All-American: Miyamura grad Lorianna Piestewa takes fourth at national tournament

WINDOW ROCK – Lorianna Piestewa left her mark on New Mexico high school wrestling as a four-time state champion, becoming the second female wrestler to complete that feat.

The 2024 Miyamura High graduate ended her prep career with a remarkable record of 152-5.

Four of those losses came during her eighth grade year when she finished as the reserve state champ.

Since then the Colorado Mesa University-bound Piestewa has kept a busy offseason schedule, which included a fourth-place finish at the prestigious Junior Marine Corps National Championships, earning All-American status. The two-day wrestling tournament was held July 12-13 in Fargo, North Dakota.

“Fargo is like every high school kid’s dream to compete at,” Piestewa said in an interview with the Navajo Times. “I mean, it’s the biggest tournament in the world. We’re all there battling each other on the mat just to get to the top eight. Every single girl you go against is a top dog from her state.

“She’s super good, and she knows how to scramble,” she added, “so you have to go in there with the mindset knowing that you’re gonna win. You have to be super technical and you can’t make any mistakes.”

The annual tournament fielded 1,037 entries for its all-girls tournament with Piestewa wrestling at 115 pounds. That division featured 128 wrestlers, with 28 of them seeded.

Despite not being seeded, the Gallup native finished with a 10-2 record in the double-elimination tournament.

The 18 year-old won her first two matches before coming up short to No. 12 seed Journie Rodriguez of Pennsylvania in an 8-4 decision.

“I don’t think it was a match that I should have lost,” Piestewa said. “I went in there, kind of hesitant. I wasn’t exactly warmed-up. I went there a lot more cautious than I should have been. I didn’t take as many shots as I should have, but she was a good wrestler. She was able to block out every single one of my offenses. “Honestly, I should have fought harder at the beginning.”

Following that loss Piestewa changed her game plan. Instead of being hesitant, she decided to go for shots and stay clean with her hand fighting.

“After that match I had a conversation with myself because it takes a lot to get to Fargo,” Piestewa said. “To wrestle here you have to be a competitor, so I had to ask myself, ‘Is this what I really want? Do I really want to place here?’”

That pep talk seemed to work as she won seven straight matches to reach the third-place match against fifth seed Harlee Hiller. In that final match, the Illinois wrestler won that match with a fall in the first period.

“I got caught in a move and I got pinned,” Piestewa said. “I got caught in a head throw and she took me straight to my back and she pinned me.”

Despite being pinned for the first time in a national tournament, Piestewa left the Fargo tournament elated after coming up short the previous three years. She went 2-2 in 2021 followed by marks of 3-2 and 4-2 in 2022 and ‘23, respectively..

“Every year I lost out on the first day,” Piestewa said. “My goal this year was to make it to the second day, which I did. I’m just so happy to have placed here. It’s a really big accomplishment.

“I mean, this is one of the hardest tournaments for any high schooler, so being able to place there really shows that I’m someone to look out for,” she added. “And with me going to college, it shows that I can do very well there if I just keep putting my mind to it.”

Piestewa is the third New Mexican female to earn All-American status at Fargo. Piedra Vista’s Destiny Bailey was the first female to earn that distinction when she placed eighth in 2016. Grants wrestler Tristan Martinez is the other as she took seventh in 2021.

“Lorianna is the highest placer from the state of New Mexico,” her dad, Adam, said. “We’re just so proud of her. She was able to dust herself off after her first loss and she was able to fight her way back.

“They call those consolation matches blood rounds for a reason,” he added. “She just kept going, and she didn’t want to stop. All of the wins on the backside were either by pins or technical pins. They weren’t by decisions. You know, she established her dominance coming from the backside.”

Piestewa plans to keep wrestling at 115 pounds while wrestling for the CMU women’s team in Grand Junction.

“Everybody wants to hopefully win a national championship in their first year of college,” Piestewa said. “That’s something I want to do but, honestly, I just want to continuously improve on my wrestling to the point where I can be competitive for the Olympics and World (Games) when it comes around in the next four years. At the same time, I want to be a great role model, and do well for my team.”

Piestewa credits her family for pushing her, especially her dad and older brother George.

“Growing up my brother was a big role model for me,” Piestewa said. “He would take me out every day and he would be like, you gotta push yourself harder. And my dad has always been there for me. He really showed me that it could be done.”

The CMU-bound athlete also praised her former high school teammate Yele Adcock, high school coach Nate Sellers and national coach Emily Tew.

“Yele and coach Sellers really pushed me in the room,” Piestewa said.

As for her national coach, Piestewa says Tew encouraged her to expand her repertoire and skill sets by taking part in several national tournaments.

“She’s someone who I really look up to,” Piestewa said of Tew, a four-time collegiate national champion at Oklahoma City University in the early 2010s.

“I don’t think I could have gotten this far without her. She’s an amazing woman. She’s one of the best coaches that I’ve ever had. She really pushed me to do these national tournaments. She pushed me into entering the Women’s Open in Spokane, Washington, and the National Recruiting Showcase in Las Vegas last year.

“Every year she pushed me to go Fargo,” Piestewa added. “There were years where I didn’t want to go because I didn’t think I was good enough, but she convinced me to do it. She helped me get the experience I need so that I can be a good wrestler.”

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