Wrestlers · High school
Epenesa Elison
2026 U17 World champion at 57 kg; 2025 U17 World silver medalist; 2025 CIF girls' state champion as a freshman for Los Altos
La Puente, CA · Los Altos HS
By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published September 24, 2026
Epenesa Elison is from La Puente, California, and wrestles for Los Altos High School. She started in jiu-jitsu with Renato Sobral before she took up wrestling. She trains with coach Ruben Valencia at Monster Garage Wrestling.
She won her first Super 32 Challenge high school title as an eighth grader and had three by February 2026. She won the U15 Pan American title in 2023 and again in 2024, when she went 4-0 at 50 kg, about 110 pounds, without giving up a point.
As a freshman in 2025 she went 26-0 and won the CIF girls' state title at 115 pounds in Bakersfield. She pinned Kaiya Maggini of Del Oro in 3:17 in the final and was named the girls' Champion of Champions.
That summer she reached the final at the U17 World Championships in Athens, Greece, at 53 kg. She won four matches, including a pin of Maria Vandoulaki Vandoula of Greece in 1:04 and a 12-7 win over Mariia Zhytovoz of Hungary. Jiaqing Jiang of China beat her 7-4 in the final.
In February 2026, as a sophomore, she won the CIF Southern Section and Masters titles at 120 pounds.
She moved up to 57 kg for the 2026 U17 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, and won all five of her matches. She beat Rion Suzuki of Japan 8-2 in her opener and pinned Gurleen Dhillon of Canada in 29 seconds in the semifinals. In the final she opened with two quick takedowns and pinned Nikita Sehrawat of India at 1:36. USA Wrestling counted it as the 100th Cadet or U17 World gold for the U.S. across all three styles.
She goes into the 2026-27 high school season at Los Altos as the U17 World champion at 57 kg.
Results
| Season | Level | Event | Weight | Place | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Age group | U15 Pan American Championships | 50 kg | 1st | 4-0. The defending champion, she scored three technical falls and a pin without giving up a point and beat Clara Ramirez Guardia (Peru) 10-0 in the final. |
| 2024-25 | High school | CIF girls' state championships, Bakersfield | 115 lb | 1st | 26-0. As a freshman she pinned Kaiya Maggini (Del Oro) in 3:17 in the final. She was one of three freshman girls to win a state title that year. The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports her 26-0 season and her selection as the girls' Champion of Champions. |
| 2025 | Age group | U17 World Championships, Athens | 53 kg | 2nd | 4-1. She teched Kanita Spahija (Kosovo) 12-0, pinned Maria Vandoulaki Vandoula (Greece) in 1:04, beat Mariia Zhytovoz (Hungary) 12-7 and teched Farida Abdrakhmanova (Kazakhstan) 10-0. Jiaqing Jiang (China) won the final 7-4. |
| 2025-26 | High school | CIF Southern Section championships | 120 lb | 1st | The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported her Southern Section title in February 2026. |
| 2025-26 | High school | CIF Southern Section Masters | 120 lb | 1st | The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported her Masters title at 120 pounds in February 2026. |
| 2026 | Age group | U17 World Championships, Baku | 57 kg | 1st | 5-0. She beat Rion Suzuki (Japan) 8-2, teched Nadiia Zholtikova (Spain) 12-2 and Mia Kovac (Croatia) 10-0, pinned Gurleen Dhillon (Canada) in 0:29 and pinned Nikita Sehrawat (India) in 1:36 in the final. |
What we could not confirm
Anything not on this page, a high school record, a final score, a season, was left out because no primary source stated it when this was written. If you have a bracket, a program, or a clipping, send it to the operator, Joe Spisak, at joe@spisak.co and the page gets the number.
Sources
- https://www.themat.com/news/2026/july/30/elison-and-manuel-dominate-for-u17-world-titles-silva-scores-late-to-win-bronze · USA Wrestling, July 2026. She pinned Nikita Sehrawat of India to win the 57 kg U17 World title in Baku, the 100th Cadet or U17 World gold for the U.S. across all three styles.
- https://www.themat.com/news/2025/august/01/women-s-freestyle-finishes-second-at-u17-world-championships-fernandez-repeats-as-champion · USA Wrestling, August 2025. She won silver at 53 kg at the U17 World Championships after a 7-4 loss to Jiaqing Jiang of China in the final.
- https://www.themat.com/news/2026/july/21/age-group-world-medalists-fernandez-elison-and-healey-lead-u17-women-s-freestyle-world-team-to-baku · USA Wrestling, July 2026. The U17 World team roster lists her from La Puente, Calif., with Monster Garage Wrestling, and records her 2025 silver in Athens, Greece.
- https://www.cifstate.org/sports/wrestling/past_results_records/2025_recap · CIF State recap of the 2025 championships, with her 115-pound final.
- https://www.sgvtribune.com/2026/02/25/los-altos-wrestling-phenom-epenesa-elison-has-olympic-dreams/ · San Gabriel Valley Tribune, February 2026. A Los Altos sophomore, she won the 2025 state title at 115 pounds as a freshman, went 26-0 and was Champion of Champions. It covers her Super 32 titles, Pan American titles, jiu-jitsu start and coach.
- https://www.themat.com/news/2024/june/14/elison-fernandez-repeat-u-s-wins-nine-women-s-freestyle-golds-one-bronze-at-u15-pan-american-championships · USA Wrestling, June 2024. As the defending champion she won the 50 kg U15 Pan American title, going 4-0 without giving up a point.
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