Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: Burlingame’s Lauren Aguilar

Aguilar cruised through three wins in a cumulative time of 4 minutes, 8 seconds to claim the title at 120s, including a 28-second bull rush to pin Folsom sophomore Annika Scott in the finals, this before hitting the town for dinner with her Burlingame coaches and freshman teammate Nora Scopazzi.

“That was my celebration,” said Aguilar, who has been named the Daily Journal Athlete of the Week.

Aguilar was in good company Saturday. Along with head coach Ernesto Nunez, Aguilar’s father Giovanni is on staff as an assistant coach at Burlingame. She and Scopazzi also have a strong bond, as Aguilar mentored the now-freshman when she was still in middle school at the Peninsula Wrestling Club at Serra.

Since Aguilar moved to the Peninsula Wrestling Club when she was a freshman, she has developed into a national talent with California USA Wrestling. She also serves as a youth coach at the club, where she has mentored younger wrestlers like Scopazzi and San Mateo native and current St. Francis sophomore Katherine Love.

“It’s really awesome seeing the girls I coached when they were younger in the high school game and kind of making a name for themselves,” Aguilar said.

Aguilar’s time as a youth coach was accelerated last summer when an injury kept her from competing in the Fargo Nationals. She had advanced to the premier junior freestyle tournament in the nation the previous summer, and qualified for California USA Wrestling again in 2024 prior to shutting it down in June due to injury.

In the month when she could not do, she decided to teach.

“Aside from not being able to wrestle, I still wanted to help out,” Aguilar said. “So that was huge for me. I didn’t want to take a huge step away from the wrestling world.”

Since returning to the mat in late July, Aguilar has been an unstoppable force.

With her senior season opening Dec. 14 at the Roger Briones Girls Tournament at San Leandro High School, she earned the title at 130s with four wins, but just one in the first round via tech fall 1:21 into the match. The following week, Dec. 21, at the Dennis Solis Girls Wrestling Classic at Castro Valley High School, she claimed four more wins to take the title at 125s, again settling just one match in the first round via tech fall at 1:48. Dec. 28 at the Brittany David Invitational at Liberty High School, two of her four wins were settled in the first round, the fastest at 1:35 into her semifinal match.

Aguilar’s victory Saturday in the Queen of the Mat finals was her fastest result of the year — not quite as fast as The Rock’s famous six-second victory in 2016 over Erick Rowan in WrestleMania 32 — but it felt just as fast.

“Twenty-eight second first-round pin, I wasn’t quite expecting that,” Nunez said. “That’s kind of an example of the run she’s been on. She’s been mowing down people.”

Nunez coaches both the boys’ and girls’ wrestling teams at Burlingame, so he hasn’t been on hand for all of Aguilar’s tournaments. He was there Saturday, though, to witness her two fastest wins of the season. Aguilar opened with a tech fall in the second round against Arroyo’s Madison Yalung. She then set a new season mark in the semifinals, pinning Casa Grande senior Maliyah McCoy 47 seconds into the first round.

Aguilar quickly broke that with her 28-second squash match in the finals.

“If you blinked, you missed it,” Nunez said.

Going head-to-head with the taller Scott, Aguilar — who stands 4-11 — opened aggressively by attempting an arm drag, but missed the hold. She recovered, though, and hooked an arm to gain a tempo, then swiftly wrapping up around the left arm and head.

“I got a head and arm, and then just finished the match right there,” Aguilar said.

“She hit it right to her back, pulling her to her back,” Nunez said, “and [Aguilar] just held on super tight.”

All four of Aguilar’s tournament wins have been one-day events. That is set to change this weekend, as she travels to the Napa Valley Girls Classic at Vintage High School in Napa.

A two-time Peninsula Athletic League champion, and Burlingame’s first-ever CCS champ last season, Aguilar is intent on continuing her regular-season momentum with her sights set on a big finish in the postseason.

“I’d love to repeat what I did last year and be a two-time (CCS) champion,” Aguilar said. “That’s something that’s definitely on my mind. But my goal is definitely to be up on that podium at state.”