It is shaping up to be another exciting season for the boys and girls wrestling teams in the L.A. Daily News coverage area.
Here’s a look at the area’s top returning wrestlers and some of the top teams that have their sights set on winning titles in the CIF Southern Section, L.A. City Section as well as CIF State championships.
Birmingham senior Henry Aslikyan (boys, 120-pound weight class)
Aslikayan, a Michigan commit, is a back-to-back CIF State champion, having won the 106-pound weight class in 2024 and the 113-pound class in 2025. He’s won three consecutive City Section championships. He won at 113 pounds last year. This season, Aslikayan has a record of 4-1 and finished in second place at the Eastvale tournament.
Birmingham junior Gregory Torosian (boys, 150-pound weight class)
Torosian placed seventh in the 150-pound weight class at the CIF State Championships in 2025. This season, he’s 5-0 and took first place in the Louie Madrigal West Coast Classic in the 157-pound weight class.
Chaminade sophomore Olivia Munson (girls, 100-pound weight class)
Munson made strides as a freshman, placing third in the 100-pound division at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet, which qualified her for the CIF State championships. Now, as a sophomore, she’s taking home crowns after winning the California Girls Invitational. She has a record of 30-4 this season after competing in the Women’s National Duals and the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals over the summer.
Valencia junior Slater Hicks (boys, 132-pound weight class)
Hicks impressed last season as a sophomore, winning multiple tournaments, including the John Glenn Enriquez tournament, the Temecula Valley Battle for the Belt and the Morro Bay California Invitational Tournament. This season, he’s 17-2 with a tournament win at Tournament of Champions (132-pound division) and a second-place finish in the Downey 32 Way (138-pound division).
Birmingham senior Marlene Garcia (girls, 100-pound weight class)
Birmingham senior Adelalda Fernandez (girls, 140-pound weight class)
St. Francis junior Katherine Love (girls, 125-pound weight class)
Birmingham will be a team to watch after it finished in 10th place at last year’s CIF State championships. The team returns loads of talent. Led by Aslikyan and Torozian, the team also has has senior Slava Shahbazyan (fourth place in the boys 165-pound weight class), junior Diana Barone (fifth place in the girls 135-pound class) and senior Adeladla Fernandez (seventh place in the girls 140-pound class).
Senior Marlene Garcia (girls, 100-pound weight class) is 16-2 this season with a win at the Women’s West Coast Tournament of Champions last month. Senior Arno Vardanyna (boys, 138-pound weight class) is 31-2 and finished in fourth place in the Eastvale tournament.
The Scorpions are led by junior Caine Martin, who has a record of 10-3, including a second-place finish in the 126-pound weight class in the South Torrance Spartan Kickoff Classic. Alongside him is senior Josh Requena, who placed fifth in the 132-pound weight class in the 2024 CIF State championships.
Chaminade features Munson along with senior Michael Kase (boys, 150-pound weight class) and sophomore Mavrik Harrell (boys, 113-pound weight class). Kase and Harrell placed first in their respective weight classes in the Newbury Park Invitational.
The Vikings finished 48th in last year’s CIF State championships, which included a sixth-place finish in the 126-pound weight class by Hicks.
Valencia has added St. John Bosco transfer Tigran Greyan this season. Greyan, a senior, placed sixth in the 157-pound weight class in last year’s CIF State championships. He has a tournament win under his belt this season, having placed first in the Tournament of Champions in the same weight class.
A returner from last year is senior Alejandro Navarro, who didn’t place in last year’s CIF State championships. He is 13-5 this season.
St. Francis is led by junior Katherine Love, who has a 43-14 record this season and finished third in the Women’s West Coast Tournament of Champions (WWCTOC). On the boys’ side, sophomore Hunter Luna is 8-0 and has a first-place finish in the 157-pound weight class in the Webber Lawson Varsity Tournament.
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