CHINO — Chino junior Natalie Blanco got started late in wrestling and then missed the end of her freshman season and the beginning of this season with injuries. But she’s good at making up for lost time. Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco stands in a ready position in the school’s w restling room on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco poses on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025 in the wrestling room. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco practices on a dummy on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025 in the wrestling room. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco practices on a dummy on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025 in the wrestling room. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco stands in a ready position in the school’s wrestling room on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco poses on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025 in the wrestling room. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco lifts weights in the school gym on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco lifts weights in the school gym on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco lifts weights in the school gym on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco looks toward her CIF State championship banner, which she earned last season as a sophomore, on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. She aims to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco stands near her CIF State championship banner, which she earned last season as a sophomore, on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. She aims to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco lifts weights in the school gym on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco smiles in the school gym on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco lifts weights in the school gym on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Show Caption1 of 14Chino girls wrestling standout Natalie Blanco stands in a ready position in the school’s wrestling room on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Blanco, who claimed the CIF State championship as a sophomore last season, is aiming to repeat the feat this season. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Expand Blanco, the defending CIF State champion at 155 pounds, will compete in her second tournament of the season beginning Monday in the two-day Queen of the Hill tournament at Corona High School. She was a softball pitcher before high school but started wrestling because her older brother Nathan (who graduated in 2024) was wrestling at Chino. “My parents said, ‘why not try it? Let’s try it during the summer and if you don’t like it, you can stop,’” Blanco said. “But I liked it.” She not only liked it, she was good and impressed Chino coach Alex Angulo early on. “I knew she was going to have (success) and have it early on, it was just to what extent,” Angulo said. “As competition increases, it’s ‘how do they respond?’ Every turn, she keeps rising to the occasion. The challenge is meeting her drive.” What started as a side sport became her only sport, even before what would have been her freshman softball season. Even though she dropped softball, there were connections from her initial love of softball to her new love of wrestling. One of the things Blanco loved about wrestling is that she didn’t have to rely on anyone else for success. While softball is more of a team sport, the pitcher, Blanco’s position, is the one player who controls the game more than any other. And Angulo said he thinks Blanco’s softball experience translated into the ability to pick up wrestling easily. “An athlete has to learn hand and feet placement, and hip level,” Angulo said. “I think that’s something that’s translated very well. She does pay very close attention to those details. I’m pretty sure a pitching coach or hitting coach would’ve pointed that out to her.” Blanco said her early success as a freshman came as a result of being aggressive, not flawless execution. She only lost once entering the final regular season competition of her freshman season, the Ayala Tournament. But it was at that tournament that Blanco’s season ended, when she broke her collarbone in a match she was winning. And Angulo thinks her inexperience perhaps factored into the injury. Angulo actually started Blanco on the junior varsity her freshman year to guard against injury against more experienced wrestlers. But Blanco was wrestling varsity by the time the Ayala Tournament rolled around. “Not having an understanding of reaction time, especially when someone has more experience can lead to what happened anyway,” Angulo said. “And the injury had more to do with the fact that the girl (opponent) reacted in a way and she (Blanco) was still learning how to react. I think she could’ve made the podium, even as a freshman.” Blanco was forced to the sidelines and attended the state meet, where her brother qualified in the 190-pound class. “I was really sad for a while because all the stuff I was working for, it all doesn’t mean anything because I can’t show anyone. …  No one would ever know how much work I put in,” Blanco said. “I still got to watch my brother qualify for Masters and state. I thought it was pretty cool. I was a little disappointed I couldn’t go (to compete), but when I did go (last year), it felt familiar.” Last year, she got what she had been waiting for. Blanco went 32-2, and although she lost at CIF Southern Section regionals, she rebounded to go undefeated at the CIF-SS Masters Meet. At state, she was only seeded seventh but pinned her first three opponents (including No. 2 seed Symone Jewell of Northgate in the quarterfinals) and won the last two matches 13-1 and 13-4. It was that quarterfinal match that stayed with Blanco. “At state, that match against the No. 2 seed, I thought, ‘she’s supposed to beat me here,’” Blanco said. “I have to go out there and give it my best. I chose bottom in the second period. As I came up I caught her, that was the match. After that, I had a rematch against the girl I lost CIF to (Eva Garcia of Marina).” Coming off an incomplete freshman season, Blanco snuck up on some opponents her sophomore season. But that won’t happen this year. Yet her junior season was delayed (with her freshman sister Nicole in the program) because she suffered a concussion from a wrestling drill during a recruiting trip to Menlo College in October. Blanco finally got cleared to practice in late November, then picked up right where she left off by winning her first tournament of the season, the Goddess of Olympia hosted by Olympian High School in Chula Vista last weekend. Prior to the concussion, she competed in a freestyle tournament, the Super 32 Tournament in North Carolina, where she went 2-2. “I feel like there’s more expectations (this year),” Blanco said. “I competed at my first national tournament and I saw I had to adjust. I feel like I had a lot of doubt. I didn’t have that when I was competing last season. I felt like I could’ve done a lot better. I want to go back next year to see if I can do a lot better.” Based on her record of success, it would be unwise to bet against Blanco. 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