For the second year in a row, Ilyana Martinez will be wrestling overseas.
A sophomore-to-be at Lebanon High School, Martinez qualified for the Baku Beach Wrestling World Series, which will be held Aug. 27-29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
She will leave Aug. 24 to head overseas for the fourth time, following previous trips to Serbia, Greece and England. The Greece trip last year was for beach wrestling as well.
Her journey into beach wrestling started with her club coach, Ty Loethen, who is a beach wrestler.
He had Martinez join the Midwest Beach Wrestling Team that wrestles at Captain Ron’s in Sunrise Beach.
“I think the hardest thing is trying not to touch your knee when you’re shooting,” she said. “You can only touch hands and feet, so it’s hard to make sure you aren’t shooting.”
She said she likes to shoot low singles, so it has made her a more well-rounded wrestler. Beach wrestling has taught her to stay in the center of the circle.
Going to Baku
Martinez secured her spot on the U17 team by competing in the 2026 Carolina Beach National Championships & World Team Qualifier in May. As of July 6, USA Wrestling was still looking to finalize the roster for both the U17 men’s and women’s teams.
She was on the U17 team last year that went to Katerini, Greece. Martinez was on a roster with wrestlers from Michigan, Texas, Ohio, Washington, Montana, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.
“When I first started wrestling, I wanted to go compete overseas with my coach, which I actually got to do when I went to Greece,” said Martinez, who had been wrestling under Loethen since she was 10.
“He was super stoked about it because that was his first athlete that he trained that ever did international competition,” said Martinez’s mother, Lynda. “They both had a lot of fun.”
Martinez travels to Columbia to work with Loethen, who runs Jaguar Martial Arts and Missouri Championship Wrestling Academy. She also currently trains 3x with Arsenal Elite the wrestling program is coached by Keoki Borge.
Looking back at 2025
Martinez seemed to be on track last year to be successful in the postseason until an injury derailed the campaign.
She was 28-7 when an injury during warm-ups ended her season. Well, not technically. She still went 3-0 in a quad meet wth Monett, Republic and Bolivar on Jan. 8. She had only one match — a pin in 54 seconds.
The tournament before the quad, she took 7th at The Wonder Women event, posting a 5-2 mark.
Turns out she cracked her foot and the fracture ended her season before a chance at a state medal.
“I definitely want to place at state next year,” she said of the MSHSAA finals.
Before that, she will wrestle in Fargo — 16U 145-pound bracket this week — and the Super 32. She also wrestled at the Women’s National Duels in Westfield, Indiana, earlier this summer.
She will have a new coach this upcoming season for the Yellowjackets following the retirement of Matt Neely. His daughter, Kaylee, will move up from her role as assistant coach. Neely guided Lebanon to a state title in 2023 and a third-place finish in 2024. Since 2019, Lebanon has secured five state trophies.
