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| February 16, 2023 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023 Shelton-Mason County Journal Page 25
Champion: Cervantes earns seed, bye-atstate meet
continued from page 17
championship tournament at
the Mini-Dome in Shelton, in—
cluding a- decisive 31-second
victory over Washougal’s Ali-
yha Vargas in the champion-
ship bout.
“It’s definitely just letting
them know I’m in control,”
Cervantes said.. “The second
you can get into their head,
you’re going to have more
success because now they’re
scared of you. You scare them
right off the bat. You push
them hard. You» like get in
their head, ‘Oh cr'ap, they’re
’scary. They’re strong.’ And
that’s what they’re thinking.
They’re thinking about surviv-
ing. They’re not thinking about
wrestling." ,
With’ the regional title
tucked away, Cervantes moves
to Mat Classic XXXIV on Fri—
day and Saturday at the Ta-
coma Dome, where she’s one of
four seeded competitors in her
weight class and receives a bye
into the quarterfinal rmmd.
Shelton coach Rodgar Gar—
rick says Cervantes is con-
stantly looking to improve and
puts in extra work, including
spending time training with
the Highclimber boys team.
“She started when she was
really young,” Garrick said.
“She pretty much wrestles
year—round. She’s always here
in the mornings, getting her
runs in, getting extra workouts
in. She’s willing to put in the
work and that’s what makes
her special.”
Cervantes qualified for Mat
Classic XXXIII in after
finishing fifth at regionals, but
went 1-2 at the state meet and
EliBeth Cervantes is all smiles after winning the 1215-pound Region 2
title.
Journal photo by Justin Johnson
was eliminated on 'the first
day.
“She underachieved last
year,” Garrick said. “She
should have been a state med-
alist. She was good enough to
wrestle on Saturday at state.
She was good enough, but she
let the pressure and a little bit
of stress get to her. She’s going
to high—level tournaments all
over the country and I think
she doesn’t have competition
anxiety any more. She used
to let that stress and anxiety
get to her. She doesn’t let that
happen any more. She stays
calm and composed.”
Cervantes says that part of
her pre-match routine includes
positive self-talk and listening
to music.
“I had a lot of problems last
year, like, ‘Oh I’m not good
enough, but 'I have to win,’
Cervantes said. “So this year, I
am really focusing on affirma-
tions. Like, I’ve worked enough
for this. I tell myself, not in a
cocky way, but like, I’m the
best. I’ve put all this work in.
I understand how I need to
wrestle; I tell myself that I
know I’m good enough, so I just
have to go out and do it.”
Cervantes said she listens
to “The Stakeout” by Russ be-
fore she wrestles because she
identifies with the lyrics.
“It’s about how you’ve done
everything to be there. I think
one of my favorite things that
he says is ‘let my success
make the noise.’ I’m not going
around trying to be like ‘Oh,
I’m the best from the best from
the best.’ I’m proving that I’m
the best. I definitely love that
song.”
Garrick says one of the keys
to Cervantes’ success is having
a strategy and a certain mind—
set every time she wrestles.
“When you get to the level of
competition that she’s wrestled
at, all over the country against
high-level opponents, you have
to have a strategy and'a mind—
set when you go out there,”
Garrick said. “She does have
a game plan that she wants
to formulate throughout the
match. She’s also very willing
to adapt that game plan if need
'be. She did that in her finals
match today. She has a set
group of techniques that she
likes to hit and she looks for
them, and if they’re not there,
she’s got a backup plan too.”
Joining Cervantes at Mat
Classic XXXIV is teammate
Aurora Marcy, who qualified
with a third-place finish at 190
pounds. ’
Marcy, a first-year wrestler,
won three of her four bouts, in-
cluding two rousing victories in
which she trailed in the third
period. She pinned her oppo-
nent late in both to advance.
“It is very, very hard, espe-
cially at those upper weight
classes, for first-year wrestlers
to even compete at the regional
level,” Garrick said. “She just
keeps getting better and better
every day.
“We talk about mindset all
the time and you have to have
’ a'competitor’s mindset at all
times and Aurora, she exem-
plifies that. She’s willing to
compete for a whole match. A
lot of times girls don’t want to
wrestle all three rounds and
she does. She’s willing to com-
pete and she’s willing to take
her opponents what we call ‘in
deep water.’ She’s _willing to
test her conditioning against
her opponents’ conditioning.
Shedoesn’t get tired because
she trains really, really hard. \
She waits for an opportunity to
execute what she’s really good
at and she took advantage of
that today.”
Shelton’s Joy Gattinger and
Angela Anderson each finished
fifth at the meet, winning their
placing bouts with second-pe-
riod pins.