CENTER – Sophomore Giselle Meraz and senior Aaron Valadez won state wrestling titles in their respective weight classes earlier this month. 

Meraz attends Center High School but wrestles for Alamosa High School in the 4A girls division and won the 115 individual state title. CHS does not have a girls wrestling team. 

“I honestly was pretty sick while I was up at state, so the first two days didn’t go exactly as I wanted them to, but I still beat everyone, so that was OK,” Meraz said with a chuckle.  

Valadez said, “It felt normal to go to state, it just felt like another match. I was nervous, but I wasn’t nervous in a bad way. I was more like excited. It just felt good because I was with my teammates, and we were just helping each other and laughing. We created a good environment, so everyone was out there having fun.”  

Meraz, 16, said she feels she has grown super close to some of her Alamosa wrestling teammates and has a good bond with them.  

Valadez, 17, said he enjoys working with the younger kids.  

“I like to teach the kids how to just get better at wrestling and how to have a better mindset when doing things.” 

Both state champions are no strangers to wrestling, both started out wrestling at an early age, and just kept going.  

“I was in third grade when I started. I liked watching my brother wrestle. I learned a lot from watching him wrestle,” said Meraz. 

“I was in second grade, and I started wrestling with my older brother. We thought wrestling was like the WWE,” Valadez said with a laugh. “We thought we were going to be jumping around, but when we went to the wrestling room it was so much different. We had our coach Tito there and he just walked us through everything step by step and he made us fall in love with the sport and I have been doing it ever since.”  

Meraz stated that one of the most challenging things for her was staying the same weight. 

“If you are even an ounce over, you can’t wrestle, that was a big challenge for me, because I love food. Eating is a great hobby for me too,” she said. 

Valadez stated that one thing that stood out to him at state was how his teammates and his coach really pushed him to win. 

“It was great the way they pushed me. I just can’t wait to see the younger wrestlers do good at state next year too,” he said.  

Meraz stated that it was exciting to wrestle at state, and that she was confident she was going to win, but her favorite part was being with the people that made it fun. 

“Once you start wrestling you get all this adrenaline. I thought I was going to win. My favorite part was spending time with my friends. It was really nice.” 

Valadez stated that he too was excited to wrestle at state, and he felt good to be there. 

“It felt good to be there, it felt good to win.” 

Valadez said he thinks he might not continue wrestling but would really like to coach wrestling. He wants to inspire younger kids to believe in themselves and he wants to help them to believe in themselves too.  

Both state champions thanked their coaches, their friends and their teammates for all their support.  

Misty Lambert, who is the Multi-Tiered Student Support Coordinator at CCSD, spoke about Meraz and how hard she worked to go to state, “She’s feisty. I don’t think Gisselle goes halfhearted at anything. She’s a hard-working kid. She would go to practice for one sport for two hours and then go running for an hour. She’s intentional about her training. She was here early in the morning and then late at night sometimes. She’s been working her tail off for this and she has earned it.”  

Coach and teacher Joe Martinez has worked with both Meraz and Valadez at various levels spoke about Valadez going to state, “It’s no surprise that Aaron and Giselle have both made it so far, they have both made it a point to stand out and work hard in athletics, every step of the way they have shown their determination, they both work hard, and it shows.”