Prep notebook: Aggio ‘keeps pressure on all the time'

<p>Some champions are born. And other are created after enduring years of pounding from their older brother.</p><p>Just ask Rancho Cotate sophomore Kayla Aggio, who won the 132-pound title at the California Invitational Girls’ Wrestling Tournament in Hanford on Jan. 30. Aggio is the first Empire wrestler to win a championship at the event, which serves, in effect, as the state championship for the sport. The CIF will conduct the girls’ wrestling tournament for the first time next year.</p><p>Rancho Cotate coach Ron Lunsford, in his 28th year, said much of Aggio’s success is due to her toughness and conditioning. Aggio finished third at the California Invitational as a freshman.</p><p>“She keeps the pressure on all the time,” Lunsford said. “She never lets up and very few athletes can do that. She wears people down.”</p><p>For that, Aggio credits her older brother, Julian, an All-Empire wrestler who graduated from Rancho Cotate in 2007. Aggio says her brother used to routinely enlist her as a practice partner at home — and she might still have bruises to prove it.</p><p>“My brother was really tough on me — he’d practice on me all the time,” Aggio said. “We’d always fight and mess around. It kind of got to the point where I felt like I was basically on the team. I figured I might as well make it official.”</p><p>Aggio, a three-sport athlete who had a 4.0 GPA as a freshman, has endured in a sport that’s not for the faint of heart. Five girls wrestled for Rancho Cotate last year, but only Aggio finished the season. Aggio was one of two girls to compete this season and, again, she was only one to finish.</p><p>As a result, Aggio has spent plenty of time competing against the members of the Rancho Cotate boys’ team. Since they can overpower her, Aggio has learned the importance of using technique to survive.</p><p>The training has served her well when she competes against girls — although she admits her philosophy was abandoned during her physical semifinal match in Hanford. Aggio won a 9-3 decision over Chayanne Youngblood of Temecula Valley, a victory that earned her a trip to the championship, and a headache.</p><p>“She kept head-butting me in the face and I really didn’t like it,” Aggio said. “I kind of wrestled more with my emotions rather than using technique. That match is on the Internet and some people have seen it and said, ‘Wow, Kayla, you looked really mad.’”</p><p>Aggio also plays soccer and softball, but she plans to keep wrestling in high school. Sure, it’s a tough sport, but her reason for sticking it out is simple.</p><p>“I enjoy winning,” she said.</p><p>CARRILLO STUNS NEWMAN</p><p>Cardinal Newman’s prolonged North Bay League winning streak had to end at some point. But few figured it would be Monday night.</p><p>The Cardinals’ two-year, 26-game league winning streak came to an end with a 60-52 home loss to Maria Carrillo. Stunning? The Pumas entered with a 7-16 record, including a 3-8 mark in the NBL, and had lost six of their previous eight games.</p><p>Even Pumas coach Jerry Deakins conceded that he didn’t see it coming.</p><p>“We thought we’d prepare our kids to go in and do the best they could, but we didn’t expect to go in and walk away with a win,” Deakins said. “We certainly expected to go in and compete.”</p><p>And that they did.</p><p>Carrillo outscored Newman, 26-14, in the fourth quarter, a stunning figure considering the Cardinals (19-5, 11-1) were allowing an average of 42 points a game. Pumas 6-foot-1 junior guard Mike Francis scored 29 points and drilled seven 3-pointers to headline the upset. Senior forward Nate Veldkamp added 13 points and 10 rebounds.</p><p>Francis made 10 of 15 shots from the field, including 7 of 10 3-pointers.</p><p>“Francis was on fire,” Cardinal coach Tom Bonfigli said. “We’ve played against him the past two years and we knew he was someone we had to guard closely. We uncharacteristically didn’t do that very well, but he was shooting the ball from 28 feet out.”</p><p>The Cardinals, whose regular-season NBL streak began with a 71-36 win against Ukiah on Feb. 9, 2008, can clinch the NBL title with a win against visiting Montgomery tonight or against Ukiah at home on Friday.</p><p>For daily coverage of Empire high school sports, please visit the high school sports blog at prepsports.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Writer Eric Branch at 521-5268 or eric.branch@pressdemocrat.com.</p>