Student Athlete of the Week – Kaylin Montano
The Shadow Hills girls wrestling program has won four straight league titles and a lot of that success can be attributed to senior star Kaylin Montano.
Shadow Hills senior wrestler Kaylin Montano is our student athlete of the week.
— Blake Arthur (@BlakeArthur24) January 31, 2024
🏅 2x league champ
🏆 1 @CIFSS title (hopefully 2 soon)
📚 Bookworm
👩🔬 Plans to study chemistry or biology
💊 Wants to be a pharmacist to help others@KESQ @AthleticsSHHS @CoachDaviss @KenjiitoKESQ pic.twitter.com/r4zM7tLDxI
"She's a leader. When the team looks at her, you see their eyes focused on her and they realize that if they want to be like her, they have to act like her," said head coach Jody Davis.
Kaylin Montano has had a successful high school wrestling career. She's a CIF champion with two league titles, but she only began the sport as an outlet during the pandemic.
"It was COVID year and it was really bad, you know, everybody had mental stuff and going on and stuff. So I just saw it online and I was like, Oh, that looks really cool. Like, the workouts look so cool, they're working hard, it looks fun. And I reached out to Davis and he was like, of course, come in," said Montano.
Head coach Jody Davis is sure glad she did.
"It's one of those that you wish you had 14 more of. She'll do everything and anything that's asked of her and more. We have to tell her to put on the brakes every once in a while and heal up or take a day off because she doesn't do it if she's at home taking the day off, she's watching video and trying to learn more about the sport and just get better," said Davis.
She's also a student of life with a genuine thirst for knowledge.
"I like to read. When I'm not wrestling, I'm usually probably reading or learning about things. I think it's pretty cool to have random facts that you can pull out of nowhere," said Montano.
Determined to always improve, she's a tireless worker, making those around her better.
"It's been amazing. She's honestly a really good person to look up to. She drives me to be my best self. She goes with me to the gym so I don't suffer alone, even outside of the wrestling room. And she's just a really good partner to have on the team, like as a friend and just someone I can rely on and talk to, even not about wrestling and just she's overall a good friend and a teammate," said Alyson Ortiz.
Wrestling is an individual sport but Kaylin will always remember her team and time at Shadow Hills as she moves on to the next chapter of her life.
"This team really means a lot to me, and being a Knight will forever be a part of who I am," said Montano.
Kaylin's career isn't done just yet.
She can still win her second CIF championship but whenever her high school wrestling career does end, she wants to continue the sport in college where she plans to study chemistry or biology, hoping to one day become a pharmacist so she can help people in need.
We are always looking for Student Athlete of the Week nominations. If you know a senior who should be featured next, please contact us.
The Student Athlete of the Week segment airs every Tuesday on KESQ News Channel 3.
