High School Sports

FEDERAL WAY — Arian Carpio begged and pleaded.

"Please, Daddy? Please?" the 5-year old would ask, looking up with those brown eyes he rarely could refuse.

"Please, can I wrestle?"

But Gerald Carpio was old school, both as a father and a coach. Wrestling was for boys. The notion of his first daughter attempting takedowns was quickly quashed. Few girls wrestled back then, and when they did, they mostly faced boys.

"It's a rough sport," said Gerald, a former high-school wrestler at Ingraham who once coached at Cleveland and Skyline.

So while son Ares was encouraged on the mat, Arian was pushed toward gymnastics and soccer. If she managed to tag along to one of his Federal Way Spartans club wrestling practices, Gerald steered her away from the action.

He got creative. "Maybe you should go do jumping jacks or something," he'd tell her.

But Arian was persistent.

"She's a very strong-willed girl," mother Anne Carpio said.

Finally, when Arian was about 6, dad gave in and let her challenge one of his junior-varsity boys for a slot in an upcoming tournament.

"I didn't think she'd win," Gerald said.

But she did. She went on to win the tournament, too.

Today, Arian and Ares are a winning combination at Beamer High School in Federal Way. Both are unbeaten and expected to compete for state titles at Mat Classic XXIV next month at the Tacoma Dome.

Ares, a senior who captured the 119-pound state crown as a sophomore, is 17-0 with all but three victories by pin or technical fall. He is ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 4A at 126 pounds behind Tahoma's Steven Hopkins and helped the Beamer boys capture their first South Puget Sound League South Division dual-meet championship.

Arian, a freshman, carries a 29-0 record with 18 pins and is the state's top-ranked girl at 106 pounds for all classifications. She is a pied piper of sorts, a key reason there are now a record nine girl wrestlers in the Beamer program.

Ares, who placed third at state at 125 last season, said he's excited to have Arian on the team and never takes any kidding about it from other guys.

"Man, your sister's tough," they tell him. "She's a beast. She's a fighter."

Ares has never wrestled his sister, but helped coach her when she was younger.

"He's definitely my main role model," Arian said. "I look up to him."

The two are very close with each other and younger sister Auna, a seventh-grader who also wrestles.

Ares and Arian are both good students who are involved in Beamer student government, but their personalities differ.

"Ares is the earth and Arian is the fire," their mom said.

Ares, who plans to wrestle at Arizona State, is so humble he hesitated to wear the letterman's jacket his parents bought him, not wanting to seem boastful. Arian isn't arrogant either, but holds little back.

"She's the one who says, 'This is what I want and you're not going to get in my way,' " Anne said.

Arian's motivation is simple.

"I just don't like losing," she said.

Ares said he is driven by last year's loss in the state semifinals to Joey Palmer, who transferred from Rogers of Puyallup to Tahoma this school year.

"That was a reality check that I have to work harder," he said. "This year, it's win state or nothing. I'm going all out for it."

Ares is actually hoping for twin titles, one for himself and one for his sister.

"It would be great to have two champs in the family," he said.

Sandy Ringer: 206-718-1512 or sringer@seattletimes.com