As the curtain rises on the 2026–2027 high school girls wrestling season, the California mat landscape is primed for absolute fireworks. Powerhouses across every corner of the state are reloading, recalibrating, and gearing up for an electric sprint toward state glory. Right out of the gate, Buchanan High stands tall as the undisputed titan with…

Poway High School standout and Virginia Tech commit Mario Carini put on a wrestling clinic this week, earning Simple Man Wrestling’s Wrestler of the Week honors following an undefeated performance at the Super Elite wrestling duals in Atlanta, Georgia. Representing Team Thunder alongside high school teammates Matthew Orbeta and Arseni Kikinou, Carini anchored a powerful…

The action will be underway at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, where the annual Elite 8 Duals (“The Dirty South vs. The World) has brought together some of the absolute best high school folkstyle wrestling talent in the country. With over 80 nationally ranked wrestlers making their way to the Atlanta area,…

Author’s Note: This is the fourth article in an ongoing series highlighting the wrestling history of the community where I grew up. Over the course of this project, I will be covering the area’s state-level impact decade by decade, breaking down the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 2010s, and 2020s. If the 1990s tempered the steel,…

The mat wars across the Sac-Joaquin Section are set to reach a fever pitch, and the returning data offers an unfiltered look at who holds the early cards. Built entirely on points scored at last season’s section tournament—stripping away incoming freshmen and offseason transfers to establish a purely objective, data-driven baseline—these projections reveal a fierce…

California high school wrestling is anchored in storied lineage, relentless dedication, and the fierce, iron-forged bonds of the practice room. Across the state’s most fiercely contested mats, the upcoming season showcases a rare breed of competitors: brother tandems sharing a surname, an obsessive drive for excellence, and the mutual ambition of chasing history side by…

When Head Coach Nikko Cataline took the helm at Roosevelt High School, the principal asked a defining question during his interview: What are you going to do differently? The answer was immediate: start a tournament. It would have been easy to launch a standard, run-of-the-mill event—a tournament specifically structured for the home team to win…

Author’s Note: This is the third article in an ongoing series highlighting the wrestling history of the community where I grew up. Over the course of this project, I will be covering the area’s state-level impact decade by decade, breaking down the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 2010s, and 2020s. If the 1980s were the decade…

Forging the Iron: The 1990s Roots of Southeast Los Angeles and Gateway Cities Wrestling (Part III) Author’s Note: This is the third article in an ongoing series highlighting the wrestling history of the community where I grew up. Over the course of this project, I will be covering the area’s state-level impact decade by decade.…