Destiny Moreno has set a high bar for herself as one of the senior leaders on the Millikan girls’ wrestling team.
After Moreno claimed her fourth straight Moore League title by pin on Thursday afternoon, she calmly sat down and cheered on her teammates that were competing in the finals of their weigh classes.
“It felt good,” Moreno said after her victory. “It felt better my freshman because I didn’t really know as much, and I was up two weight classes. So, that one felt the best but it still feels good.”
Moreno started her high school career at the 111-pound weight class— two classes above her comfortable weight. Since then, Moreno has become the top wrestler in the Moore League at the 101-pound weight class.
“She leads by example,” Millikan coach Daniel Lopez said. “She’s the first one in the room for the girls’ side, the last one to leave almost every day. She travels all over California to wrestle. She sets the example for us.”
Millikan took home seven of the 14 title matches at Wilson High in a stellar performance that saw most matches end with a pin.
Along with Moreno, Nataly Cardenas (111), Leilani Baxter (121), Madison Olivera (131), Isabella Martinez (143), Hailey Fernandez (170) and Helen Martinez (235) each won their matches to become Moore League champs.
“After we lost to Poly, it really motivated the girls,” Lopez said. “We preach practice every day like it’s your last practice because you never know when your season is going to end. So every day they’re in there working harder and harder.”
Poly had an impressive finish winning five Moore League titles all by pin. Led by senior Athziri Guizar who defeated Millikan’s Parker Bowling in the 106 weight class to claim her second straight Moore League title.
“I’m really excited,” Guizar said. “It’s my last year. I’m ready for CIF and everything else.”
Guizar was joined by Krstine Comia (116), Shelby Stump (126), Daliah Preciado (137) and Raven Ross (189).
“Since we’re a very young team we did well,” Poly coach Ken Lee said. “We made a couple mistakes out there but we’re always looking to improve. That’s what I really love about the team. We had seven finalists and five champions which is really good for our team. But we’re always aiming for better. “So, we’re going to go back in the room tomorrow and study what we did wrong and what we did right and see what we can do.”
Rounding out the rest of the finals, Lakewood and Wilson each had one Moore League champion.
For Lakewood, Kayla Selridge defeated Poly’s Berlynn Solia-Tago and For Wilson, Estephany Ibarra defeated Jordan’s Cassidy Miam.
Now the top three finishers from each weight class will prepare for CIF.
CLICK HERE FOR HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
