In its first year, the Rio Americano girls’ wrestling team has made school history by qualifying for sections and being the first Rio wrestling team–boys’ or girls’–to hang a league champion banner in the gym. 

Coach Austin Bell has previously had girls on the wrestling team, but never enough to form their own team. This year, he covered all 14 weight classes, and had several girls who advanced to the masters as individuals. 

“They fought hard this season,” Bell said. “My girls did really well this year.” 

Twelve girls qualified from league to regionals and nine girls were named first team All-League from Capital Athletic League championships. The team (5-0 in league, 7-3 overall) fell in the first round of sections to Del Oro in a meet at Lincoln High School in Stockton in March. 

However, Bell was proud of their effort.

 “We qualified,” he said of the first-year team. “The biggest thing is that we qualified.”

First year wrestler senior Camiyah Perry began wrestling last fall to build her character and strength. 

“We were excited (to reach the Sections),” said Perry, who placed 7th in regionals and made it to Masters. “Honestly, we never thought we would get that far, but we all had that mindset to bring out everything on the mat and it brought us to victory.”

Perry says on the mat her adrenaline is high, and she goes into competitive mode, compensating for lack of experience. 

“I’m always looking forward to trying something new and trying it on the mat,” she said.

First year wrestler junior Liliana Lettini said her biggest win of the season was making it to day two of Masters. 

“I had made it to Masters automatically so I wasn’t really sure if I deserved my spot at Masters but winning that match and making it to day two showed me I deserved that,” Lettini said. 

Lettini wanted to give a special shout out to her captains Ashli Cooper, Manuela Monteiro, and Emily Keltgen. 

“Thank y’all for always making sure we are in the right headspace and cheering us on,” she said.

Bell, a former prep champion wrestler, attributes much of the team success to dedication of the athletes and the conditioning and training they go through at practice.

“We’re sweating; we’re grinding; we’re putting in the work,” he said.

Practice can be rough, with a lot of conditioning, but they have fun days, too.

 “We’ve had days where the last hour was a dance/karaoke party and we all danced around,” Lettini said. “Wrestling is hard but amazing.” 

Through the practices and meets, the girls became close.

“Those girls are family,” Lettini said “Once we got to mid season and we had our core group it was awesome. It’s a sisterhood.”