The 2023-24 high school sports year began in August, and since then, area teams and individual athletes put on some incredible performances, as chronicled in the Turlock Journal’s 10 months of prep sports coverage.
Over the year, Journal staff sought out some of the best performances for our Athlete of the Week features, which ran in every Wednesday edition. Not only did these features highlight a student-athlete’s accomplishments on the field, on the court, on the course, in the pool or on the mats, but we hoped to give readers a better idea of who these individuals are outside of competition.
Over the course of the year, the Journal highlighted 30 student-athletes, who shared with us their favorite songs, books, classes, foods, teams, athletes and life goals. Many of these athletes helped their teams win league titles and/or make strong playoff runs. Others made the most of individual competitions and earned their way onto podiums late in their seasons. Some even rewrote their school’s history books with record-breaking performances.
But nobody quite displayed the season-long dominance delivered by Pitman High School sophomore wrestler Yzabella “Baya” Austin this past winter, whose efforts earned her the title of the inaugural Turlock Journal Athlete of the Year.
After experiencing the heartbreak of a runner-up finish in the 126-pound California state finals in 2023, Austin moved up to 130 pounds and achieved a 41-3 record, culminating in a 7-0 decision over Gilroy’s Tamara Grace in the final round of the 2024 CIF State Wrestling Championships in Bakersfield in February. With the victory, she became the fifth state wrestling champion in the school’s 22-year history, joining the elite company of Lilly Freitas in 2019 and 2020, Juan Mora and Alana Ontiveros in 2021 and Lilly Avalos last year.
“Last year, going to state as a freshman and being a runner-up helped me a lot,” Austin said following her victory. “It showed me what to expect and it showed me to not be intimidated by the big stage and not to worry about all the lights and all the fans cheering. I learned to just focus on one match at a time and wrestling a full match each time out.”
Austin struck first against Grace midway through the first period with a takedown. She extended her lead to 4-0 in the second period after starting out on the bottom and working a reversal. She scored another takedown with 10 seconds to go before a discouraged Grace was penalized for stalling as time expired.
She spent little time reflecting on the year. Instead, she already began talking about the summer schedule and her junior year.
“I definitely feel way more accomplished, and I’m definitely ready to work harder. I’m getting ready for our offseason schedule and I’m ready to accomplish more in-season after that,” she said. “After a match, I’m never thinking I did good. My coaches tell me all the time that I’m not there yet, saying I haven’t really reached my full potential. I agree with that. I have a lot more left to prove.”
Austin’s run to becoming a state champion may have seemed improbable to some coming into the state championships, as she finished in second place at both the Sac-Joaquin Section Girls Regional tournament and Sac-Joaquin Section Masters tournament.
She began the state tournament with a late third period pin over Westlake’s Mackenzie English in the Round of 32. She followed it up with an early second period fall victory against Durham’s Raeanna Halvorson in the Round of 16. In her quarterfinal match against Shafter’s Julissa Gonzalez, Austin earned the fall right before the end of the second period. She achieved another second period pin against Elk Grove’s Skye Schneider in the semifinals.
“She performs best when she is under the lights. She pulled away from everyone in Bakersfield,” Pitman head coach Adam Vasconcellos said.
The championship run may have been destiny for Austin, who has said that she plans on becoming a multiple-time state champion before she expects to graduate in 2026.
“Knowing Baya she isn't done yet,” Vasconcellos continued. “She has goals of going down in history as one of the best wrestlers in California history.”
In her Athlete of the Week interview on Feb. 26, she said that she has little hobbies outside of wrestling and lifting weights. She shared that her favorite athlete is Cornell’s Vito Arujau, who won his second consecutive NCAA title in March. As for her post-high school dreams, she hopes to wrestle for the United States national team, as well as serving as a coach.
“She is a humble, hard worker,” Vasconcellos said. “She truly cares about others and always believes in herself. She is a leader in the classroom with a 4.0 GPA. This couldn't happen to a better person.”
It took just one day of rest following her state title-clinching victory for Austin to be back with her teammates in the wrestling and weight rooms and Pitman High School. It’s been that work ethic that got her to this point — a two-time Napa champion, a two-time California state finalist, a California state wrestling champion and the 2024 Turlock Journal Athlete of the Year.
