Yzabella Austin did it again.

The Pitman High School junior, better known by many as Baya, ended her week at the CIF State Wrestling Championships in Bakersfield just as she did a year ago: under the title match spotlight with her hand being raised.

On Saturday evening inside a packed Mechanics Bank Arena, Austin muscled a 7-1 decision over Mary Snyder of Rancho Bernardo in the 140-pound final to become a back-to-back state champion. Last season, a year removed from being a state finalist as a freshman, she claimed the 130-pound crown to become the fifth wrestler to stand atop the state podium in her school’s history, joining Lilly Freitas in 2019 and 2020, Juan Mora and Alana Ontiveros in 2021 and Lilly Avalos in 2023.

Her smile shined bright in the dimmed arena as her left arm was raised. She simultaneously held up the index finger on her right hand.

“I’m just full of excitement and glad I got to prove myself worthy of the number one spot,” said Austin, who was seeded third in the decision. Snyder, meanwhile, was the top seed.

“Coming into the tournament, there was a lot of emotion behind that three seed they gave me,” she continued. “I just really wanted to make my name known and show that I was No.1.”

Austin took an early 3-0 lead over Snyder, executing a takedown just 14 seconds into the action. She remained on top for about the next 30 seconds before Snyder finally returned to her feet, earning one point for the escape. The second period was scoreless, with the gals grappling with each other and failing to gain any advantages. The first 30 seconds of the third frame played out similarly, with Snyder on top of Austin but still unable to generate any offense. Austin eventually extended her lead to 4-1 with an escape at the 1:20 mark. With about a minute left, Austin capitalized with a takedown. She remained on top and in control the rest of the way, just staying busy enough to avoid any stalling infractions.

“I just told myself, ‘I've been here before. This is nothing new. It's just a wrestling match,’” Austin said. “I knew she was very strong in neutral, she liked to take a lot of shots, was very dominant and had a really good gas tank, as well. And her size was noticeable, too”

Austin stands 5-foot-9 and has rarely matched up with anyone as tall as her. That changed as she stood next to Snyder in the arena tunnel leading up to their clash.

“I think that's one of the first times I've ever really experienced someone that was almost the exact same build as me,” Austin said. “She was tall, strong, very long, and I feel like the length was a little bit shocking compared to how I thought she looked down in the tunnel.

“I was nervous and felt a lot of pressure, coming in as a champion, but one thing I did tell myself to calm my nerves was, that this girl hasn't been here before. This was her first time, so she's got to be nervous, too. I knew I was the one that was going to take control of my nerves and go out there and just use them in my advantage.”

This year’s title run for Austin began with a pin of Sarah Harthorn of Golden Valley (Bakersfield) 38 seconds into the second period of their first round match on Thursday. Later that day, she pinned South San Francisco’s Khloe Meisenbach just 37 seconds into the action. In Friday’s quarterfinal, she earned a fall against Northview’s Sumaya Lazaro midway through the second period, but rolled her ankle in the process. After some icing the next day, she picked up right where she left off, winning Saturday’s morning’s semifinal against Lucia Ledezma by a 10-0 decision.

“I'm very determined to just reach more, accomplish more goals from here. You know, freestyle season, get more out there, go to more national tournaments, open more windows for myself, and then just come back, continue the work that we put in here, and just come back for another title. I'm just ready to just keep going.

Austin was one of two finalists to represent the Pride on Saturday. The other was 175-pound junior Mason Ontiveros, who finished as a runner-up in the weight class for the second year in a row.

Defeating Ontiveros (a University of Oklahoma commit) in the final this time around was top-seeded Ty Eise, a senior representing Gilroy High following an offseason transfer from Ponderosa in Colorado, where he won state championships the last two years. A strong first period in Saturday’s title match proved to be the difference to help secure a 13-4 majority decision and his three-peat.

Eise took down Ontiveros seven seconds into the action, then worked a pair of near-falls over the next 40 seconds. Ontiveros eventually worked out of the grasp as they grappled out of bounds, and he survived the final minute without surrendering any more points. The second period consisted of stalling warnings on each wrestler, and Eise extending his lead to 13-0 with a late reversal. Ontiveros finally got on the board after Eise was officially called for stalling, and he proceeded to control Eise for the majority of the third period before recording a takedown with 24 seconds to go. But it was too little too late.

“The game plan was just to get (Eise) gassed, which,” Ontiveros said. “Early on, he had that quick takedown, and he's tough when it comes to top wrestling. I gave him my arm, and he just started turning me. But once that round was done, I knew we’d be on our feet for the rest of it, and that's where I reign supreme. That's where I wrestle the toughest. I knew he wasn't gonna beat me there, but it just wasn’t enough.

“It eventually got to the point where it started sinking in that there wasn’t going to be enough time to get those points back, so I wanted to at least give him a hard time, which I feel I did. I definitely didn’t make it easy on him.”

Despite his loss, Ontiveros is now a three-time state medalist. He earned fifth at 170 pounds as a freshman in 2023, then dropped a 5-1 decision to Poway’s Angelo Posada in last year’s 175-pound final.

I realize I still have one more year, and that's the year that I'm going to make sure I accomplish what I want in high school,” said Ontiveros. “As a little kid, I always wanted to be a state champ and dream of that moment. So this last year put things in perspective. I'm gonna just go out there, and I don't care who it is or what it takes, I'm just gonna win out.”

Ontiveros, was the third-seeded grappler in the division, and did not receive a first round bye. He cruised to a 16-1 technical fall over Liberty Bakersfield’s Ronin Davis in his first match on Thursday. He followed it up with a 38-second pin of Menlo-Atherton’s Eric Ruiz in the Round of 32 later that day. He ended Thursday with another fall with just seconds to spare in the first period of his Round of 16 match against Cardinal Newman’s Jonah Bertolo. On Friday, he muscled a 9-1 decision against Junior Bumanglag of Granite Hills to advance to Saturday morning’s semifinal, where he edged Los Gatos’ Dylan Pile by a 12-8 decision.

Also placing at the tournament were teammates Carter Vannest and Troy Ceja.

Vannest, Ontiveros’ training partner who also plans on wrestling for the Sooners in the coming years, was another Pride representative who entered Saturday with a path to a state title, but dropped his semifinal and third-place matches to end his junior year. In the semifinal Vannest lost a 16-5 decision to eventual champion Levi Bussey of Granite Bay. He punched his ticket to third-place match with a 4-1 decision in the consolation semifinals over St. John Bosco’s Mason Savidan. In that third-place clash, he was on the wrong end of a 18-0 technical fall at the hands of Los Banos’ Brokton Borelli.

Vanest began his state run in the Round of 32, where he pinned Edison’s Evan James Keppler just over a minute into their match. Vannest then secured a 20-4 technical fall over Northview’s Michael Vasselle with two seconds to go in the Round of 16. In the quarterfinals, he earned a 7-3 decision over Primo Catalano of Fountain Valley.

“I feel like I wrestled pretty good, and there's a lot of improvement I need to do, obviously,” Vannest said. “The years before, I was constantly thinking about who I’d be matching up with, making the matchups too big for what it was, getting away from myself and not focusing enough on the matches themselves. I feel like this year, that didn’t happen so much. It was just about going out there, sticking to the plan, wrestling and having fun.

“Overall, I had a great season. I don’t want to take anything away from myself. I wrestled the best I've ever wrestled in almost every aspect, and it's a lot of thanks to Mason, too. I don’t think either of us realize it, but we really push each other and make each other better.”

Ceja, a returning state qualifier, finished in eighth place up in the 285-pound (heavyweight) division. After earning a second-period fall over Attia Gabriel of San Lorenzo Valley, Ceja himself was pinned in the first period of his Round of 16 match against JW North’s Coby Merrill. He then strung together three decision wins in the consolation bracket by a combined 3-2 score. His streak ran out with a 4-1 loss to Sultana’s Xander Firm in the consolation quarterfinals. He narrowly lost the seventh-place match to Imperial’s Noah Larios by a 4-2 decision.

Being on the podium was especially special for Ceja, who had to recover from a broken ankle in the offseason and a shoulder injury suffered just prior to the postseason.

“This is by far the closest I've been to 100% this year, in my opinion,” Ceja said. “I can fix little things. There were matches where I didn’t capitalize on bad shots, and that’s how it was at state and how I fell to eighth, in my mind. I just knew to put myself in a position to keep it close to score and win.

“It feels good to place at state for the first time. That's very special, and it’s really cool to be there and have that opportunity, but I know I can go higher. It’s all about getting bigger, faster, stronger this offseason.”