Judging by the first meet of the season, the Española Valley girls wrestling team is making great strides.
“I think we’re starting off the season pretty good,” coach Gilbert Sandoval said. “They’re looking good. Nowadays, girls wrestling is the No. 1 growing sport in America, so I’m starting to get the numbers. Wrestling is such a challenge, such a hard sport, so you try to make it as fun as you can, but what you put into it is what you get out.”
Senior Kianna Moreland snagged first place in the heavyweight division at a Volcano Vista meet, while sophomore Jazlynn Maestas was second in the 105-pound weight class and Esmeralda Trivino took fourth at 120 pounds, Sandoval said.
“I was very pleased with the results,” he said. “Depending on how hard they work, it’s only going to get easier,” he said. “Good things are to come from what I see. I have high expectations on a few of these girls.”
Miquela Sandoval, Sheila Baldarama and Analisa Maestas all put in solid performances, the coach said.
Moreland missed most of last season with a knee injury, but she is coming back with a vengeance, he said.
“She’s back and she puts in hard time in the wrestling room,” Gilbert Sandoval said. “She definitely can make some noise at any tournament.”
Maestas has the wherewithal to make an impact at the state meet, he said, especially since she has given up basketball to concentrate on the mat.
“She’s really talented and has had the most success out of all wrestlers,” Gilbert Sandoval said, noting Maestas gave a strong accounting of herself in her first state appearance last season.
“She’s a tough wrestler,” he said. “I have high hopes for her this year. She did basketball last year and it was hard to concentrate on both sports and still improve. She would show up to wrestling practice late, after basketball and then go to tournaments and was beating all these girls with just 20 minutes of practice a day. This year, I’m excited because she’s finally figured out she wanted to just do wrestling.”
And with her full attention on wrestling, there’s no telling how far she can go, Gilbert Sandoval said.
“I have high expectations,” he said. “I think she can make podium at state, but one step at a time.”
Doing two sports in the same season just got to be too much, Maestas said, especially seeing the other wrestlers at the state meet.
“I think that going to state really opened my eyes that you have to take it more serious,” she said. “I need to focus more. With basketball, I had back-to-back practices everyday. But I think that out of all the sports that I do, wrestling is more on-your-own type of sport. You just have to worry about yourself. Now that I’m not doing basketball, it’s more of a way to take things more seriously and I can succeed more.”
Even though she’s a sophomore, Maestas sees herself as a team leader, along with Moreland.
“I think we are pushing them all to succeed to more,” Maestas said. “When you see other people want to win, we all work pretty hard. And all of us, we all wrestle together and we push each other to our fullest.”