HANFORD --California girls love their wrestling, too.

When it was announced that the California Invitational held at Hanford West High’s Event Center was the largest girls wrestling tournament in the nation, the crowd gave an ovation to remember.

The tournament drew 346 wrestlers to the 2-day tournament, which is the unofficial state championships. This year’s total is 80 plus more than last season.

“Girls wrestling is really starting to pick up and get noticed,” Tournament Director Allen Blanchard said. “This is the largest tournament in the nation.”

Hanford schools brought seven wrestlers and four are alive for the second day.

Hanford High’s Justine Neves was 2-0 and in the 122-pound quarterfinals and teammate Marina Castillo was 0-1 and alive in the consolations at 189. Ashley Huerta (108) was 0-2 and eliminated and Jammie Domingo (126) was 1-2 and eliminated.

“The tournament is going well,” Neves said.

Hanford West’s Gabby Corona-Zamarripa advanced to the quarterfinals at 146 with a pair of wins and Mayra Zamora (122) was 1-1 and stayed alive in the consolations. Heather Roy went 1-2 at 114 and was eliminated.

“I think the tournament is big and major for our town,” Corona-Zamarripa said. “There’s a lot of girls here today and this is the largest tournament in the nation.”

Girls wrestling is taking off with some teams at the event nearly fielding a full lineup.

But unlike the boys wrestling, the girls seem to share a better sportsmanship and bond. After most matches the girls would embrace and congratulate each other.

“We’re not like the boys, we all kind of root for each other,” Corona-Zamarripa said. “Our team is really close with the Hanford High team. We kind of wrestle as one team.”

Wrestling resumes this morning at 9 a.m.