Del Oro captains lead their flock to Masters

For Del Oro High School junior Kaiya Maggini and senior Kate Luzuriaga, excellence in wrestling is to be expected. Both have experience wrestling at the CIF State Championships and are well aware of the importance of leading the team. For these reasons, they were selected captains of the Lady Eagle wrestling team and their experience and leadership paid off. Nine of the 10 Del Oro varsity girls from last weekend's Sac-Joaquin Northern Regional Championships at Foothill High School qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Masters Championships. "I'm excited for Masters," Luzuriaga said. "I feel like the hard work is going to pay off." Maggini agreed with Lizuriaga's statement and said she likes her team's chances. "We won Masters last year. I think we can be Masters champs again," Maggini said. "It's not a duel, it's a tournament. It could go anyone's way." Del Oro won three gold medals at the regional championships in Maggini at 115 pounds, junior Ashlyn Hemm at 110 and freshman Brynn Madden at 140. Silver medals were earned by Luzuriaga at 155 pounds and Skye Perry at 135. Also qualifying for Masters was junior Lauren Madden, sophomores Desirey Fernandez and Aubrey Garcia, and freshman Caroline Gordon. Assistant Coach Mike Maben, who started the girls team in 2011, expressed his pride in his girls and the sport as a whole. "The girls performed admirably this weekend, and wrestled some really tough matches against some strong competition," Maben said. "Sacramento-area wrestling continues to get tougher and tougher every year, and I'm glad to see our sport growing as well as our team doing well." As for the captains, they're focusing on keeping the team strong and not resting on their regional championship. "We've grown a lot as a team, and we're really close," Luzuriaga said. "It's important to keep talking and help each other grow." Said Maggini, "I think a lot of the girls are super tough and have a lot of potential. As a captain, you have to stay encouraging and help them through hardships." The Masters Tournament takes place this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21-22, at Adventist Health Arena in Stockton.