Panther clinch BIG 8 Conference Championship with victory over Skyline.

 

The Panthers clinched the BIG 8 Conference Dual Meet Championship with a 31-17 victory over Skyline College Wednesday night in San Bruno. Both teams headed into the winner take all, final conference dual meet of the season with 5-0 records. 

 

The dual started off at 103 pounds, featuring the #2 and #3 ranked wrestlers in the state. #3 ranked Karissa McDaniel from Sac City won a tightly contested decision over #2 ranked Graciela Caro, 6-4. The two teams traded forfeits at 110 and 117, before Sac City's Shelby Banovitz won by fall over Alexandra Flood at 124 pounds. After Emeraldsa Mendez-Madrid won by fall over Sac City's Amber Byrd at 131, Sac City led the dual 13-11 heading into the second half of the dual. 

 

At 138, Kaylyn Williams received a forfeit, due to her opponent missing weight, giving the Panthers an 18-11 lead. At 145, two weights up from her natural weight class, Ashlee Gutierrez pinned Shannon Cleary in 1:47, giving the Panthers a 23-11 lead. Jamie Micallef of Skyline cut the lead to 23-16, after winning by fall over Sac City's Kaylee Ceja. At 180, up from her original weight class of 160, Zion Green provided the dual clinching win as she pinned Bryn Adasiewicz in 4:52. Paula Aguilar closed out the dual with an 8-7 victory over Alia Vunipola, avenging a loss from the State Dual Championships two weeks prior. The final score of the dual was 31-17.

 

Head Coach Marques Gales stated after the dual, "That was a great team effort! Winning the conference was one of the team goals we set this year and the girls showed a lot of determination in getting it done. Our energy on the sideline may have been one of the determining factors tonight - the energy was very positive and encouraging. We've developed some great team chemistry over the past few weeks and winning a close dual meet and conference title is a byproduct of that."

 

The Panthers finish the dual meet portion of the season with a 6-0 record in the BIG 8 Conference and 9-1 record overall. The 2025 BIG 8 Championship is the first Official BIG 8 Women's Championship in the history of the 3C2A, although Sac City won the first unofficial titles in 2023 and 2024, during the "Emerging Sport" status era.