Sports

By Lola Snopkowski

Lincoln wrestling closed their season finishing first place in the city for the third year in a row. They won their first title in 2024 and haven’t stopped yet, winning in 2025 and now in 2026.

In order to keep their momentum, they continue to work, practicing on campus Monday and Wednesday, at an SF State camp Tuesday and Thursday, and competing in tournaments on the weekends. 

This is the first year they’ve done this much work outside their season due to the high level of commitment. 

Coach Michael Frias stating, “This year we've had the largest turnout for our club wrestling team, with many of our wrestlers consistently winning medals at tournaments.”

Junior Ramya Reeves states, “I think it will really help us overall, like we're just perfecting our craft [...] I feel like it will definitely make a big impact next season.”

Coach Frias belives that the training will give Lincoln an advantage against their opponents stating, “It's like adding another year before you actually start the upcoming season.”

Reeves also mentions that many key seniors will be leaving, so the fact that they are training before their season will help the underclassmen improve and gain more experience.

One of those key seniors is Kai Villegas, who has been on the team since his freshman year and has been one of their best wrestlers, winning co-MVP last season.

One in particular tournament this offseason was the USA Wrestling State Championship in Fresno on April 17th, in which senior Villegas, freshmen Josue Campos and Enzo Lometti, and juniors Mishell Cardona and Josiah Patton wrestled. 

Villegas did very well considering the extremely large brackets and steep competition. He won four matches and lost two, placing third, becoming the first student from Lincoln to place in a state championship tournament. In one of his first matches, he lost to an opponent that he ended up wrestling again in his last match, which would determine if he got third or fourth and beat him, to which he states, “Beating him was definitely my highlight.”

Villegas passes the torch confidently to the current juniors Patton, Jordan Baylor, Cardona, and Reeves, stating, “The current juniors will be great leaders of the team next season. [...] The next generation of wrestlers in Abraham Lincoln High School is looking promising with incredible talent and dedication.” 

Although losing seniors on any team can be challenging this team has gone through it before and always finds a way to keep thriving. Their work in the offseason will ensure the underclassmen come into the season prepared and ready to lead the next generation of Lincoln wrestlers.

Coach Frias states, “The beauty of that process is that there are always new wrestlers that step up and become those new leaders.”

They are always looking for new wrestlers on the school team and on their side team, Villegas stating, "The SF Elite Wrestling Club is open to anyone who wants to join, and to email friasm@sfusd.edu for more information.”

By Xavier Malizia

The Abraham Lincoln girls softball team started off the 2026 season four and three in league, defeating Galileo, Mission, Balboa, and Burton while falling short to Lowell and Washington. With so many new faces on the team, this record is impressive. Out of the 23 players on the roster, ten are freshmen. The coaching staff are also new, and with six seniors, the team is experiencing both the end of an era and a bright future to the program. 

With such disruption on the team, one thing proves more important than winning: building a strong atmosphere and culture. 

“Each player is a leader in themselves. Even if they are young, they can learn off of each other,” says assistant coach Holly Argente.

 Argente is also a paraprofessional at ALHS and says that coaching softball is the biggest thing she looks forward to at the end of her day. This is her first season with the team.

Senior Mina Reyes also speaks about the atmosphere of the team, “I think it's kind of like a rebuilding year. Everything feels very new.”

This feeling has a large part to do with the new coaching staff, who have an unconventional approach for adjusting to a new team. Reyes, along with senior Sophie Ng, are the captains of the softball team, and described how the new coaches leave them in charge for a large portion of practices.

“We run the drills, and they're just there to, like, support us,” explained Reyes.

This unconventional approach gives the veteran players a lot of control over practices, allowing them to focus on what they feel needs to be improved.

One major issue that the team faces is consistency with attendance and energy, which are two large factors towards the success of the team.

“I think everyone showing up is a big thing, and just the way we come in, our energy is a big thing,” says Reyes.

When attendance and energy are what they should be, the team reaches much higher levels of success, and things in that area are set to improve.

“I think a lot of the freshmen are into it. They show up every day, and in the following years, I think that they will make a good team. Since this is more of a rebuild, we're kinda setting the structure for [the future],” explained Ng.

Despite their roles as captain, coach Argente doesn't want Ng and Reyes to be seen as above the rest of the team.  “Someone can hold the role of captain, [but] I want to say they’re all leaders,” says Argente.

 “Whether or not they are experienced or not experienced, you could always learn or teach something,” added the assistant coach.

Argente went on to add that these skills go beyond the field, and that she hopes her players will bring those traits further than just softball.

By Kevin Hu

The 2026 CIF San Francisco Section All-City Boys Tennis tournament was held from April 27 through May 1, showcasing some of the best tennis players across five schools in the district. All City featured varsity singles alongside varsity and novice doubles matches. Competition opened at Lowell for the first three days before moving to the Goldman Tennis Center for the final two days of play.

On May 1, seniors Derek Lau and Bradley Chu competed against Lowell junior Pakin Papartassee and Lowell senior Oliver Grimwood for the doubles championship, while senior Theodore Hom fought for the singles championship.

Lau and Chu went the distance against Papartassee and Grimwood, requiring all three sets to be played before a winner was determined. Lau and Chu dropped set one (1-6), and despite showing signs of life in set two, beating Papartassee and Grimwood in 8 games, the duo would ultimately lose set three (1-6).

Hom and Braunstein also went the distance, but in the singles finals. Hom, and Braunstein, who Coach Max Van Engers considers to be Lowell’s best player, battled for three hours, when Hom was finally crowned as the winner.

“I was kinda nervous at the start since this was my first appearance in the finals, hence the 0-6 start,” Hom explains. Despite wrestling with nerves, and dropping the first set without winning a game, Hom’s determination never waned or wavered. “I went back to the basics. I decided to just focus on my footwork and my fundamentals.” After Hom stopped overthinking and fell back on what he knew best, he would not drop another set, winning sets two and three in ten and nine games respectively. 

Overall, Hom’s win was a rewarding end to a tiring season for the tennis team. According to team manager Kimora Huynh, the team would practice up to hours everyday. “They have been practicing everyday unless there is a match or if the court is wet,” says Huynh. “Sometimes the coach lets them have a day break but usually they’re always practicing.”

The Mustangs also continued to scrimmage and play league games up to a week before All City, including defeating Lowell in a scrimmage game five matches to two, beating Balboa in a league game five matches to none, and losing to Lowell in a league game two matches to five.

Hom attributed his tournament win to his team, family, and friends, citing them as the reason he worked so hard. “I couldn’t do it without my teammates, family, and friends supporting me from the sidelines,” Hom says. “Thank you to everyone who supported me throughout the journey.”

By Elise Dunn

The sun is blazing, the pressure as high as the heat, but Lincoln’s Dragonboat team shows no sign of slowing down. Recently, Lincoln's Dragonboat team took their mustang pride all the way down south to Arizona for the two-day Tempe race competition. 

Founded in 1996, Lincoln's dragonboat team has established themselves as a legitimate competitor, placing first and second in as well as recently gaining a brand new record of 1 minute and 59 seconds. In previous years they have won over 20 championship titles through the California Dragon Boat Association.

Dragonboat is a synchronized team paddle sport, originating in Southern China over 2,000 years ago. It features over twenty paddlers, one steerer, and one drummer. The sport itself has been known to be a relatively challenging sport that not only focuses on strength but also technique and synchronization.   

The competition in Arizona was new playing ground for the team, being one of the only Bay Area teams while also competing in the premiere adult division instead of the youth category; the stakes were definitely high before and during the competition. 

“We [competed] pretty impressively, considering that we were competing against adults and people on college level teams” says senior paddler Moyses Aguire, “I definitely was nervous that we were racing against adults.” 

Regardless of the adult teams, Lincoln came and completed a successful race. Out of the three boats, Gold, Red and Black, and gold and red placed high in the intermediate B Division and recreational C Division. 

“Although we didn’t place in the A-Division I think we represented the Bay Area well,” recalls Aguirre. “We still did a pretty big accomplishment there.” 

Not to mention a 13-hour flight delay on the way to Arizona which proved to be a setback for the team, as the delay took away their practice time before the tempe race. 

 “Usually we get to practice on the water before the race but this time we were going into the competition without any familiarity," says gold boat paddler and senior Sophie Ng. 

The team's successes at the Tempe Race set up motivation and wins for future competitions including the 2026 youth race in May and the upcoming international race in Taiwan. 

Senior and co-captain Alex Lam reflected on the competition, “We are returning back to our dynasty days and this [race] was a high signal that we were ready to start winning again.”