Wrestlers senior Anaya Falcon and juniors Deandra Meza and Ronnie Ramirez became the 2024 California state champions.
After their dominant victories from Feb. 22-24 at the Mechanics Arena in Bakersfield, they gave the wrestling team another successful year. The newly crowned 2024 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section state champion wrestling team took home three state champions and three state medalists. Although clinching the state title on the last tournament of her high school career, Falcon was no stranger to being the best of her weight class. At 109 pounds, Falcon recorded a pin, 2-0, 7-6 and a major.
“I was kind of sad because it was my last tournament as a high schooler, but after [it], I felt a sense of relief from all my accomplishments, especially since I had no losses in my career,” Falcon said. “The stands are just full of people. You can hear all their emotions and you’re treated like a professional when you’re out there.”
Starting off with a pin and a 4-1 finish in the finals, Ramirez, at 124 pounds, took back to back state championships. Ramirez made a comeback after a preseason injury, which paused his training for some time. With ambitions of going to a Division 1 wrestling college and winning a National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) title, his current No 2. Ranking in nationals shows that he is not far off.
“Before the match I was feeling a little bit nervous and overwhelmed but I was still excited,” Ramirez said. “I would rate my performance [at states] a nine out of 10 only because I could have fired off more and scored more points but overall, I did my job [and] won this huge tournament twice so it’s a big accomplishment.”
Coming up short of the podium last year at the state tournament with fourth place, Meza was eager to try again. Meza closed off her tournament record with a 5-0 finish in the finals to take home her first California state championship. Many competitors shifted their weight to Meza’s 116 pound division, making it more competitive.
“I was really excited since I was the first match of the [finals] night so I was going to set the tone and afterwards I was emotional because all of that hard work that I put in finally paid off,” Meza said. “Mentally I have a little checklist that I go through and a routine that I go through for tournament days. I always like having a nice warm up and fully exhausting myself and getting all the bad air out.”
Ramirez and Meza still have their senior years to prove to their dream wrestling colleges what they have to offer. For Falcon however, being a senior means that there will be bigger competition awaiting in college. With her recent commitment to Life University, her goals for her wrestling career are mere steps away.
“A challenge [I had] was keeping myself motivated, trying to find a way where I can keep chasing the first place because you get used to it when you keep winning multiple titles,” Falcon said. “My first title meant everything to me, but after winning this last one I realized that I have more to chase and bigger things to go for, so this title is just a smaller thing for what more I have to accomplish.”
