The women’s wrestling team may have concluded their most successful season ever. Redshirt junior Marissa Gallegos brought home the program’s first ever national championship, while the overall team tied their best national tournament finish, at fourth place.
The Mavericks qualified 12 wrestlers for the NCWWC National Tournament, and came away with seven All-Americans (given to the top eight placers at each respective weight in the tournament). For comparison, CMU qualified 13 and produced 6 All-Americans last time at the tournament.
Gallegos, who came into the action with an undefeated 24-0 record and the #1 national ranking, opened her efforts with a decisive 9-1 victory over Kalli Roskos of Ursinus University, before pinning Jennifer Soto of McKendree University in the first period.
The 123-pounder then won her semi-final match on the second day of action 10-4. Fittingly, Gallego’s last career-match against Amani Jones of North Central College during the championship bout was her toughest opponent of the season.
Gallegos went down 2-0 quickly in the first period after a Jones takedown, but the Denver product answered with two takedowns of her own, with one resulting in a “leg-lace” and body turn for two more points. Gallegos won the match 7-2, and joined redshirt senior swimmer Lily Borgenheimer as CMU’s only female individual national champions.
Besides a championship, there was also a comeback story for the Mavericks at the tournament. Redshirt sophomore Dalia Garibay finished as the national-runner-up at 155 pounds.
Garibay, who was wrestling up a weight for the whole season to help balance the squad, also finished second at the 136 weight class her freshman year. Garibay, however, suffered a severe knee injury during the tournament her sophomore year, and was out all of last season with a medical redshirt.
“It’s like a roller-coaster. Here I was at 17, having a successful true freshman year and finishing second. […] Then, I suffered a season-ending injury at [the next year’s] nationals. At that point, I was crushed, as I’ve had many injuries before, but this was by far one of the worst. I found a different love for wrestling in that redshirt year. I fell in love with practicing every day and getting better, without worrying about getting competition-ready every weekend. [This season], I was nervous to come back to compete at the elite level I was at. It took me a couple competitions to get my groove back, but once I did, I was up there with [the best] and ended up taking second at nationals. It stings to lose, but realistically, 155 is not my weight, and I did the best of my ability to wrestle like myself,” Garibay said.
Redshirt sophomore Jennesis Martinez earned her third-straight All-American honor after placing fourth on the second day. Martinez defeated her teammate, freshman Isabella Morales, and then dismantled top-seeded Jessica Corredor of King College, 9-1. Martinez dropped the third-place match against Lizette Rodriguez of McKendree to finish her year.
Like Garibay, Martinez also came back from an injury this year.
“I feel like my performance this season was the best one yet. Coming back from surgery was difficult to do, but I feel I wrestled really well this year and grew a lot, in terms of my wrestling skills and technique. I had a lot of confidence in myself. I think a lot of it had to do with working with a mindset coach, as well as me knowing that I have been through some really difficult things. All of our training and all of the competitions really helped me prepare and feel confident going into [nationals],” Martinez said.
Sophomore 191-pounder Jayleen Sekona was the next highest-placing Maverick at fifth place, after going 4-2 over the course of the two days. Sekona was awarded her second straight All-American distinction.
Freshman Hailey Chapman and redshirt sophomore Holly Beaudoin both finished sixth, at 130 and 136 pounds. Morales placed seventh after dropping her earlier match against Martinez.
Looking ahead to next season, it seems women’s wrestling will again be one of the best women’s wrestling programs in the nation. The team will be losing Gallegos, but will remain largely intact with loads of young talent still on the roster.
“Our team culture is the best that it has been out of all the years that I’ve been here. Everyone is very supportive of one another and helps create a very positive team dynamic that is always fun to be around. Having this team dynamic allowed us to push each other to reach all of our goals, which is why I think we had so much success as a team this season,” Martinez said.