Izabela Lujan started her career as the lone girl on Pojoaque’s wrestling team.
In a year since, she built a team around her, and watched the sport of female wrestling grow in New Mexico.
“Women’s wrestling has really grown,” she said. “You can tell throughout every team.”
Lujan is now one of five competitors on the Pojoaque girls wrestling team, who competed alongside the boys team at the Pojoaque Valley Invite on Jan. 27-28.
“It’s so much better,” Lujan said of having a team. “You have a new team with you that understands your challenges better than men. And also, you have a new support system. It’s a male-dominated sport, so having a women’s team, it feels really good.”
The Pojoaque invite saw 16 teams from around the state, as far as Carlsbad and Kirtland Central, coming to town, with top competition.
“It was great for Pojoaque,” said Pojoaque coach Johnny Tapia. “It was the first time a high school tournament of this caliber has been held here. All the coaches were happy, I’m happy with it.”
The New Mexico Activities Association expanded girls wrestling for the 2022-23 year, and limited girls to only competing against other girls. Last year, Lujan’s competition was limited to only a couple of tournaments, and she often competed against boys, including at the team district championship.
Lujan said she wanted to try every sport in high school, which included wrestling.
“And also because I want to be stronger than men,” she said.
She recruited friends to the team wherever she could find.
Alaiyah Vigil got into wrestling through her boyfriend, Adryan Triana, who finished third at the state tournament in 2022 (the two have been dating for a year and a half.)
“To see the dedication and the work that he put into it,” she said. “I wanted to feel closer. And I started wrestling, and I learned that I found a love in it too. And I work as hard as possible to get where I am.”
Vigil scored a huge win for Pojoaque in the girls 152/165-pound division; she received a bye to the final, and she won in the first period with a pin of a wrestler from Los Alamos to take first place, the biggest win of her career.
“It was really exciting,” Vigil said. “I’m very proud of myself. I’ve worked really hard this whole year to try and better myself and to accomplish something like first place. It’s really amazing.”
Pojoaque’s other girls had levels of success as the Elkettes were fourth in the team standings, behind larger teams. Alexis Archuleta took third place in 132 pounds, losing the first round after a third-period fall, then winning via pin in the third-place match. Lujan was third in heavyweight; she won the third-place match with a pin early in the second period. Maria Talache took third place in 152/165 pounds after losing a first-round match.
Kianna Moreland from Española took second at the tournament in the girls heavyweight category; she defeated Lujan in the first round with a 2-1 decision in extra time. In the final she lost with a fall in the second period.
“It’s exciting,” Tapia said of the girls team. “Next year, I hope to build that girls team a little bit bigger. It’s a lot of fun. The girls, they don’t miss practice. They show up every day.”
The home advantage lifted Pojoaque’s boys, too. Even sophomore Ethyn Boyd won his first varsity match with a first-period pin of a Taos wrestler. Eighth-grader Ben Duran continued a great debut season with a third-place finish at 133 pounds, winning the final match with a 9-3 decision. Alan Padilla finished sixth at 160 pounds with several wins, and Erik Hansen was seventh at 215 pounds.
Triana was the big winner for the Elks with a championship at 172 pounds, winning five matches all in the first period.
“It’s nice to be at a home meet once in a while,” Triana said. “Don’t have to travel. Get to wake up and sleep in your own bed.”
The Pojoaque team has turned around from two years ago when there were only four wrestlers on the team and none qualified for state. This year’s roster contains 16 wrestlers, and they can fill every weight class.
In the team standings, Española edged out Pojoaque by one point for sixth place. Los Lunas was the winner at the tournament, with Moriarty second.
For Española, Kyle Coffeen won first place in 152 pounds, with five first-period pins to cruise through the bracket.
Noah Maez and Landon Atencio both took second place at the tournament; Maez at 145 pounds lost to a Los Lunas wrestler in a tight 1-0 decision on a second-period escape (worth one point), and Maez could not score a point from the bottom in the third period. Atencio, at 114 pounds, lost a 3-2 points match in the final to a Carlsbad senior who had finished second at state in 5A last year.
Cruz Sandoval finished third at 139 pounds, losing in the semifinals to the reigning 3A state champion, who he beat once earlier in the season. Chiro Barrita (121 pounds) and Attilio Winn finished fifth.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Española coach Emilio Atencio said. He also said, “A lot of these teams, we’re going to be facing them for districts and regionals. So it’s nice to get a good look at them before the tournaments that really count.”
Española and Pojoaque will compete this weekend in Moriarty at district duals. This year, 4A is combined with A-3A, and regionals replaced districts for individual state qualification. The regional tournament will be Feb. 10-11 at Kirtland Central. The girls regionals will be this weekend at Farmington.
Looking further into the future, Lujan also hopes to coach girls wrestling after she graduates.
“This is my sport,” Lujan said. “This is the sport where I found family in. This is my family away from home.”