Birmingham, Chaminade make state history

Birmingham and Chaminade wrestling were both successful Saturday at the CIF State Wrestling Championships at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield.

Chaminade boys wrestling placed 16th as a team to achieve a new program record and the Birmingham boys team finished 22nd in the final standings. The Patriots' girls team tied for 11th place.

“The result is months and months (actually years and years) of all-encompassing work. Very proud,” Chaminade wrestling said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Henry Aslikyan beat Poway's Arseni Kikiniou in a 6-3 decision in the 106-pound weight class, earning Birmingham its first individual state title.

“We had a game plan for the kid and he followed it to a T,” Birmingham coach James Medeiros said. “His motion is really good, he's moving, he's faking, he's misdirecting. In all of his matches, he beat the kids in different ways.”

Aslikyan, a sophomore, finished the season with a 43-1 record. He was the No. 4 wrestler in his weight class in the Cal Grappler rankings heading into the state tournament.

Three Chaminade wrestlers had top-10 finishes: Slava Shahbazyan, Arvin Khosravy and Primo Catalano.

Shahbazyan pinned Bakersfield's

Braden Priest to secure seventh place at 144 pounds. Khosravy (157) came in seventh after Gilroy's Travis Grace had a medical forfeit and Catalano (175) was eighth due to a medical forfeit in a match against Maria Carrillo's Logan Bruce.

Birmingham had nine girls qualify for the state tournament and two had top-five finishes.

Avy Perez placed fifth at 110 pounds with a 7-3 decision over Ayala's Bk Martinez and ends the season with a 45-4 record.

Adeliada Fernandez claimed fourth place at 145 pounds after Berlyn Davis of San Clemente beat her in a tech fall. Her record stands at 47-4.