Karen Salais

Age 15 | School Calexico | Grade Freshman

Karen Salais doesn’t really remember how many times she’s wrestled so far this year.

“I just go out there and [do it],” she says. So here’s a refresher.

Salais, only a freshman, has competed in 26 matches so far this season while wrestling for Calexico.

Of those 26, 25 have been wins.

Her only loss came at a tournament in Coronado where her 101-pound weight class was being contested by “at least 40” other girls.

On that occasion she had to “settle” for third-place. Every other tournament she’s attended has granted her gold.

Her most recent success came last week at the CIF-SDS finals held in Brawley.

There she dissected her bracket with frightening efficiency. Quick to the close, she pinned every wrestler she faced, and was named Most Outstanding Wrestler in a lower weight class for the event.

Salais said she “really [doesn’t] know” exactly why she started wrestling two years ago.

She just remembers wanting “to join something related to fighting” and being invited to participate one day.

“And since that day I haven’t stopped coming,” she said, grinning.

Salais credits “listening to my coaches, coming every day, doing extra work, lifting weights every day and running more to get conditioned” for her rapid rise.

She believes that her wrestling success has helped her in other areas as well, especially with schoolwork,

“I’ve been focused more on everything that I do, because I’ve been focused on wrestling,” she said.

Salais is looking forward to the opportunity to competing against state-level competition in the near future, but she also dreams bigger dreams, hoping, sooner or later, to compete on a national stage.