Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery took to social media on March 1 to address trade rumors surrounding him.

Earlier in the day, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that Montgomery ‘wants out’ from Detroit and that the veteran running back could fetch a Day 3 pick on the trade market.

Montgomery implied he hadn’t expressed such a desire – at least not to Fowler – in a post to X.

‘Damn, Dmo told you that?’ Montgomery wrote, referencing himself by one of his nicknames.

Montgomery has spent the last three seasons with the Lions after playing his first four seasons with the Chicago Bears. He has worked in combination with Jahmyr Gibbs throughout his time in Detroit – serving as the bruising back in the ‘Sonic and Knuckles’ backfield – but has slowly seen his carry share dip as Gibbs’ star has risen.

Last season, Montgomery handled a career-low 158 carries and failed to make a start for the first time in his NFL career. He was still effective despite his decreased workload, generating 716 rushing yards, eight touchdowns and a more-than-respectable 4.5 yards per carry.

With that in mind, teams around the NFL could be interested in pursuing the soon-to-be 29-year-old as a potential backfield leader – especially since he is only set to make a reasonable $6 million in 2026.

But given Montgomery’s comments, it’s unclear whether he would be open to such a change of scenery, even if it comes with an increased role.

David Montgomery contract details

Montgomery signed a two-year extension with the Lions in 2024, tying him to the team through the 2026 NFL season. Below is a look at the terms of that agreement, per Spotrac.com.

Term: 2 years
Total value: $18.25 million
Average annual value (AAV): $9.125 million
Guaranteed money: $10.49 million

Montgomery’s AAV ranks 12th-highest among running backs while the total value of his deal ranks 19th at the position.

While Montgomery’s deal is worth $18.25 million, he is only due $15 million in cash over the next two seasons. The remaining $3.25 million was given to him up front as part of his signing bonus.

As such, any team considering acquiring the veteran would only owe him an average of $7.5 million over the remaining two seasons on his contract.

The Milwaukee Brewers consistently defy preseason predictions despite having a low payroll.
This offseason, the Brewers traded away key players like ace Freddy Peralta and third baseman Caleb Durbin.
While rivals like the Chicago Cubs spent heavily, the Brewers’ total free agency spending was only $6.5 million.
Players and management embrace their underdog status, citing a strong team culture and creative roster-building as keys to their success.

PHOENIX — Here we go again.

The Milwaukee Brewers are too cheap.

Too foolish, trading away their ace.

Too reckless, trading away their young star third baseman.

Surely, this will be the year their luck finally runs out, leaving their fans drowning their sorrows in beer, stuffing their faces with cheese curds, and screaming every time they hear, ‘Go Cubs Go,’ at Wrigley Field.

The Brewers hear the mockery, the taunts, the ridicule and the malice.

Their reaction?

‘Honestly, we just don’t care,’ Brewers outfielder/DH Christian Yelich says. ‘It’s the same story every year.’

So go ahead, bring it on, but please, don’t take it personally if they laugh in your face.

‘It’s funny to us, because we don’t feel like we’re underdogs,’ Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick said. ‘We know we didn’t go out and spend a lot of money, so that can kind of give you the underdog edge.

‘But it’s still a little weird to us because we win every year.’

Indeed, the Brewers have dominated the NL Central for the past eight years. They’ve won three consecutive division titles, four of the last five, and in five of the past seven full seasons (excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season). They have averaged 92.6 victories a year since 2020, including a franchise-record and major-league leading 97 victories last year.

And not once was there a single season in which they were preseason picks to win the division.

‘I don’t mind it, it comes with the territory,’ Brewers GM Matt Arnold says. ‘If people want to overlook us, that’s fine. Really, we embrace being underdogs here.’

Now, here they are this year, without ace Freddy Peralta, and without starting third baseman Caleb Durbin, joining that Brewers tradition where Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes and All-Star closers Josh Hader and Devin Williams were dumped the past three years.

This was a winter where their hated rivals, the Chicago Cubs, spent $209 million in free agency, while also acquiring Miami Marlins front-line starter Edward Cabrera in a trade.

The Brewers spent a grand total of $6.5 million.

The Cubs filled their third-base spot by signing Alex Bregman to a five-year, $175 million contract.

The Brewers filled their vacancy with Luis Rengifo on a one-year, $3.5 million deal.

So, is anyone shocked that the Cubs are heavy favorites to win the NL Central, even running away with it?

The Brewers simply shrug their shoulders, yawn and grin.

‘We kind of defy what’s going on,’ starter Brandon Woodruff, 33, the longest-tenured Brewer, tells USA TODAY Sports. ‘We’re not supposed to be doing what we’re doing with our payroll and our market.

‘You see what we spend, and it’s like how we going to win again. Then, you think, well, we did that last year without spending, we can do it again.’

What’s new?

The Brewers are always counted out in March, and in October, everyone’s scratching their head and wondering how they pulled it off?

‘I get it, we’re a small market, everyone keeps writing us off,’ Brewers All-Star closer Trevor Megill says. ‘The top team is the Dodgers, and you hear everyone saying, ‘How are we or anyone else going to beat them this year?’ Well, people forget we’re the ones who won the most games last year.’

In many aspects, the Brewers are the Major League Baseball Players Association’s dream team. They’re a perennial playoff team year after year despite a bottom-10 payroll, proving a salary cap isn’t necessary for small-market teams to win.

‘Our team is a great example of why you don’t need a salary cap,’ Megill says. ‘Get creative. There’s more than one way to win a baseball game. Just because you pay guys all of that money, doesn’t mean they’re going to the playoffs.

‘Growing up watching 90’s baseball and the Yankees were doing exactly what the Dodgers are doing. Everyone thought it was cool because it was happening in New York. But now that it’s the West Coast, everyone seems to have a problem with it. I think it’s great for baseball that we have a team that’s willing to go out there and spend, while teams like us that are underdogs to write their own stories.

‘Growing up, it was the Angels. Who the hell were the Angels in ’02 (winning their first World Series)? They still do the damn rally monkey nearly 30 years later. So, when teams like that pull it off, it’s great for baseball.’

The Brewers, simultaneously, can be the union’s worst nightmare, too, proving you don’t have to spend big bucks in free agency. They had the second-lowest payroll among all playoff teams last year at $115.1 million, a cool $206 million less than the Dodgers.

The Brewers have only two players earning more than $10 million this year with outfielder Christan Yelich ($26 million) and Woodruff ($22.025 million). Exactly half of the Dodgers’ team is earning at least $10 million, including eight players in excess of $20 million.

‘We prove,’ Frelick says, ‘that you don’t need to sign 10 players to $100 million deals to be good and to compete.’

No, but it sure does help, covering up any mistakes with money.

Look at the Dodgers. They dropped $72 million last season on free-agent closer Tanner Scott, who flopped in his first year. What do they do? Turn around and throw another $69 million at closer Edwin Diaz this winter, pushing Scott to a setup role.

‘I don’t have any problem with teams spending money as a player, that’s what you want to see,’ Woodruff said. ‘Obviously, the Dodgers have more money than anybody. They’re the juggernauts of Major League Baseball. But you’re not going to get mad at them for spending money.

‘It shows the rest of the league, hey, maybe you can spend a little more money here, too.’

While the Dodgers may be driving Bentleys and Mercedes to their ballgames, with the Brewers getting around in Jeeps and pickup trucks, the two teams have averaged more than 90 victories a season, with four division titles in the past five years.

They just have different styles of getting there, with the Brewers having to trade away potential free agents and prospects to get what they desire, while the Dodgers can reach into their bank account.

‘It’s crazy, but I feel like the money doesn’t really matter,’ Brewers shortstop Joey Ortiz says. ‘The biggest payroll doesn’t mean that you’re going to win ballgames, and the lowest payroll doesn’t mean that you’re going to be the worst team in the league.

‘I feel like we kind of use it as a chip on our shoulder a little bit. We just show up, handle business, and see where we are at the end of the season.’

Says Brewers first baseman Andrew Vaughn: ‘We just drown out the outside noise and play our game. Once you’re on the field, it’s just baseball, not how much money you’re making.’

Still, the Brewers are constantly faced with money decisions, and budgetary concerns. The Dodgers can spend $240 million on outfielder Kyle Tucker to replace Michael Conforto and not even blink. Brewers owner Mark Attanasio paid only $223 million for the entire franchise.

The Brewers hated the idea of having to trade Peralta, their homegrown and lovable two-time All-Star who went 17-6 with a 2.70 ERA last season. Yet, he’s a free agent after this year, and when they couldn’t reach an agreement on a contract extension, they felt the urgency to trade him. They sent him and reliever Tobias Myers to the New York Mets for prized pitching prospect Brandon Sproat and shortstop/center fielder Jett Williams, who immediately became the Brewers’ No. 3 prospect.

‘Losing Freddy was tough,’ Brewers pitcher Aaron Ashby said. ‘Here’s a guy who helped create a really awesome starting rotation here, and just a pitching culture. He was a huge piece of our success, and a model for everyone.’

While everyone anticipated that Peralta likely would be traded once Woodruff accepted his $22.025 million qualifying offer, the trade of Durbin to the Boston Red Sox was stunning. Durbin, who finished third in 2025 NL Rookie of the Year balloting hitting .256 with a .721 OPS, exemplified the Brewers’ blue-collar, gritty team. He was traded along with infielders Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler for left-handed pitchers Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan and infielder David Hamilton.

‘It’s difficult because Durbin represented how we played, what we were about,’ said Brewers manager Pat Murphy, the two-time NL Manager of the Year, who received a three-year, $8.95 million contract after the opening of camp. ‘He was as excited about getting on base by a hit-by-pitch as he was getting a line drive hit. He was all about just getting on base for us.

‘I know we got a lot of pitching depth, and you look at the future, but it’s still tough. I always want to remember this deal was about the big picture.’

The deal certainly raised eyes throughout the industry, even with the Brewers replacing Durbin with the signing of Rengifo to a one-year, $3.5 million contract. Yet, inside the clubhouse, they didn’t blink. They’ve watched Arnold work his magic over the years, stealing pitcher Quinn Priester from the Red Sox last season (13-3 with a 3.32 ERA) and hitting the jackpot by acquiring Vaughn from the White Sox, who hit nine homers with 46 RBI and a .869 OPS in 64 games.

‘It’s kind of how it is here,’ Brewers center fielder Blake Perkins says. ‘They make these trades every year, and everyone gets a little skeptical like, ‘I don’t know about this,’ and they work out great.

‘The big thing they do here is their due diligence on the type of people they want in the clubhouse that mesh well with everybody. They’re big on that. Everyone’s talented in this game, but they make sure everyone meshes well seamlessly. This team is perfect for me.’

Said Arnold: ‘We’re not looking for Boy Scouts everywhere, but you’ve got to have the right guys, guys that are willing to compete and play hard. There’s a certain brand of player that we’re looking at who fits in our clubhouse.’

It’s this culture why Woodruff says it was a no-brainer to accept the qualifying offer as a free agent to return to Milwaukee. He loves the city. Adores the fans. And feels completely at peace in the clubhouse.

‘There’s no place I’d rather be,’ said Woodruff, the Brewers’ 11th-round draft pick in 2014. ‘Everyone gets it here. I know we’ve traded away some pieces, but the front office does a great job here. They don’t make moves just to make moves. Sometimes the public doesn’t necessarily see it, but they always have a reason behind it.

‘I mean, they’re obviously trying to set up moves for the future and to keep us competitive, but at the same time, we know how to win baseball games.’

They’ve got the NL Central flags to prove it.

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

Aaron Jones’ time with the Minnesota Vikings appears to be coming to an end after two seasons.

The Vikings have informed Jones he will be released ahead of the start of the league year if the team doesn’t find a trade partner, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.

Jones – a nine-year veteran – was Minnesota’s primary starting running back each of the last two seasons and has 114 career starts under his belt. The 31-year-old has generated four 1,000-yard seasons as a runner and has also performed well as a pass-catcher, racking up 351 receptions across his career to date.

Jones may be in the twilight of his career, but the veteran should still find a new home for the 2026 NFL season if he desires to keep playing. Whether it’s as a backfield leader or a high-end backup and mentor, the UTEP product figures to draw interest if and when he hits the open market.

Here’s a look at some potential landing spots for Jones, as well as a look at the remaining money he has on his deal with the Vikings.

Aaron Jones landing spots

Houston Texans

With Joe Mixon’s future in Houston remaining uncertain, the Texans figure to be in the market for a starting-caliber running back during the offseason. Woody Marks showed flashes as a rookie, but his 3.6 yards per carry average may indicate the 2025 fourth-round pick is best served in a change-of-pace role.

Jones has never averaged less than 4.2 yards per carry in a season during his career and the 31-year-old’s dual-threat ability would give C.J. Stroud a reliable checkdown out of the backfield.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs’ top two running backs from the 2025 NFL season – Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt – are both set to be free agents. The duo averaged 3.9 and 3.7 yards per carry respectively last season, so Brett Veach may look to back a new tandem at the position.

Jones could be a part of that, and his proven track record of NFL-level production would appeal to the Chiefs. He has handled at least 159 touches over the last eight seasons and would be an ideal weapon to support Patrick Mahomes as he recovers from a torn ACL.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Kenneth Gainwell led the Steelers with 73 catches last season. If Pittsburgh can’t retain him, the team will need to find a pass-catching replacement to team up with Jaylen Warren and Kaleb Johnson.

Jones would fit the bill, having averaged just under 43 receptions per season since 2018. Add in his history playing with Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy during their time with the Green Bay Packers and a deal with Pittsburgh could make a lot of sense.

Seattle Seahawks

Super Bowl 60 MVP Kenneth Walker III seems likely to leave the Seahawks in free agency. That will leave the team searching for a complement to Zach Charbonnet, who is coming off a torn ACL he suffered in the postseason.

Jones could take on a bulk of the early-season workload for the Seahawks while allowing Charbonnet to ease back into action. The veterans would pair well and keep one another fresh, which was key with Walker and Charbonnet during Seattle’s run to a Super Bowl.

Las Vegas Raiders

Speaking of Seattle, Klint Kubiak – the Seahawks offensive coordinator turned Raiders coach – has expressed an affinity for the two-back system and a desire to add a ‘wingman’ for 2025 first-round pick Ashton Jeanty.

‘We definitely want to have a two-man show, guys that can share the load,’ Kubiak said in an interview at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine. ‘It’s a long season. You don’t want to put all the carries and targets on one guy. So right now, we’re identifying guys that are available in the draft, identifying free agents we might go after, looking at our own roster and seeing who can take that. But it is important that Jeanty has a wingman, and it’s probably not gonna be just one guy.’

Jones could be an ideal mentor for Jeanty and would be more than capable of absorbing some of the Raiders’ backfield workload.

Aaron Jones contract details

Jones is in the final year of a two-year contract extension he inked with the Vikings ahead of 2025 free agency. Below are the terms of that deal, per Spotrac.com:

Term: 2 years
Total value: $20 million
Average annual value (AAV): $10 million
Guaranteed money: $13.5 million

Jones’ AAV ranks ninth-highest among all NFL running back contracts, while his total contract value ranks 16th at the position.

Jones will be due $10 million in cash during the final season of his deal. That may make it hard for the Vikings to find a trade partner for the veteran, unless a team like the Texans or Chiefs still views him as a high-end starter.

More likely, the Vikings will release Jones. Minnesota would create $7.75 million in cap space by releasing him before March 13, when an additional $2 million of his salary becomes guaranteed.

Aaron Jones stats

Jones played just 12 games during the 2025 NFL season while dealing with hamstring and shoulder injuries. Below is a look at the numbers he posted across those games:

Carries: 132
Rushing yards: 548
Rushing TDs: 2
Yards per carry: 4.2
Receptions: 28
Receiving yards: 199
Receiving TDs: 1

Jones has logged at least 26 catches in eight consecutive seasons and has averaged 4.9 yards per carry during his career, tied for the 17th-best mark in NFL history.

South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley is working on getting some of her former Gamecocks players back home safely to the United States from their international careers in Israel.

The three-time national championship coach has taken efforts to get her former players — Tiffany Mitchell, Mikiah Herbert Harrigan and Destiny Littleton — home amid the recent United States-Israel military strikes against Iran. She first announced her plans on her X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday, mentioning all three were in ‘a war zone in Israel.’

‘We are working (on) a plan to get home. Let us pray for our loved ones to return home safely asap!,’ Staley wrote on X on Saturday. ‘Thank you in advance.’

The three players that Staley mentioned were all a part of South Carolina’s rise to being one of women’s college basketball’s powerhouses at one point in their careers. Mitchell was part of the Gamecocks’ first Final Four team under Staley in 2015, while Herbert Harrison was part of the program’s first national championship in 2017. Both were drafted into the WNBA from South Carolina as top-10 picks.

Littleton transferred to South Carolina from Texas ahead of the 2020 season, where she’d help the Gamecocks to the SEC tournament title and a Final Four appearance that season. She’d spend two seasons with the Gamecocks before transferring to USC. In a series of posts on her own X account on Saturday, Littleton said she is ‘safe’ in Israel.

‘I’m just trying to stay calm,’ Littleton added to ESPN on Saturday about the situation. ‘I really don’t want to even be out here on the streets. I’ll keep you updated.’

In a separate post on Sunday, Staley thanked everyone who has been praying for Mitchell, Herbert Harrigan and Littleton.

‘Thank you everyone for praying for our @GamecockWBB players and family members. Please keep them covered in prayer until they are home! Appreciate it!,’ Staley wrote.

South Carolina closes out the regular season on Sunday against No. 18 Kentucky before heading to Greenville for the SEC women’s basketball tournament, where it will be the No. 1 seed once again.

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Seattle’s outstanding defense powered the Seahawks to a win in Super Bowl 60. The unit known as the ‘Dark Side’ stifled opposing offenses in the postseason.

They suffocated the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round, held on against the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game and stonewalled the New England Patriots for three and a half quarters of the Super Bowl.

Coach Mike Macdonald oversaw a championship-winning defense in his second season at the helm in Seattle. So what changed from year one to year two?

The origins of Seattle’s title-winning defense trace back to before Macdonald’s arrival in the Pacific Northwest. But one rookie who played an outsized role in the franchise’s march to a second Lombardi Trophy was safety Nick Emmanwori.

A year ago, the South Carolina product put on a show at the NFL scouting combine. His addition did enough to create a title-winning formula for the Seahawks.

Thanks to his success in Seattle, other teams could be looking for players like Emmanwori of their own. Here’s what to know about the formula – and potential players teams could target to emulate that success.

Why is Nick Emmanwori important?

Emmanwori had one of the best combine performances of the 2025 NFL Draft class. He measured in at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds as one of the bigger safeties in the class.

He really showed out during testing. His explosiveness was on full display with a 4.38-second 40-yard dash. He hit 43 inches in the vertical jump and 11 feet, 6 inches in the broad jump. All of that translates to near-linebacker-sized talent on defense with elite athleticism.

The Seahawks traded up to get him in the second round of the draft. In doing so, Emmanwori allowed the Seahawks defense to stay in nickel with five defensive backs. Thanks to his size and strength, Seattle could stay in nickel personnel and still hold up in run defense.

Instead of opposing offenses dictating to the Seahawks defense, Seattle could stay in a single personnel package and let Macdonald’s creativity as a playcaller shine.

The scariest part is he may just be getting started.

‘I know I’m just scratching the surface,’ Emmanwori said after winning the Super Bowl. ‘I’m thinking of my prime, like how can I get to my prime? In my mind, this is just stuff that I’m putting together, but when I put everything together as far as the coverage and the pass rush and the playbook and just seeing the game, that’s what I’m looking forward to.’

The next Nick Emmawori

Fans and teams alike should know it’s hard to find another Emmanwori. He’s a rare, elite athlete for his size. But if you’re looking for options to replicate the freedom Emmanwori gives Seattle, a good place to start is with faster linebackers or bigger, athletic safeties.

That opens up the options in the 2026 NFL Draft class.

The most obvious answer is one of the Ohio State linebackers, Arvell Reese or Sonny Styles. They’re both big-bodied athletic outliers who can cover, blitz and defend the run at will.

They’ll be off the board early, though. If teams are looking at big, athletic safeties, two prospects could see their names called earlier than expected: LSU’s A.J. Haulcy and South Carolina’s Jalon Kilgore.

Haulcy measured in at 6-foot and 215 pounds. Ideally, he wants to play slightly heavier, more like 219 to 221 pounds.

In his three stops in college over four years, he worked under five different defensive coordinators.

‘I feel like each system it taught me different things,’ Haulcy said. ‘My first system, we had a 3-3-5… I feel like going into my next year when we ran a two-high shell instead of a three-high, that was just a lot different. I feel like I learned the ins and outs of the two-high, then I had the 3-3-5, then also we played a lot of one-high last year.’

He feels like each new year built on top of the previous one.

‘Going through each system, picking up different things and what can help you in each coverage, in each scheme,’ Haulcy said.

The former Tiger has the size and athleticism to be a factor in run defense. His varied background in coverage and a natural nose for the ball earned him 10 interceptions and 15 pass breakups in his four-year college career.

The option from the SEC is Kilgore, the man who stepped into a larger role after Emmanwori’s departure from South Carolina to the NFL.

The fellow Gamecock defensive back measured in at 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds at the combine. He played less in the box for South Carolina than Emmanwori but looked at home in either the nickel or safety spots.

‘I’ve always been a versatile guy my who life so I never just singled myself to doing one thing,’ he said. ‘I definitely like nickel but I can also play safety as well.’

He put up great numbers during athletic testing. Not quite to Emmanwori’s level but few are. He hit 4.40 seconds in the 40-yard dash – fifth-best at the position – and 10 feet, 10 inches in the broad jump, tied for the best among all safeties.

Like Haulcy, he’s not just an athletic run defender. Kilgore forced a 68.1 passer rating when targeted in 2025 with nine pass breakups and two interceptions. He tallied 18 pass breakups and eight interceptions over his three-year career with South Carolina.

That mix of run defense, athleticism and ball skills could be tailor-made for a dynamic safety at the NFL level.

‘I feel like that’ll translate well,’ he said. ‘A lot of that is instincts, being a four-sport athlete all of my life. And playing receiver and quarterback in high school, so I feel like I just know when to high-point the ball, get my head back and just take the ball.’

The Los Angeles Kings have fired head coach Jim Hiller, the team announced on Sunday, March 1. In an effort to salvage their playoff hopes in Anze Kopitar’s final season, the Kings will look elsewhere for leadership.

‘I want to thank Jim Hiller for his dedication, professionalism, and the commitment he showed to our players and our team every day,’ Kings general manager Ken Holland said in a statement. ‘He is a respected coach and person, and we appreciate the work he’s done behind our bench.’

Holland named DJ Smith interim head coach through the remainder of the season. Smith, who is in his second full season as associate coach, was previously the head coach of the Ottawa Senators from 2019-2023. He was also an assistant coach alongside Hiller in Toronto from 2015-2019.

Kings player development coach Matt Greene will serve as an assistant coach under Smith.

‘At this point in the season, we believe a change in leadership is necessary to give our group the best opportunity to reach its potential and compete at the level we expect,’ Holland said. ‘These decisions are never made lightly, but our responsibility is to position this team for success now and moving forward.”

The Kings (24-21-14) currently sit three points out of a playoff spot. They lost their last three games going into the Olympic break and their first two games coming out of it, culminating in an 8-1 loss at home to the Edmonton Oilers that led fans at Crypto.com Arena to break out into ‘Fire Hiller’ chants.

Hiller took over for Todd McClellan in February 2024 as an interim and led the Kings to a 21-12-1 finish to the season that ended in a first-round playoff loss to the Oilers in six games. He was named permanent head coach that May.

In his first full season, Hiller coached the Kings to 48 wins and 105 points, a franchise best. They met the Oilers again in the first round and held a 2-0 lead after the first two games at Crypto.com Arena, but fizzled out and lost the series in six games. It was the Kings’ fourth consecutive first-round loss to the Oilers, who advanced to their second straight Stanley Cup Final.

Hiller came under fire for his decision-making during that series, but team president Luc Robitaille and Holland stuck by him.

In December, Holland again voiced his support for Hiller amid the team’s struggles.

‘I expect him to be here the rest of the season,’ he told reporters.

This is Part 2 of a two-part series examining girls wrestling, one of the fastest growing sports for high schoolers. In this installment, we check in on California, which is No. 1 among states in girls wrestling participation.

BAKERSFIELD, CA — Danica Torres stepped onto the mat for her quarterfinal match at the 2026 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Wrestling Championships on Friday. She looked over to the mat next to her, saw her older brother wrestling in his match, and said a quick prayer. 

“God, if there’s only supposed to be one of us to win, please let it be my brother,” Torres, a junior at Brawley Union High School, said. “He works so much harder than me and he deserves it way more than me.”

As soon as she won her match to advance to the semifinals, Torres looked back over and began to cry. Her brother, a senior, had lost.

“It shattered me,” Torres told USA TODAY Sports.

Forty-seven state high school athletic associations (including Washington, D.C., which has its own association) hold official state championships for girls wrestling. California also holds its girls’ matches together with the boys’ state championships. After becoming just the third state to officially sanction a girls wrestling state championship in 2011, it was a standalone event until six years ago, when the CIF combined both events under one roof.

“It grew and grew,” CIF executive director Ron Nocetti told USA TODAY Sports. “It got to the point where we needed to have them in the exact same venue, getting the exact same experience.”

In the final round of the tournament, two mats are placed side by side. Two matches are brought out — one girls’ and one boys’ — and they wrestle simultaneously inside a packed Dignity Health Arena in Bakersfield, which seats approximately 10,000 people. 

When the CIF first introduced the new format in 2021, Nocetti says there was some skepticism from parents, schools and athletes, “and then, people saw the wrestling and saw that this is something that needs to be together.”

Since then, Nocetti said the feedback has been “nothing but positive.”

California not seeing the same lawsuits as other states over girls wrestling

At a time when Title IX legal battles have arisen in other states such as Illinois, Oregon and Tennessee over a lack of access and resources for girls wrestling, Nocetti hasn’t really seen the same sentiment in California. Part of the reason for that is the sheer size of the CIF, with over 1,600 member schools and 852,574 student-athletes, per the National Federation of State High School Associations. For reference, the NCAA has approximately 1,100 member schools and over 550,000 student-athletes combined across all three divisions, according to their latest Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report.

“It doesn’t mean that that’s not happening anywhere,” Nocetti said. “I can’t tell you it’s not happening. I would hope if things like that were happening that going back to the process of raising concerns and letting our schools handle those concerns.”

Nocetti added that California has a “mechanism” to lodge complaints directly with schools and school districts. Parents, guardians, students, employees, and district and school advisory committee members can file a Uniform Complaint Procedures form — a written and signed statement alleging a violation of federal or state law or regulation, including Title IX — through the California Department of Education. The UCP complaint is then filed directly to the respective district superintendent or their designee. 

“I think their goal is to avoid those to begin with,” Nocetti said. “And provide the opportunity for girls that want to participate in sport wrestling to be able to do so.”

Girls wrestling has taken off in California

The result of those opportunities has been a boom in girls wrestling in California. Out of the 74,064 girls that participated in high school wrestling nationwide in the 2024-25 school year, according to the annual NFHS Sports Participation Survey, California is No. 1 with 8,831 participants.

It’s the reason Torres and her family decided to move to the state a year ago in the first place. As a freshman in Arizona, Torres won state and went undefeated through the entire season. 

“The competition was a little too easy,” she told USA TODAY Sports. “I wanted to get better competitors, and I wanted to beat the best.”

And it wasn’t just competing against the best from other schools; Torres’ teammates at Brawley Union want to be great just as bad as her. Her coaches want it just as much, too. In Arizona, her school’s girls wrestling team only consisted of two or three others. Brawley Union has a full lineup, a far cry from when she started out wrestling against boys nine years ago. 

Maile Nguyen wanted to start wrestling when she was 6 years old. Her older brother was a wrestler; growing up watching him compete and going to all his tournaments inspired her to pick up the sport as well. The only problem was, there were no girls for her to wrestle. It took two years of wrestling against boys before her family found a coach in her area with a girls wrestling program. 

Aubreyelle Baeza was never drawn to any other sport. Or really, any sport.

“I never wanted to do dance or swim, or anything like that,” she told USA TODAY Sports. “My mom just threw me into the sport with my brothers, and I just turned out to be good.”

Just 8 years old at the time, Baeza didn’t want to wrestle. There was a lot of crying at first, “but I always kept going back.”

She just kept going until one day, she beat the whole room, most of which were boys. 

Even when Nguyen started at Granada High School in Livermore, she was one of just three girls on the team. Now, in her senior year, Nguyen says there’s about eight or nine. 

“It’s been amazing,” Nguyen told USA TODAY Sports. “… It’s been super cool to see the family that we’ve grown not just with our guys team, but also with our women’s team.”

It speaks to the growth that Torres and Nguyen have seen first-hand when Baeza, now a sophomore at San Dimas High School, says she’s pretty sure her school has always had a girls wrestling team. 

Where girls wrestling in California can still do better

There’s still room for improvement, though. Mainly in the way that women’s wrestling is perceived. 

Nguyen still hears a lot of people say things along the lines of, “You placed at state, but it’s a girls’ bracket.”

Torres’ real first name is Camille. When she was growing up, she would get made fun of for wrestling by people who would find her name on brackets and in news articles. 

“Why are you wrestling?” she remembers hearing.

It got to the point where she started going by Danica so that nobody who knew her could look her up. 

But the level of support she gets now from her coaches and teammates — both girls and boys — pushes her to another level.

Nguyen feels the same.

“Although we’re still growing and still have room to grow, our successes should not be overlooked,” she said. “These are still amazing things that we’re achieving.”

‘We’re not to be overlooked’

The energy inside Dignity Health Arena for the final round is palpable. Following an Olympics-style parade of champions, the lights go dark. A lone spotlight illuminates the two mats. There are no divisions at the state level in California; it’s one bracket, one tournament in which the boys’ and girls’ finalists duel it out side by side until there’s one champion in each weight class. 

“It just adds to the atmosphere,” Nguyen said. “It’s really great because having not that big of a girls team, it helps when you get to be with your guys team because we’re all here supporting each other no matter what.”

It’s one of the things that Torres especially likes about competing in California.

“Some states want to make it two, three divisions,” she said. “I don’t think that’s that good because it dilutes the competition. … I’d rather just have one division so I could say I was the best.”

Boys and girls sharing the floor also sends a message of equity that has resonated with the athletes.

“Before then, it was always just one girl in the whole boy room,” Baeza said. “… It just proves that girls can do stuff that boys can do. Even if it’s really tough.”

“We’re not to be overlooked,” Nguyen said. “Being able to wrestle on the same stage in the same arena, it just shows that we’re here to win the same thing. We’re here to achieve the same goals, and so why not do it together?”

Former MLB pitcher Daniel Serafini, 51, was sentenced on Friday, Feb. 27 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of his father-in-law Gary Spohr and the attempted murder of his mother-in-law Wendy Wood during a 2021 burglary at the couple’s home in Lake Tahoe, California.

Serafini was convicted in July 2025, with his sentencing coming more than six months after it was originally scheduled.

Serafini has maintained his innocence throughout, motioning for multiple re-trials, which have all been denied. The former left-handed pitcher had a sour relationship with his in-laws, but his attorneys argued the lack of physical evidence should have precluded a guilt verdict. Serafini claimed he was partying with his wife the night of the shooting.

Why was Daniel Serafini found guilty?

Prosecutors argued Serafini hated his wife’s parents and wanted their wealth. They also said that Serafini been heard telling his friends that he’d be willing to pay up to $20,000 to have them killed.

During the course of his six-week trial, multiple emails and text messages between Serafini and his in-laws were brought into evidence, showcasing Serafini’s vitriol towards them.

Serafini’s attorney argued that there was no physical evidence linking Serafini to the crime scene, and denied that his client had any motive to kill his parents despite their poor relationship.

Where will Daniel Serafini serve his sentence?

Serafini will serve his life sentence at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

When was Daniel Serafini drafted?

Serafini was drafted in the first round (26th overall) in 1992 by the Minnesota Twins, making his MLB debut in 1996 for the same team. In seven MLB seasons, he had a career 6.04 ERA while playing for the Twins, Chicago Cubs San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies.