Two days after his mom died, Mikey Lopez doubled down on wrestling.
Mikey was driving home from Ave Maria Catholic Church with his dad, Mike Lopez, and his two older sisters. Danielle Lopez had just passed away on Oct. 4 following a two-year battle with a rare form of cancer called leiomyosarcoma, and Mike wasn’t sure if his son still wanted to wrestle in his upcoming national tournament, the Super 32 Challenge.
“It was a hard decision for me to even ask him if he wanted to wrestle and still go out to North Carolina,” Mike Lopez recalled. “But that Sunday after we got out of mass, he said, ‘Mom wanted me there, so that’s where I’m going to go.’
“Since that day, he’s been on a mission on the mat to honor her, knowing that she’s still here watching him do what he loves to do.”
Mikey is Ponderosa’s lone returning state champion. The 17-year-old won the 126-pound title as a sophomore in 2024 and now looks to repeat that feat in the 144-pound bracket this weekend at Ball Arena.
The junior acknowledged that this season has felt “different and just weird” without his mom in the stands. The moment he hugged her after winning the title last year is now more bittersweet than ever.
But Mikey has used her memory and a message she gave him shortly before she died, to push him forward.
“Before she passed, we had that talk where she told me that she would always be with me out on the mat,” Mikey said. “That’s really important for me to remember because when I feel her there, I’m more comfortable out there.”
Mikey is 13-6 this year and overcame a concussion suffered at the Doc Buchanan Invitational in early January to return to action in time for regionals. He won the regional title last weekend and is now on a likely collision course for a championship showdown on Saturday night with Pomona’s Derek Barrows. The Panthers junior, who was third at 144 last year, is the bracket’s top seed.
No matter what happens, Mike believes his son “won by just being out there” this weekend.
“There’s going to be lots of crying on Saturday night,” Mike said. “The emotions will take over at that point because he didn’t give up, and we did everything we could to honor her.”
Ponderosa coach Jarion Beets echoed that sentiment.
“You can turn to a lot of things when dealing with grief and as a kid, you might not have the outlet that you need, and feel alone,” Beets said. “But his passion for wrestling has propelled him to deal with it in a positive way to help (Danielle) be remembered.”
Beyond this weekend, the Lopez family is currently in the process of starting a foundation in Danielle’s honor. The foundation would be funded by a couple of summer wrestling camps, possibly at Ponderosa and Cherokee Trail, and would award an annual scholarship to fund athletic involvement for a wrestler or athlete who has lost a parent.
“Now I know and understand how after something tragic like this happens, the financial burden is not easy,” Mike said. “Even if you have life insurance or a retirement fund, keeping on going in a sport is expensive. I see quickly how a kid can get pushed away from doing the sport they want to do. Our foundation will be aimed at helping kids like that, to still wrestle, compete for a club or (play a different sport).”
Donations to help the Lopez family can also be made through their GoFundMe page at .
