Peninsula Athletic League wrestlers ready to leave mark at the Central Coast Section championships

“The PAL is kind of a powerhouse,” said Half Moon Bay girls’ coach Sam Temko.

That dominance could continue this weekend at the CCS girls’ wrestling championships at Watsonville High, beginning Friday and ending Saturday. The PAL has 14 wrestlers seeded in 11 of the 14 brackets and four of them lead the way with top seeds in four weight classes: Alexia Bensoussan (131, Menlo-Atherton), Taylor Micallef (137, Half Moon Bay), Alison Richter (189, Woodside) and Micaela Jade Mullan (235, El Camino).

The key to the PAL’s continued growth is the addition of more schools earning seeds. While Menlo-Atherton and Half Moon Bay are well represented, as usual, the increased depth in the league can be seen in the likes of Richter at Woodside, Hillsdale’s Ana Ferraz, seeded No. 2 at 189, Oceana’s Shannon Clery and Carlmont’s Aubrey Button, seeded No. 3 and No. 5, respectively, at 150.

“[Wrestling is] definitely growing (in the PAL),” Temko said. “It’s great to see women’s wrestling so strongly representing the PAL (at CCS).”

Temko believes the PAL is poised to bring home a couple more section championships this weekend. He has high hopes for his wrestler, Micallef.

“I would love to see her cap off her senior year with a section title,” Temko said. “(But) anything could happen at this time of the season. I could see girls folding their tents at the end of the season or ending up in a place they didn’t expect.”

Here’s a look a the seeded PAL wrestlers who will be competing for spots in the state tournament.

101

Gwen Tomkins (Menlo-Atherton) — PAL champ, seeded second at CCS, ranked No. 5 by CCSrank.com at 111. Tomkins has been all over the lower weights this season. Despite being ranked at 111, she finished third at both Mid Cals and Lady Chukchansi at 106 and won 101 PAL title.

Yessenia Covorrubius (Half Moon Bay) — PAL runnerup, seeded No. 4 for CCS, ranked No. 3 in the section. She won the tournament championships at the HMB Peninsula Invitational, Overfelt and Castro Valley Classic. She was third at Kusumoto Klassic and fourth at Mid Cals.

106

Mikaela Sendino (Half Moon Bay) — PAL champ, No. 4 seed at CCS, ranked No. 5 in the section. She was second at the HMB Peninsula Invite and won the consolation final at the Overfelt tournament. She took third at Kusumoto Klassic, but was 0-2 at Mid Cals.

111

Kiely Tabaldo (Menlo-Atherton) — PAL champ, seeded second at CCS, ranked No. 1 at 106 in the section. Tabaldo is the defending 101-pound CCS champ. She is ranked No. 1 in the section at 106, but spent the season wrestling at 111, winning four individual tournament titles (Half Moon Bay, Overfelt, Roseville and Lady Chukchansi).

116

No PAL seeds.

121

No PAL seeds.

126

Kayla Melcher (Menlo-Atherton) — PAL champ, she is seeded No. 4 for the CCS tournament. Ranked No. 4 in the section, she finished fifth at Mid Cals.

131

Alexia Bensoussan (Menlo-Atherton) — PAL champ, top seed for the CCS tournament, ranked No. 1 in the section and the defending 121-pound champ. Her only two losses this season have come against out-of-section competition as she finished second at Mid Cals and first at Kusumoto Klassic, wrestling at 137 in that one. She finished second an unofficial state tournament in 2021, wrestling at 126.

137

Taylor Micallef (Half Moon Bay) — PAL champ, she is seeded first for the CCS tournament and is the top-ranked wrestler in this class. She has been dominant this season, going a perfect 13-0 in winning the HMB, Overfelt, Castro Valley and Mid Cals tournament titles. She qualified for the state tournament in both 2019 and 2020, finishing fourth both times.

143

Jazmin Zilla (Half Moon Bay) — PAL champ, seeded No. 4 for CCS. She is ranked 10th in the section by CCSrank.com, winning the consolation final at the Overfelt tournament.

150

Shannon Clery (Oceana) — PAL champ, seeded No. 3 at CCS, unranked by CCSrank.com.

Aubrey Button (Carlmont) — third place PAL, seeded No. 5 at CCS, unranked.

Both will be looking for podium finishes for the first time in program history.

160

No PAL seeds.

170

Alex Lujan (Menlo-Atherton) — second place PAL, seeded No. 3 for CCS, ranked No. 3 in the section.

Lujan won the HMB title and was runner-up at Overfelt, Kusumoto and Mid Cals. She was upset by Woodside’s Brynn Adasiewicz in the PAL finals, who had forfeited her match to Lujan at Mid Cals.

189

Alison Richter (Woodside) — PAL champ, No. 1 seed at CCS, unranked in the section.

Ana Ferraz (Hillsdale) — second place at PALs, seeded No. 2 at CCS, ranked No. 1 in the section.

Richter pulled off what might have been the biggest upset of the PAL tournament when she beat Ferraz. Ferraz won the 235-pound title at the Lynbrook tournament, winning three straight matches by pin.

235

Michaela Jade Mullan (El Camino) — PAL champ, seeded No. 1 at CCS, ranked No. 1 in the section.

Mullan won four tournament titles (HMB, San Leandro, Liberty and Mid Cals) and was second at the Castro Valley tournament, where she suffered her only loss. She won nine of her tournament matches by pin.