San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
THIS MONTE VISTA HIGH WRESTLING STAR ISN’T RISING, SHE’S SKYROCKETING
When Olivia Davis was in the seventh grade, she went to a wrestling tournament to watch her brother Zahi.
Her reaction was instantaneous.
“That’s what I want to do,” she recalls thinking. So, she started wrestling, and last weekend in Bakersfield, the Monte Vista High freshman placed third in the state at 137 pounds.
“(Having success) happened faster than I thought it would. I’ve done jiujitsu all my life, and I know that helped me mentally. I was used to competition, so something like the state championships didn’t intimidate me. I’ve gone to bigger tournaments.”
Actually, Davis said as loud and boisterous as the crowd was at Merchants
Bank Arena, she thought the throng at the AAU Youth Nationals in Des Moines, Iowa, last summer — where she placed sixth overall at 138 pounds competing against older, more experienced wrestlers — was more raucous.
That sixth-place finish earned her Allamerican status heading into her first year of high school wrestling.
Monte Vista head coach Jackson Kurz, now in his second year, knew that Olivia was coming because he helped coach Zahi, who won two section titles at 149 pounds but had terrible luck, first having his season ended by COVID and then suffering a foot injury before Masters.
Zahi is now wrestling at Cal Baptist in Riverside and was right there in the stands to watch his sister in Bakersfield.
“Olivia is the first Monte Vista girl to win a Masters title, to go to the state championships and to earn a medal (the top eight),” said Kurz, noting that the boys have won 18 section titles and the state meet in 1973.
“She was 30-4 this year and the only losses were to state champions — Brawley’s Savannah Gomez in the section finals, the Colorado state champ, the 131 finalist and to eventual state champion Gianna Debenedetto of Fair Oaks Bella Vista in the semifinals at state.”
About those setbacks. Davis lost to Gomez in the section Division II championships, but Gomez was unable to defend her state title because of an injury, so
Davis won the Masters meet and advanced. She fell to Debenedetto at state. Wrestling at 131 pounds early in the season, she struggled at the Napa Valley Invitational, placing fifth.
“I had a bad meet,” said Davis. “I lost to the girl from Colorado who won her state and to the girl who finished second in California at 131 pounds.
“Against Savannah the score was 5-4 with 10 seconds to go, and I gambled and lost, 7-4.
“In the state meet, it was 0-0 after one period but then (Debenedetto) got 5 points on a cradle, and I had to wrestle from behind.”
Davis lost that match 10-3 and Debenedetto, a junior, won the championship 10-0. Earlier, Davis had won by pin, 10-2 and 5-2 to gain the semifinals and after losing, came right back to win 8-2 before pinning Tokay’s Kathleen Tuavao in 2:44 and climbing up on the victory stand.
She said her brother helped her when she started, and while sometimes it was frustrating because there was no way she could beat an older, stronger, more experienced athlete who showed her no mercy, she said she learned a lot.
“Sometimes I don’t feel like I belong,” said Davis, 15, who has a 4.6 GPA. “I feel like I’m really new. Because of jiujitsu, I’m most comfortable in the standing position. I’m working to get better at the up and down positions. I see myself as a power wrestler. I love big throws, and I’ve pinned way more than half of my opponents.
“Now I’m going to work to be smooth, as well. Some wrestlers are smooth, some powerful — I want to be both.
“I look at Google and they show a lot of my older matches where I’m stomping around, falling over, tripping on my own two feet. It’s painful to watch now but maybe my opponents see that and think I’m still that way. I love to practice (with Somar Wrestling out of Placentia in Orange County, a two-hour drive each way for her highly supportive parents, Rafael and Sheila.)”
Davis says she actually prefers AAU wrestling to high school because it’s a higher level of competition, but high school has its perks, too, like being recognized at school this past week.
So, what is it about wrestling that has riveted Davis?
“Winning,” she said. “Oh, even losing when I can learn. It’s just fun.”