Submitted photo – Taylor Bell placed first at the Brittany David tournament this week.

It’s been an impressive start to the new wrestling season for the Arcata girls and for one young grappler in particular.

The Tigers are the defending H-DNL champions and look like the team to beat once again in 2026.

And they continued to build some momentum on the mats this past weekend with a strong showing by two of their wrestlers at the always competitive Brittany David Invitational tournament at Liberty High School.

Freshman Taylor Bell continued her impressive start to her high school career with a tournament championship at 110 pounds.

The young Bell remained undefeated on the season with a second-round pin over Malaika Batdorf in the final, securing a fourth tournament title this month.

Batdorf came into the tournament as the 13th-ranked wrestler in California in the weight division.

Bell also won placed first at the season-opening Battle at the Border in Crescent City and more recently at Grants Pass.

The Arcata newcomer also won at the McKinleyville tournament earlier this month, where she competed in the boys bracket.

“She’s making a name for herself at state,” Arcata interim head coach PJ Lynch said.

Bell isn’t the only Arcata girl to impress early in the season.

Her teammate, Alexandria Stapleton, also placed eighth in her weight class at the Brittany David tournament.

Stapleton, who has less than a year’s experience competing on the mats, is showing steady progress.

“She continues to show rapid improvement and composure against experienced competition,” her coaches said.

The Arcata girls are the defending H-DNL champions and have established themselves as the most competitive girls program here on the North Coast over the last couple of years.

And with a sizable roster of 18 girls this winter, the Tigers certainly appear to have the depth and talent to successfully defend their league title in February and make some noise in the North Coast Coast Section

“Del Norte is the team to beat on the boys side, but on the girls side we’ve got a pretty solid team that should compete at sections,” Lynch said.