Athlete of the Month
Maria Aiono

Pictures and Content courtesy of The Aiono Family and AJ Grieves

What’s up! My name is Maria Aiono. I am 16 years old, and a Junior at Reed High School in Sparks, Nv. I started wrestling when I was a sophomore last year, 2021. I had been interested in wrestling since I was in middle school, but I was never allowed to play sports because I lived with my grandparents and they were very old fashion, so I never joined. When I became a freshman at Reed I decided I wanted to wrestle. But since it was a bad Covid year, my mom did not let me join. This awesome memory I have from freshman year was when I was watching the movie “First Match,” and after watching it, I was like “I’m going to wrestle!” I guess you could say that inspired my wrestling career–haha!
Sophomore year came around after the most non-productive summer ever. I started school off having pretty good grades until I hit a stopping point in my life, one that I never had before, and my grades started to drop because I stopped caring. Then the thought of wanting to join wrestling came up again. I went to go see my high school’s Wrestling coach. I don’t recall how I got his information, but I went to his room and asked if he was the Wrestling coach. Immediately he got up and said YES! He asked if I was interested and all that good stuff, and that’s how I met Coach Klapp! I remember him telling me that there’s going to be plenty of girls my size, so I was excited. But, the time for the Girls Wrestling meeting came around, and I remember looking around the room and seeing nobody my size. I was a little sad, but I stayed because I was pumped to try something new!
He gave us the information during the meeting and preseason practices started the following week. I went to the first practice and there were about seven other girls including myself. I was nervous but was able to work with Reed Alumni Coach Shanice! She was also a bigger girl, so I felt fairly comfortable. I still was concerned with putting all my weight on her because I knew my size, and I didn’t want to hurt her, even though she is really buff and I should have trusted that–haha! A Few weeks went by and Coach Klapp asked me after practice to step on the scale to see how much I weighed. I didn’t even know myself, but I had no issues with it. I stepped on the scale not expecting it to be the number it was. I was weighing in at 275 lbs in October. Both me and Coach were surprised. He told me if I wanted to wrestle girls, I had to be 235 or under. He was worried that I would be a little scared because I had to wrestle boys for awhile, due to my weight, but I didn’t mind! I just wanted to wrestle at this point. I also made it a big goal to be able to wrestle girls!
Not only to lose weight for that opportunity, but to lose weight for myself; I wanted to be healthy, and I wanted to save myself. My first tournament came around and I was the only girl wrestling with the boys on my team, but I was still excited and confident. I ended up losing my first match to my teammate but won my second match against my other teammate. I wrestled this big kid who just muscled me out like nothing, and I ended up taking another loss. Despite losing, I really liked how I wrestled in that match, and in the tournament as a whole. My last match came and I found out that if I won I could place third. At the time, this was such a big deal to me. I started the match and I got taken down in like the first ten seconds. I was on bottom fighting for my life, trying to muscle out with the guy that I was wrestling. He ended up getting tired, and I caught him falling and he landed on his back! I threw all my weight on him, and I ended up getting the fall! I was so happy to place, and that I pinned two boys in my first tournament. Also, my teammate that I had lost to got pinned by the boy that I beat out for third, so I was feeling accomplished.
The next week I was allowed to wrestle girls, even though I wasn’t at 235 yet. I weighed in at 244 and found out that the girls I had to wrestle were seniors, and they had been wrestling for a few years. I beat one of them, and I ended up wrestling the other girl for first. She was pretty intimidating, and I was nervous to wrestle her. I could tell she was cocky going into the match, and I decided to wrestle my hardest because that’s the only thing I could do. I turned that nervousness into excitement, and I won the match with a decision 4-2. I am now known on my team for cross-facing her really hard.
I had some up and down tournaments over my season. Then at the end of January, we held the second ever dual in Northern Nevada against Del Oro High School. I had a great match against their heavyweight and ended up taking the fall against her. I then got interviewed by the Reno Gazette Journal alongside my teammate Celina Cooke. Then it was the beginning of February and the Reed Girls’ Wrestling team was preparing for the official/unofficial NIAA Girls State.
We were all so focused, and we were working hard to prepare for the State tournament. We had a great week of practice, and we traveled down to Vegas with some girls from Northern Nevada. It was a whole new experience for me. I got to meet a lot of new people from all over Northern Nevada; coaches, wrestlers, wrestling families, you name it. On the first day of State there were not too many girls in my bracket, but it seemed like a lot. It was the Biggest bracket I had all season–haha! There were about 8 or 9 girls in my bracket, and we had to wait all day to wrestle. It was time for my first ever match at State–I shook her hand and we start wrestling. She tried to head and arm me, and I defended it good enough to get a takedown. We came back to the middle because we went out of bounds, and I rode her to a pin. After I got my hand raised, I got told that I was done for the day. Day two was a big deal for me because my second match of the tournament was the Semi-Finals. My coach had told me, weeks prior, that I had to beat this girl because she was from the school we wanted to beat. At this point I was pumped and feeling prepared for this match. It was crazy because right before I wrestled, my teammate Ainsley Gordan, was wrestling her Semi-Finals match, and hers was wild! She was on her back and then the other girl was on her back. Then Ainsley took bottom in the third round and her opponent tried to leg ride her, but her opponent was too high and she ended up on her own back! Ainsley reached back and put the opponent in a half, and got the fall. I was so proud of her at that moment, and it got me hyped-up even more.
Then it was my match, the whistle blew and I was wrestling in the Semi-Finals versus this senior from SLAM! Academy. We were hand fighting and as I pressured into her, she used that pressure to arm spin me. She got her two but I didn’t care! Getting up from bottom was my specialty back then, and I ended up getting my one. We were at it again but the first round ended. Second round, and it was her choice. They deferred and itwas my choice; of course I went bottom and was up and out in six seconds. When I got up we were wrestling, hand fighting, and giving hard clubs–then there was only five seconds of the round left. I pressured in and she threw me in an arm spin again! But this time I stopped her hip and time out. Her coaches were fighting for her two, but it wasn’t confirmed. Going into the third round we were tied 2-2, and it was her choice. At first she chose top, but her coach yelled at her to go bottom! Not going to lie, I was chuckling. So, she went bottom and once the whistle blew, I was riding her until she drove flat into the mat in the last minute. I was working her head and trying to grab wrists. Then I looked at the clock, and there was 35 seconds left in the last round. I knew I had to pin her, so I grabbed her right wrist, rolled it to a half and then grabbed her other wrist with my right hand and ran her to her back. My team at the mat side was going crazy as the referee counted back points and then finally, the fall. I get the fall with 10 seconds left in the round. My teammates, coaches and wrestling family were all hugging each other and celebrating. This was one of my most magical moments in my four month wrestling journey, and I was a Nevada State Finalist.
My team ended up taking 6 wrestlers to State. Five of us were State Runner Ups, and we had one State Champ. We ended up being State Runner-Ups as a team as well. Overwhelmed by the happiness and sadness from this tournament, I was still alright. I had my amazing team by my side and my awesome coaches. Definitely an experience I will never forget. State Runner-Up, as a first year wrestler, is an amazing accomplishment that I can proudly say. Being under that spotlight, having everybody watching you is a feeling I will never forget.
That tournament being my last of my 2021-2022 sophomore season, I made a decision to stick to wrestling. Wrestling helped shape my life not only physically but mentally. This lifestyle saved me. I found joy in actually wanting to better myself. Ever since the season ended eight months ago, I’ve been spending my time training and wrestling. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have wrestled on the Nevada Girls First Team at Turf Wars; Nevada’s team is very special, and I wouldn’t want to wrestle for any other state. That dual, and tournament, was my first time wrestling at the higher level, and I’m grateful for how uncomfortable it made me feel and the learning experience I got from it! Thanks to Coach Klapp and Coach Funk, I had the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas for the big tournament FreakShow! Shoutout to Coach Mackey and the Mackey family for having me and my team stay with them in Vegas; they’re awesome people! This tournament was a great one. I gave up only four points the whole tournament, and I got Five pins! An amazing learning experience where I personally feel like I found my worth as a wrestler. I got my first All-American–taking third at this tournament. The trip as a whole made my whole year. I can’t express how grateful and happy I felt.
I’m also very grateful to be chosen for the Female Wrestler of the Month! This month is very special. I always dreamed to make it on this website haha! Only the beginning. I would like to say thank you to the following people for not only changing my life in the best possible way, but for always being there for me, supporting me and being someone I can count on and trust whole heartedly. You guys deserve the world. o My Parents Saili and Ula Aiono, & my family o Coach Klapp o Coach Gordon o Coach Roghair o Coach Barazza o Coach Funk o Coach Marsh o Coach Shemar o Coach Eubanks o Coach Thompson o My families: Church family, Wrestling Family o My teammates o My partners o Charley Timms o Isabelle Silva o Morgan Norris o Reed Alumni’s o Khutulun X Raider Club o And many more
Again I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my journey! I promise I’m not even close to being done. #JuniorSzn #Forward #CitiusAltiusFortius