GFA’s Kayla Batres secures bid to compete at U20 world championships

Kayla Batres of Milford (black singlet) controls California’s Sophia Marie Gonzales to win at FloWrestling’s Who is No. 1 showcase event in October 2025 in Iowa. (Photo courtesy Sam Janicki / SjanickiPhoto.com)

The Batres family from Milford had three wrestlers competing in the Pat Shaw Memorial international tournament in Guatemala City in Guatemala on June 5-6.

Kayla Batres, a student at Greens Farms Academy in Westport, competed in the U20 women’s tournament representing Guatemala and won at 50 kilograms (110 pounds). She won all three matches against Guatemalan wrestlers.

By winning, Batres secured a spot on Team Guatemala to compete at the U20 world championships on August 16-23 in Slovakia. The tournament was also the trials for the Guatemalan team for the U20 world championships.

Kayla’s brother Eli Batres, Jr., competed in the U15 competition for the U.S. and Bridgeport’s South Side Wrestling in freestyle and Greco Roman and finished third in each competition.

Kayla’s sister Karina, representing the U.S. and South Side, finished second in the U15 competition at 46 kilograms (101 pounds) behind Chile’s Armij Acosta Armijo. Karina went 2-1 in the tournament with two pins.

South Side wrestling coaches Jack Conroy and Brandon Fulco were also part of the 34-person American delegation in the tournament.

The Pat Shaw Memorial is held in memory of wrestling leader Pat Shaw of the United States, who introduced wrestling in Guatemala in 1947, when the Guatemala Olympic Committee hired him to prepare their wrestling team for the Central American and Caribbean Games in Guatemala in 1950.

Competition was also held in U15 men’s freestyle and Greco Roman, U15 women’s freestyle, U20 men’s freestyle and Senior Division men’s freestyle.