Gonzales, Alagbo, Myers are two-time champions
Seconds after pinning her opponent to win the state championship, Gloriann Vigniavo knelt on the mat and put her head in her hands, as if trying to process what she had just done.
She appeared to be in shock, and with good reason.
“I was in shock,” said Vigniavo, an Apple Valley senior who won the girls 190-pound division at the state wrestling finals March 2 in St. Paul. “It still doesn’t feel real. Maya (Schmidt of Bemidji, Vigniavo’s opponent in the state final) is such a good wrestler. I’m usually a pessimistic person, so I thought it was going to go all six minutes and there was always something I could do wrong. It just feels crazy that I was able to win.”
What was no shock was the success of wrestlers from District 196 schools at the state tournament, because it’s been evident for a while. Nine girls from District 196 schools qualified for the state tournament; all nine medaled and four – Vigniavo, Cassandra Gonzales and Grace Alagbo of Apple Valley, and Riley Myers of Eastview – won championships. Apple Valley was the only team with multiple champions in this year’s girls tourney.
Gonzales, the 136-pound champion, went undefeated against girls competition for the second consecutive year. She won a state championship at Shakopee last year before transferring to Apple Valley.
Alagbo (170-pound champion) and Myers (130) took first at the inaugural state high school girls tournament in 2022 and won again this year.
In the first state girls tourney, four wrestlers from each weight class advanced to compete at Xcel Energy Center. The tournament expanded last year to accommodate growing interest in the sport, and now there are eight qualifiers at each weight. A girls team championship is not awarded yet, although Apple Valley was No. 1 in the girls team rankings compiled by theguillotine.com.
According to the Minnesota State High School League, more than 1,000 girls now wrestle for high school programs in the state. Gonzales said that has led to tougher competition and forced her to ramp up her training.
“Compared to last year it was tougher, and I knew it was going to be,” said Gonzales, a sophomore who went to Apple Valley to join a program with more girls participating. “We had girls and boys for training partners and it was amazing. You have to wrestle everyone in our room, which is great because you learn so much. Everything you learned there, you could use in a match.”
Gonzales finished 30-0 this season. At state, she won her first two matches by fall and defeated Diann Smith of Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Southland by technical fall in the final.
Vigniavo, who finished third at state at 185 last year, was 30-4 this year. She defeated Folake Olusesi of Robbinsdale Cooper 3-2 in the quarterfinals before pinning her last two opponents.
Alagbo said she was looking for redemption after finishing second at 152 in the 2023 state tourney. She pinned her first two state opponents before defeating Abby Ervasti of Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie 7-2 to finish 28-1.
“Suffering a loss last year (in the state final) kind of diminished me, but it motivated me to work harder,” Alagbo said. “I’m grateful for that loss.”
Moments after winning her state championship match Alagbo walked into the tunnel beneath the stands gleefully shouting “Don’t play with us! Don’t play with us!”
“It’s cool to put all my work out there and show people I’m not here to play,” Alagbo said later. “It’s a blessing because I know a lot of people compete in the state tournament and never get to win a championship.”
Eastview’s Myers (31-2) won her first state match by technical fall. In the semifinals, Myers and Nora Akpan of Centennial went to overtime scoreless before Myers scored a takedown to win 2-0, She then defeated Minnetonka’s Phoebe Kunerth 11-0 to win her second state championship in three years.
“I’ve been wrestling since third grade,” said Myers, a senior. “In my college essay I wrote about how I really did struggle a lot in the sport as a child. There were a lot of losses and fourth-place finishes while my brother (Logan, who wrestles for the Eastview boys team) always took home the first-place medals.
“As a kid with those losses, it was hard for me to envision winning a state championship. But when they sanctioned girls wrestling, it became a goal of mine. All that hard work I put in, it did pay off eventually.”
Apple Valley was close to a fourth state championship. Eagles eighth-grader Andrea Quinones and Sauk Centre-Melrose sophomore Lanna Walter put on a back-and-forth battle for the 124-pound title, with Walter winning 10-9. Quinones led 8-6 with less than one minute remaining before Walter scored a takedown and two-point nearfall to take the lead – and eventually, the victory.
In the semifinals, Quinones (30-5) defeated Rosemount sophomore Kamdyn Saulter 4-2 in overtime. Saulter went to the third-place match, where she defeated Lainey Houts of Northfield to finish her season 12-3.
Apple Valley junior Hanah Schuster, competing in her third state tournament, placed fifth at 112. Schuster lost to Chloe Wehry of Sartell-St. Stephen 9-8 in the first round, then won her consolation semifinal match 10-1. Schuster defeated Gisele Gallegos of South St. Paul 5-2 in the fifth-place match.
Apple Valley sophomore Esperanza Calvillo was 1-2 in the state tournament and finished fourth at 148. Her 13-4 victory over Bella Carlson of Forest Lake was her 30th victory against five losses.
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