‘A special talent’: How Pitman’s Baya Austin repeated as a wrestling state champion
Last year, it was a surprise. This year, it was expected. Pitman’s Yzabella “Baya” Austin is once again a wrestling state champion.
After finishing as a runner-up as a freshman, Austin won state titles in back-to-back years as a sophomore and junior. What makes the feat even more impressive is that she won last year’s title at 130 pounds and this year’s at 140, jumping two weight classes and overcoming wrestlers who were bigger, stronger and longer than what she was used to. Jumping two weight classes isn’t normal, but not much about Baya is normal, according to coach Matt Vasconcellos.
“We’ve had her in our club since she was little,” Vasconcellos said of Austin, who grew up in a wrestling family with three siblings wrestling for Pitman. “She’s always been very determined. … We knew when she sets her mind to something, she’s gonna see it through.”
Even still, being crowned a two-time state champion before your senior season is something not many wrestlers can do, especially in California, one of the most competitive wrestling states in the nation.
“We don’t have Division I, D-II or D-III,” said Vasconcellos. “There’s over 1,000 high schools in California and they give out 112 medals at the end of the year. So to be top two or even a state placer is a less than one percent chance and she’s done it every year. What she’s done is phenomenal and definitely not normal.”
Austin dominated at the 2025 CIF State Wrestling Championships from Thursday, Feb. 27 to Saturday, March 1 at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield. She breezed through the first day of competition, beating Sarah Harthorn of Golden Valley of Bakersfield and Chloe Meisenbach of South San Francisco, pinning her in just 37 seconds. She also pinned Northview’s Sumaya Lazaro in Friday’s quarterfinal. She won Saturday morning’s semifinal in a 10-0 decision over No. 2 Lucia Ledezma.
Under the bright championship lights, Austin was dominant to start against previously unbeaten Mary Snider of Rancho Bernardo. Austin, who entered the match 39-1, beat the No. 1 seed in a 7-1 decision to seal a successful three-day run at the state’s top tournament.
“It feels surreal,” Austin said of being a back-to-back state champion. “It’s a good feeling but it definitely keeps me motivated just to chase more.”
Said Vasconcellos: “ She’s such a non-verbal leader. She’s kind of soft spoken and a bit stoic. She just lets her work and her wrestling do the talking and I totally respect that.”
From Hunter to Hunted
After finishing as the top 130-pound wrestler last season, Austin was surprisingly given the No. 3 seed despite entering the state tournament as the defending 130-pound champion with just one loss. Her lone loss this season came to another top-ranked wrestler in the state tournament and it was her first year wrestling at 140 pounds. Austin recognizes that is likely why she was ranked outside the top two and used it as motivation.
“I like being the underdog,” she said. “But also being able to prove I (deserve) the No. 1 spot feels good.”
Austin says the loss in the state championship as a freshman drove her. Last season before the state tournament, she was the hunter, hoping to capture a state title. This season, she was the hunted, a defending state champion, looking to prove to everyone that last season wasn’t a fluke.
“Going into matches, I could hear a lot of coaches of the people I was wrestling screaming out some moves I was going to do,” she said. “(I was) getting used to being studied by my opponent and a lot of people doing their research on me and wrestling their best and throwing whatever they could at me to score points.”
A change in weight classes
Wrestling in a different weight class brought different challenges for Austin. She had to prepare for styles and tactics that she had never seen before.
After being one of the taller wrestlers at 130 pounds for the past two seasons, now she was facing competition around her height. Wrestlers at 140 pounds tend to wrestle more from a standing position. Smaller, more agile weight classes use their speed. Her experience allowed her to combine that with the style that comes with wrestling at 140 pounds.
“With her wrestling background and experience … her skillset translated to the bigger weight class very, very well,” Vasconcellos said. “ I think she had more ways to score points and her top position, she’s second to none.”
As she stood on the mat Saturday, May 1, Austin says she felt relief.
“There was a lot of pressure and that target was on my back with a lot of eyes watching. I didn’t want to choke,” she said. “I just thought, ‘I gotta prove it to my team and myself that I can take it.’”
She didn’t let the team or herself down. One of the most decorated high school wrestlers in Pitman’s storied history still has another year to add to an already long list of accomplishments.
“She’s a special talent,” Vasconcellos said. “She has all the ingredients in terms of what a champion is. She’s a leader, she sets great examples for teammates, her sisters and the boys on our team. … It’s cliche to say but what she does in terms of preparation, others aren’t willing to do that.”
Stanislaus District wrestling top placers
Boys
144
6th: Victor Gutierrez, Junior, Central Catholic
175
2nd: Mason Ontiveros, Junior, Pitman
190
4th: Carter Vannest, Junior, Pitman
215
3rd: Wes Burford, Junior, Oakdale
285
8th: Troy Ceja, Junior, Pitman
Girls
105
3rd: Jazmine Turner, Senior, Grace Davis
135
3rd: Dulcy Martinez, Sophomore, Central Catholic
140
1st: Baya Austin, Junior, Pitman
230
8th: Brianna Espinoza, Senior, Central Valley
This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 4:59 PM.
