; Esmerelda Mendez (HMB) is No. 5 at 137; Daniela Corona, a four-time PAL champ, is seeded No. 3 at 145, along with Kaileigh Willis at No. 5; Elisa Mendez (HMB) is No. 4 at 160; Maria Cuevas (HMB) is No. 5 at 189; while Pipiena Langi (Mills) is seeded third at 235.

Last year, however, Calhoon missed the chance to stand atop the CCS podium. She took silver in 121s, despite leading on the scoreboard at the end of the championship match with Lincoln-San Jose’s Mia Olmos. A scoring change in the minutes following the match awarded the win to Olmos.

Calhoon shrugged off the decision, chalking it up as a personal victory. After missing much of her junior year due to injuries, she went into last year’s CCS championships unranked. This has not been the case this season.

“This has been my healthiest and strongest year yet,” Calhoon said. “And that goes for the whole team too.”

The program, as well, is as healthy as it has ever been. M-A is carrying 34 girls on roster. More than twice that tried out for the team at the start of the year, Hoang said.

Hoang augmented his lineup for the PAL girls’ wrestling championships last Friday. Still, 11 Bears reached the podium.

Ericson (172s) and Akinola (191s) each earned their third PAL titles. They were the only ranked wrestlers M-A fielded, however. Freshman Hannah Hendrickson (152s) and freshman Alex Lujan (162s) took second; freshman Alexia Bensoussan (113s), senior Lauren Fuller (118s), sophomore Mari Callahan (128s) and freshman Beth Leon (139s) took third; and sophomore Camila Tarazi (123s), freshman Lily Martin (139s) and freshman Izzy Gershfield (172s) took fourth.

As for how the depth of underclassmen bodes for future seasons, Hoang said it is still an unknown.

“We’ll see,” Hoang said. “We definitely have the numbers. I think Half Moon Bay will be the team to beat next year. It’s hard to compete when you graduate seven seniors … but we’ll fill the roster next year. We’ll have the numbers but, will we have the same commitment we have with this group? I don’t know.”

One thing is for certain, though. The commitment of the current core of M-A girls’ wrestlers has not only put the program on the map, it has taken what was previously a handful of individual wrestlers — Kendall Wiley and Chelsea Wilson competed as individual girls’ wrestlers for the school previous to 2015-16, but M-A never had near the numbers to field a team — and has grown it into the class of the CCS.

“Just being able to reflect on these four years, it’s been a crazy journey,” Calhoon said. “Not just from our success, but it’s eight or nine of these seniors that have created this legacy. And now there’s going to be 25 girls to continue it. It’s just pretty amazing to be a part of.”

Boys’ wrestling

There are a handful of county wrestlers who are expecting big things in the CCS tournament, with several earning a top-six seed.

Burlingame’s Kyle Botelho might have the biggest expectations in the 132-pound class. He was ranked No. 1 for most of the season, but will go into CCS as the No. 2 seed behind Gilroy’s Noah Castro, who has beaten Botelho twice this season.

Terra Nova’s Adam Louie is seeded fourth at 138; Romelo Rivas Aguilar (San Mateo) is No. 6 at 145; Jack Woods (Serra) is Noi. 6 at 170; Williams Bradford (SM) and Cade Duncan (Half Moon Bay) are No. 5 and No. 6 at 195; while Serra’s Marcellus Eison is No. 4 at 285.