Ashley Diaz, a former state wrestling champ at Seaford, wins titles at Puerto Rican national championships
Seaford's Ashley Diaz after winning the 120-pound state title in 2023. Credit: Bryan Bennett
In 2022, Seaford’s Ashley Diaz made Long Island wrestling history as the first girl to place in a sectional wrestling tournament. In 2023, she claimed the 120-pound state title in the inaugural state girls wrestling invitational.
Now, she’s taking her talents to the international level.
Last weekend, Diaz claimed both the U20 and U23 titles at 121 pounds at the Puerto Rican women’s wrestling national championships. To her, it’s not only a dream come true to see her hard work pay off, but also to do it while representing her Puerto Rican culture.
“I'm really happy to be able to compete on the international level,” Diaz said. “That's been a dream of mine since an early age. The fact that I have the heritage, the roots that tie me to Puerto Rico, that allow me to have this privilege to compete and perform and wrestle at this upper level makes me really happy.”
Diaz won the U20 title via pin over Texas’ Daniela Martinez in Saturday’s tournament. In U23 on Sunday, Diaz earned the top spot via pin over Florida’s Claudia La Costa and later broke a tie with Martinez via classification points to claim the title, 10-7.
Now a sophomore at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania, the next steps for Diaz are the Pan-American championships: U23 in June in Peru and U20 in Brazil in July. Then to world championships, where she’ll represent Puerto Rico in Slovakia in August (U20) and in Las Vegas in October (U23).
Ursinus coach Joseph Jameson said much of Diaz’s success has come from rediscovering her love for the sport. Not only is she talented and hard-working, but her joy is evident on the mat.
“She's tremendous,” Jameson said. “She's grown so much in the past year not only as an athlete, but as a person. Once everything started to fall into place for her, she was able to take wrestling more seriously and really just enjoy the sport. I think in the past she saw a lot of pressure, but has since been able to revisit why she enjoyed wrestling so much as a kid.”
And for Diaz, sharing the experience with her family is the most special part, especially her parents, Joel and Cynthia.
“My parents put so much time and support into my wrestling career and to share this experience with them means so much,” Diaz said. “They would both go to Puerto Rico in the summer when they were children and the trip definitely brought them back.”
Tess Ferguson is a reporter on Newsday's high school sports staff. She joined the team after graduating with a journalism degree from Ithaca College in 2025.
