Todd Beamer High School alum Arian Carpio has the opportunity to qualify for the upcoming 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, competing in women’s wrestling representing the Philippines. She could not only be the first woman to compete in the Olympics wrestling for the Philippines, but also the first Filipino wrestler in the 21st century.
But, the 25-year-old said she doesn’t feel any pressure.
“I know after 2024, I am done, so I kind of just threw pressure out the window,” she said. “I told myself I am going to wrestle every match like it might be my last because it very well could be.”
Last month, Carpio won the Filipino Open Wrestling Nationals, qualifying her for the national team. Carpio, who had been representing the U.S. since high school, said it’s an honor for her to represent her family heritage.
“It kind of means more to me than it did representing the USA because it is such a broad picture. But it is much more personal for me to wear the Filipino flag,” Carpio said.
Carpio has the opportunity to move on to the U.S. Olympic Games as soon as September 2023 when she can compete in the Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. Carpio has competed all over the world in her life; in high school, she traveled to Colombia, and has been to every continent except Africa, Australia and, well, Antarctica where there isn’t much of a wrestling scene.
“It’s been a journey. Every country I go to I try to immerse myself in the culture. I always tell myself I am not allowed to eat something that I can get in America while I am there. I think every country is unique in its own way,” Carpio said.
When Carpio was at Todd Beamer, she dominated on the mat. In her four years of high school, she earned a spot at the state championship every year. She was a back-to-back state champion in the 112- and 124-pound division during her sophomore and junior years. Her first and last year as a Titan she came in second place in the Tacoma Dome.
One of the reasons for her success is her mentality. “That innocence of believing that you can be the best at anything you believe you can be … Even if I had the most fabulous results at a tournament, I still was competing with myself and telling myself my next win is going to be my best win.”
She attended Arizona State University in Tempe after high school, and continued to wrestle for the Sunkist Kids Club in Arizona. She now studies architecture at Columbia University after a six year pause in education and wrestles for the New York Regional Training Center. During the transition from ASU to moving to New York, Carpio became pregnant during quarantine and now has her 22-month-old daughter, Sasha.
“When I was pregnant, I had kind of given up the idea that I would ever compete again,” she said.
Carpio became sponsored by the NYC RTC which allowed her to wrestle and go to school and not have to work a standard job on top of all that because of her training.On average the train for about 20 hours a week, not counting rehab and treatment.
Carpio is engaged to Mark Zagunis, a former professional baseball player who made his debut with the Chicago Cubs back in the summer of 2017.
The two, after their professional athletic careers, are seemingly destined to work together. With Carpio’s architecture degree from Columbia and a short stint in property management, she is setting herself up for after wrestling.
“My partner was in construction, and now is in masonry. I thought it would be a good pair … I am ready to have more kids after this and get my architecture career started,” she said.
For an athlete who has been wrestling since the age of 6, it’s been a long road for Carpio. But, there’s still a few more firsts to check off her list in the near future.
