Compiling a 3-1 record at 98 pounds, Jennifer Espinoza managed
to battle back through the consolation rounds Saturday at the
Central Coast Section Girls Wrestling Championships in San Jose,
earned third place after her opponent bowed out with an injury, and
as a result will advance to the very first CIF Girls Wrestling
State Invitational
— and all on a right knee that wasn’t 100 percent.
HOLLISTER
Even with a bum knee, Jennifer Espinoza is going to state.
Compiling a 3-1 record at 98 pounds, the San Benito junior managed to battle back through the consolation rounds Saturday at the Central Coast Section Girls Wrestling Championships in San Jose, earned third place after her opponent bowed out with an injury, and as a result will advance to the very first CIF Girls Wrestling State Invitational — and all on a right knee that wasn’t 100 percent.
“But it held up pretty good,” said Espinoza, who was unable to have her swollen right knee drained prior to competition last week.
The Baler lightweight was sidelined for roughly two weeks because of the injury. But with the amount of rest she had, the pain was limited once the tournament finally started.
“It started hurting in the second match — the semifinals,” Espinoza added. “But after that, I didn’t feel it.”
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What may have been a bigger factor for Espinoza was the lack of mat time leading up to the tournament. After receiving two byes to open the 98-pound bracket, Espinoza won her first match by fall (2:18) against Telma Tavares, a freshman out of Overfelt.
But in her semifinal bout against North Salinas senior Angela Fragoso, an opponent she beat by a 7-2 decision on Jan. 12, Espinoza fell short by a 10-1 major decision.
“I think it was because of my conditioning,” she said. “I was gasping for air.”
San Benito head coach Brian DeCarli expressed a similar sentiment.
“The biggest thing was probably her conditioning. You can’t rest your knee and keep up your conditioning,” DeCarli said. “But you always know with Jennifer, she’s gonna go out there and give it her all.”
Moved to the consolation bracket as a result, however, Espinoza needed to win her consolation semifinal bout against Milpitas junior Melissa Abed in order to qualify as one of the top-four finalists in the weight class and advance to state.
And she left no doubt when she pinned Abed in 4:28 — a win that qualified her to the state tournament.
“And my knee didn’t hurt at all,” said Espinoza, who eventually went on to earn third place at 98 pounds after her opponent, sophomore Alejabdr Franco of Everett Alvarez, injury defaulted in the third- and fourth-place consolation final.
“I think I did pretty good for not practicing for two weeks, with no mat time,” she added.
As the lone qualifier from San Benito, which sent four wrestlers to the all-girls tournament, Espinoza will now represent the Haybalers in roughly two weeks at the inaugural CIF Girls Wrestling State Invitational, slated for Feb. 25-26 at Lemoore High School.
Although an unofficial state tournament has been held in Hanford in years past, the CIF announced in August the implementation of an official all-girls state tournament after a series of successful regional tournaments held last January saw some 704 female athletes from 173 schools participate statewide.
Balers Sydney Lomanto (103 pounds), Alexis Sumaya (108 pounds) and Samantha Barrientos (114 pounds) all competed on Saturday at San Jose’s Oak Grove High, but each finished 0-2 in their respective weight class.
As for Espinoza, she is expected to have her knee drained prior to the state competition.
“She wrestled as hard as she could,” DeCarli said. “The time off may have set her back, but she wrestled well. I’m proud of her.”
