Opportunities to get on the mat are hard to come by for girls wrestlers at San Benito High School and most other schools. Unfortunately, it’s a matter of too few athletes and not enough money as factors keeping the school from operating a full girls team. It didn’t push away wrestlers such as recent graduate Samantha Barrientos, who spent much of her three years in the sport – like all the other girls – competing against boys who were often naturally stronger.
Now that she graduated, Barrientos is committed to testing herself against other girls and finding out where she stands in the sport. She is not only going on to compete in women’s wrestling under a scholarship at McKendree University in Illinois, but the 18-year-old also recently advanced to a USA Wrestling national tournament in Fargo, N.D., starting July 12.
She said her goals at the tournament range from winning “a couple matches to win some points for my team” to winning the whole tournament. Though she doesn’t quite know what to expect at the competition later this month, Barrientos said part of her motivation in pursuing a spot in the national tournament – she advanced from a Fresno regional in late April – was to “dip her feet” into the freestyle form of wrestling that she will experience in college, versus the “folkstyle” form of wrestling she practiced in high school.
“They have different rules and different moves and things, the way they score the match,” Barrientos said.
As for the scholarship to the school in southern Illinois, Barrientos said it came together in the last few months of the 2012-13 school year.
“I’m excited because it’s always been my dream to be a college athlete, and it ended up happening,” she said.
It ended up happening, sort of, by a fluke. Barrientos a few years back was actually just looking for a third sport, a winter sport, so she could be a so-called “triathlete” who competes during three seasons.
Now the sport drives her competitive motor.
“It’s an individual sport,” she said. “It’s everything I do to prepare. You’re going to see it in the long run.”
In the long run, she also hopes to eventually see a girls team at San Benito High School. In her three years, she said girls wrestling has gained respect and credibility. She has even lended a hand as a coach for the Rancho San Justo girls wrestlers as well.
Girls wrestling has slowly gained a certain appreciation from her father as well. Her mother, Vicki Barrientos, recalled how the athlete’s father wasn’t so excited about his daughter wrestling with boys. Vicki Barrientos said she took the mindset of “let her do something she wants.” From there, the mother said, they took her to a camp in Sacramento, found out that their daughter “really enjoyed the sport” and continued to encourage her.
“Now that she wrestles with girls,” she said, “he feels better than when it was just the boys.”
GET TO KNOW …
Samantha Barrientos, wrestler
Who or what is your favorite …?
Athlete: Jordan Oliver, OSU wrestler
Musician or group: Lincoln Park
Food or home-cooked meal: Enchiladas
Class in school: Math
Movie: ‘ATL’
