Navarro caps career with NAIA national title | News, Sports, Jobs

University of Providence’s Ira Navarro (right), a graduate of Lahainaluna High School, won the 101-pound division at the NAIA Women’s National Championships last weekend in Jamestown, N.D. Navarro and fellow former Maui Interscholastic League standout Waipuilani Estrella-Beauchamp, a Baldwin alum, are among several Hawaii wrestlers on the Argos roster. UNIVERSITY OF PROVIDENCE ATHLETICS photo

Former Maui Interscholastic League standouts Ira Navarro and Waipuilani Estrella-Beauchamp ended their stellar 2023 collegiate season with a bang.

Last month, both won titles to lead the University of Providence women’s wrestling team to a third-place finish at the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships in Oregon. Estrella-Beauchamp, a Baldwin High School graduate, won the conference title at 130 pounds while Navarro, a Lahainaluna alum, won at 101.

Last weekend, the pair led the Argos in the inaugural NAIA Women’s National Championships, with Navarro bringing home the program’s first national title when she defeated teammate Erin Hikiji 2-1 in the 101 final.

Navarro, who during her time with the Lunas won two state titles, entered nationals ranked No. 1 in the country in her weight class.

This was a cherry on top of Navarro’s fifth and final collegiate season, she said.

Navarro

“I’m still in disbelief, even at this moment, like, sometimes I can’t believe that I captured the national title,” she said via phone Monday. “Honestly, I never expected myself to be national champ because I never thought I would get this far in wrestling. I was actually going to retire from wrestling after my senior year of high school.”

But older sister Ivy, a two-time national runner-up and conference champion for UP, inspired Ira to continue wrestling and attend school out of state. Ivy Navarro was there at the NAIA tournament, too, coaching her sister through the matches.

The Navarro sisters both transferred from Southwestern Oregon Community College and loved being on the same campus again.

“I’m glad to have her as my sister, she’s pushed me through so many adversities and she’s just an inspiration to me,” Ira Navarro said. “I look up to her and of the hard work she put in and she inspired me to do the same thing, too, like, be the best I can be. Yeah, she’s my role model and she actually got me into wrestling.”

Menlo College’s Tianna Fernandez, a Baldwin graduate, placed seventh in the same weight class as Navarro.

Estrella-Beauchamp

Estrella-Beauchamp, who was seeded sixth at 130 for nationals, upset the No. 3 seed on the way to her fourth-place, All-American finish.

“I feel like nationals was tougher than it’s ever been just because you have to qualify for the tournament, so it was definitely very, very high caliber and everyone in the weight class was top 15, top 10,” said Estrella-Beauchamp, a two-time state champion for the Bears and a national champion while at Midland University prior to transferring to UP. “Literally every match was a battle, so my mind is always aiming for the top, trying to be the best I could be.”

Though Estrella-Beauchamp wasn’t entirely satisfied by her performance at nationals, she was happy to be back in the flow of competition following a painful injury that led to anterior cruciate ligament knee surgery last year and kept her off the mat.

“It felt really good, it felt really nice winning conference,” she said. “I felt like I was me again because, like I said, I believed in myself and I knew what I was capable of. I knew I could be a national champ because I was one before, so it was really nice, just even getting to warm up and be in that mindset again.

“It gave me a better feeling that I was on the right track and that all the therapy and the work I’ve been doing is working,” she added. “Considering everything, it’s not a bad start.”

She vividly remembers sitting in the doctor’s office when they told her that the healing process would be about 9 months long due to the severity of the tear. The road to recovery and spending hours doing physical therapy has not been easy since.

During times of sadness and discouragement, Estrella-Beauchamp said she just tried to stay positive and remember “who I was” before the injury.

“I went from being a national champion to somebody who couldn’t walk,” she recalled. “It was really hard. I think that really motivated me, just knowing what I was capable of; who I was; what I was fighting for, to represent home and my family. … At one point, I didn’t even care about wrestling, I just wanted to be able to play with my kids one day and be able to run and walk again.”

So far it’s been a “trial and error” season as she regains her confidence and strength with certain positions and moves, “trying to build myself back up from there,” she said.

“I was scared I would re-tear everything again,” she added. “I think one of my biggest mental battles that I faced was not thinking about it, being able to wrestle without thinking about my injury.”

Through it all, she had familiar faces from Maui by her side — the Navarro sisters.

“They’re amazing,” Estrella-Beauchamp said. “It was honestly so nice getting to train with them, they’re literally the hardest workers and they motivate me in so many ways.”

They all grew up together while competing for different Valley Isle schools. Ira Navarro said “it’s awesome” to now wrestle on the same college team, along with other wrestlers from Hawaii — fellow Lahainaluna grad Alicia Frank is also on the Argos team, along with seven others from Oahu and Kauai — all the while still representing their island home.

“It makes it feel more like home,” Navarro said. “I don’t get homesick as much because I have my Hawaii family here in Montana.”

With a degree in business management, Navarro is tentatively considering moving back to Hawaii to work in the hospitality industry and coaching with her former Lunas wrestling program.

Leaving her wrestling career behind is bittersweet for Navarro. There won’t be anymore mandatory 5 a.m. practices or long training sessions, but she’ll still miss the sport because it’s been a part of her life for years.

“Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of tough days of practice, but I enjoyed coming here and the challenges and the adversities,” she said. “It made me who I am today, so I thank wrestling a lot for that. … I’m just glad I got to finish my senior year winning the 101 title. It’s awesome.”

* Dakota Grossman is at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

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