Sunnyside girls wrestling coach William Olivas, the AllSportsTucson.com 2023-24 Division I Coach of the Year, is the subject of this Q&A. He was interviewed by Oliver Lopez, an AllSportsTucson.com intern attending Sunnyside High School, following Monday’s match against Cienega, Chandler and Tucson at Sunnyside. The Blue Devils are coming off winning the championship of the Peoria Tournament of Champions last weekend. They are scheduled to take part in the Flowing Wells Invitational on Thursday and Friday.
Here is Lopez’s Q&A with Olivas, who was a two-time All-American and two-time Arizona state champion for Sunnyside who later wrestled at Grand Canyon:
How well do you think you did out there in the matches on Monday?
Olivas: “I think our team wrestled tough. Super exciting, Very excited for what the future holds for our team.”
Give a summary of your coaching for this season.
Olivas: “A little summary. Have fun with the sport and be grateful for what you have. These girls have made a lot of sacrifices for what they do and it kind of shows. They’ve been working really hard, and they’ve been finding a lot of success from a lot of these outside tournaments, but, it’s only one match at a time for us.”
How do you feel about the last home matches?
Olivas: “It’s bittersweet you know. You see a lot of Lady Devils leave, but we have a whole new bunch coming in so it’s a bittersweet feeling.”
How do you think you could have improved at any other match that you coached?
Olivas: “Oh, yeah there are a lot of things that we could have improved better. Our bottom game, our neutral game, but I think that it’s a lot of just getting the mind right and getting them prepared.”
Sunnyside won the Peoria Tournament of Champions behind first-place finishes by juniors Isela Villalobos (100 Division), Jaylean Alfaro (145) and Alezandra Robles (165).
Future looks bright: Freshmen Miabella Martinez (114), Sunny Robles (185) and Leah Vasquez (235) all placed.
58th Peoria Tournament of Champions
Jan. 10-11
GIRLS TEAM SCORES
1 Sunnyside 227
2 Cleveland (NM) 164.5
3 Western (NV) 132.5
4 O’Connor 109.5
5 Mesa Mountain View 89.5
5 Willow Canyon 89.5
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
100 DIVISION
1st Place Match
Isela Villalobos (Sunnyside) 4-0, Jr. over Aliza Mendez-Loya (Western) 3-1, Sr. (Fall 5:34)
3rd Place Match
Destiny Medina (Shadow Ridge) 25-3, Jr. over Alexis Birner (Cleveland) 16-7, Sr. (Dec 5-4)
5th Place Match
Rosa Ramirez (Chavez) 10-3, Sr. over Laila Lopez (Tolleson) 15-5, Jr. (Fall 1:50)
107 DIVISION
1st Place Match
Kayla McNatt (North) 19-1, Sr. over Iliana Castaneda (Sunnyside) 4-0, Sr. (M. For.)
3rd Place Match
Anette Gastelum (Ironwood Ridge) 24-6, So. over Chelsey Patterson (Desert Vista) 20-7, Jr. (Fall 3:51)
5th Place Match
Iliana Arenas (Marcos de Niza) 7-2, Fr. over Genevieve Nevarez (Shadow Ridge) 12-11, So. (Fall 0:58)
114 DIVISION
1st Place Match
Gizelle Meraz (Alamosa) 21-2, So. over Miabella Martinez (Sunnyside) 4-1, Fr. (Dec 7-4)
3rd Place Match
Miranda Stewart (Cleveland) 24-7, Fr. over Abriauna Johnson (Sunrise Mountain) 13-2, So. (MD 10-1)
5th Place Match
Bianca Rivera (Canyon View) 20-7, Jr. over Brianna Salgado (Desert Vista) 9-7, Jr. (MD 12-1)
120 DIVISION
1st Place Match
Airyka Reyes (Willow Canyon) 31-3, Fr. over Samantha Maestas (Alamosa) 21-4, So. (Fall 4:27)
3rd Place Match
Annabelle Kaufmann (Mountain View) 32-1, Fr. over Naylani Valdez (Somerton) 11-4, Fr. (Fall 2:07)
5th Place Match
Liliana Orozco (Cimarron) 5-2, So. over Sophie Jimenez (Desert Vista) 23-10, So. (MD 19-11)
126 DIVISION
1st Place Match
Jussiah Bamba (Ironwood) 21-0, Sr. over Kaylee Coleman (O’Connor) 36-8, Jr. (Fall 2:21)
3rd Place Match
Briella Reynosa (Somerton) 13-4, Fr. over Ashley Smith (Cleveland) 13-8, Sr. (Fall 2:26)
5th Place Match
Emma Jampolsky (Mountain View) 15-4, Jr. over Alivia Fernandez (Canyon View) 6-5, Jr. (MD 9-1)
132 DIVISION
1st Place Match
Adriana Dorazio (Western) 4-0, Jr. over Alyna Ybarra (Sunnyside) 3-1, Jr. (Dec 6-4)
3rd Place Match
Lillian Barr (Cleveland) 15-7, Jr. over Goretti Munoz (Mater Dei (CA)) 3-2, Sr. (Dec 6-0)
5th Place Match
Amelia Alexander (OConnor) 30-9, Jr. over Serenity Spaulding (Desert Edge) 19-6, So. (DFF)
138 DIVSION
1st Place Match
Alena Gracia (Chavez) 14-0, Sr. over I`yanna Jones (Western) 3-1, Sr. (MD 14-3)
3rd Place Match
Cassidy Langford (OConnor) 25-10, So. over Eva Reeves (Cleveland) 8-9, Jr. (Fall 1:08)
5th Place Match
Kenadee Schoonover (Mountain Pointe) 10-12, Fr. over Amaya Arredondo (Desert Vista) 8-9, Fr. (Fall 1:54)
145 DIVISION
1st Place Match
Jaylean Alfaro (Sunnyside) 4-0, Jr. over Syria Smith (Goldwater) 30-1, Sr. (SV-1 4-1)
3rd Place Match
Jianna Coon (Cleveland) 21-8, Sr. over Isabella Thomas (Desert Edge) 23-5, Sr. (Dec 3-1)
5th Place Match
Danica Smith (Mountain Ridge) 27-4, Sr. over Harper Tuffly (Ironwood Ridge) 15-6, Sr. (Dec 7-6)
152 DIVISION
1st Place Match
Eloise Woolsey (Cleveland) 20-0, Jr. over Addison Canja (Cimarron) 3-1, Sr. (Fall 1:53)
3rd Place Match
Jazlene Wyatt (Sunnyside) 5-1, Jr. over Jordan Hunter (Western) 4-2, Sr. (Dec 2-1)
5th Place Match
Katelyn Capper (Deer Valley) 36-7, Sr. over Isabella Martinez (Mountain View) 27-5, Fr. (For.)
165 DIVISION
1st Place Match
Alezandra Robles (Sunnyside) 4-0, Jr. over Isra Faja (OConnor) 32-0, Jr. (M. For.)
3rd Place Match
Chloe Gatrost (Centennial) 10-2, So. over Leilani Marin (Willow Canyon) 25-7, Sr. (Dec 7-0)
5th Place Match
Asia Dansby (Tolleson) 26-5, Jr. over Miranda Ramirez (Shadow Ridge) 15-7, Jr. (Fall 0:21)
185 DIVISION
1st Place Match
Taina Uasike (Mountain View) 28-0, Sr. over Cynthia Martinez (Morenci) 25-3, Jr. (Fall 0:35)
3rd Place Match
Braya Andrews (Deer Valley) 26-6, So. over Sunny Robles (Sunnyside) 3-2, Fr. (Fall 2:12)
5th Place Match
Yaretzi Haro (Centennial) 13-3, Jr. over Heavan Norman (Willow Canyon) 13-6, Sr. (Fall 1:32)
235 DIVISION
1st Place Match
Ave Risati (ALA West Foothills) 3-0, Sr. over Camille Gatrost (Centennial) 12-2, Fr. (Fall 1:12)
3rd Place Match
Aryah Clark (Sierra Linda) 12-4, Sr. over Leah Vasquez (Sunnyside) 4-2, Fr. (MD 13-5)
5th Place Match
Brianna Rodriguez (Moon Valley) 6-6, So. over Lilliana Wiston (Mountain Pointe) 11-6, Sr. (Dec 5-2)
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