Downey High School has never had a girl go and compete at a state wrestling tournament and bring back a championship, that is until now.
On Feb. 24 Christina Osorio became the first girl ever to do so and did it in style as she pinned her way to becoming a state champion during her senior year, wrestling at 125 lbs.
Osorio had to go through League, CIF and Masters all before getting to kick off the three-day tournament in Bakersfield.
Getting to this spot wasn’t unusual for her as she had been a Masters and State qualifier beforehand.
Last season during her junior year she took first place at Masters and placed at the state tournament but came up just a bit short as she placed fifth.
Osorio was ready to win it all and claim her title as she was checking the board every day to see the names of the state placers since she was aware no one had done what she’d accomplished.
She said, “It really just made me push harder to be a state champ.”
Throughout her high school career, she also had multiple league championships and placed second at CIF for three consecutive years.
She has accomplished all of these things in different weight classes varying from 101 lbs to 125 lbs.
Osorio wanted to prove people wrong as she said, “I was the number four seed and I wanted to show them that I wasn’t number four.”
She said her toughest match was the finals match at State because it was a different setting. Usually there are a lot of mats set up and different matches going on but in the finals she had all eyes on her.
Osorio mentioned she’s been through mental challenges and has had a hard time trusting in herself or the people around her, “Mentally, just me not believing that I could do the things I was able to do,” said Osorio.
Along with proving people wrong, she wanted to make the people around her proud and make things worth their time.
She expressed great thanks to her coaches, family and friends for being there for her with constant good energy and believing she could do things when she didn’t believe in herself.
Two of her lifelong coaches have included both her father and brother. They have been her mentors since she was a very young age.
“I got into wrestling when I was about 5 or 6-years-old,” Osorio said, “My dad and my brother wrestled so it just kinda got passed down to me.”
Felix Osorio, her brother, wrestled at Cerritos College for two years and left his mark as he was a two-time California Community College Athletic Association state placer. He became an All-American and State champion his sophomore year.
He has since transferred to Menlo College and when Christina Osorio was asked if the Falcons could expect her to wrestle for them she said she had bigger things in mind.
“I think I have other plans, I think I wanna go straight to a four-year,” she said.
