KC wrestlers take gold at VMI
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Kirtland Central’s Evelyn Auzenne (top) works on El Paso Hank wrestler Skyler Berry in the 120-pound championship bout at the 6th Annual Veterans Memorial Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 21 in Fort Defiance. Auzenne won by a 14-13 decision.
FORT DEFIANCE – Of the dozen individual winners, the Kirtland Central girls wrestling team took home two gold medals at the recent 6th Annual Veterans Memorial Invitational.
KC senior Evelyn Auzenne and eighth-grader Hailey Robinson won their respective championship matches at the Window Rock High-hosted meet on Saturday, Dec. 21.
Auzenne captured the 120-pound title in an excited finish as the KC grappler held off a courageous effort from El Paso Hanks wrestler Skyler Berry.
Auzenne led 13-3 entering the third period, but Berry battled back with a pair of takedowns and pulled within 14-9 with about a minute left in the match.
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Round Valley’s Taizly Newman (left) holds onto the left leg of Kirtland Central wrestler Hailey Robinson during the 6th Annual Veterans Memorial Invitational. Robinson scored a fall over Newman for the 126-pound championship title at the 6th Annual Veterans Memorial Invitational in Fort Defiance.
The KC wrestler was penalized four different times for stalling in that final minute as Auzenne won 14-13.
“I definitely got tired,” Auzenne admitted. “I just tried to push through. I just had to listen to my coaches, but wrestling is all mental.”
Although she was not seeded, Auzenne won her two matches by pins. She then earned two consecutive tech falls to advance into the championship bout.
“I think the last one was my hardest out of all of them,” said Auzenne, who improved her record to 5-0. “I was definitely hoping for a tough match, and I did get it.”
The KC grappler is a two-time state qualifier, but the only thing she’s lacking is a state medal.
“The past two years I’ve come up short,” Auzenne said. “This is my last year, so I’m going to definitely going to try and win one.”
With it being her senior year, KC coach Jerrold Golbe has been encouraging Auzenne to work harder.
“Hopefully, this is the year she does it,” Golbe said. “She’s starting to buy into it a little more, and she’s wrestling hard and wrestling tough. We’re hoping that she continues to get better and continues to push herself in the room.”
At 126, Robinson was leading 7-6 before she put Round Valley’s Taizly Newman on her back for a pin in the finale as the Round Valley grappler dropped her first bout of the season after winning her first 24 matches.
“It was tough,” Robinson said of her match. “To be honest, she was really tough. I’ve never wrestled a person like that before. She was undefeated that I didn’t know of, and it was crazy.”
In her earlier matches, Robinson pinned two opponents and she earned two tech falls at the two-day tournament.
“Hailey is just a phenomenal young lady,” Golbe said. “She works hard. She’s done a lot of wrestling and she’s been doing it since fifth grade. Her parents are really supportive.
“She’s just a great asset to get into our program as an eighth grader,” KC coach added. “She’s only going to get better, so she has a great future ahead of her.”
The ambitious eighth-grader has high aspiration as she is looking to be a five-state champion. To date, no female has accomplished that feat in New Mexico, but there are a few wrestlers knocking on that door.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow