She mowed lawns to fund her wrestling dreams. Then won her second state title
Krislynn Martinez spends part of her summers doing the kind of work most teenagers try to avoid.
The Maize South sophomore will pick up sticks, rake leaves, mow grass and take whatever odd jobs she can find around her west Wichita neighborhood, often teaming up with her brothers and staying gone for hours at a time. She does it for a reason: to earn money for wrestling camps and tournaments.
That’s how much Martinez loves the sport.
And that same all-in commitment showed again last weekend in Park City, where Martinez capped a 39-2 season by winning her second straight Kansas high school girls wrestling state championship at 100 pounds.
After winning the same Class 5A state title as a freshman, Martinez successfully defended her crown with a dominant run through the bracket. After receiving a first-round bye, she dispatched her three opponents with a second-period pin, a first-period pin and an 18-1 technical fall in the finals over Basehor-Linwood freshman Lydia Robinette.
The championship match lasted just over three minutes. That was all the time Martinez needed to score three takedowns and two four-point nearfalls, methodically building a lead until the match was stopped.
“It really didn’t feel any different to me,” Martinez said. “I put the work in to get to where I am now and I just went into the tournament and wrestled the way I know how.”
It was the kind of performance that reflected exactly what she said she had worked on all offseason: improving her defense, sharpening her misdirections and growing on the mental side of wrestling. Just as importantly, she made strides in how she set up her shots and finished them instead of rushing to force a pin.
“I was most proud of my takedowns,” Martinez said. “I wasn’t just going in and reaching. I made sure I set them up and that I had the correct finish.”
For those who know Martinez best, that precision is just another extension of how she approaches anything she cares about.
Her father, Steven, said it’s common for Krislynn and her brothers to disappear into the neighborhood during the summer and return later with money in their pockets and stories about what they did for neighbors. If there’s work to be done and it helps fund another wrestling opportunity, she’s in.
That drive, he said, has always been part of who she is.
“When she finds something that she likes and wants to do, she puts everything into it,” Steven said. “She prepares and works with a goal in mind and she doesn’t stop until she achieves it. She’s always looking for new ways to attack her dreams.”
One of his favorite examples came before wrestling entered the picture, when Krislynn was all-in on basketball. Steven came home from work one day and found his daughter in the driveway with cones set up, working on her ball handling on her own, without anyone asking her to do it.
The sport changed. The mindset didn’t.
When Steven tried to motivate her ahead of her first state tournament with a promise she could have anything she wanted if she brought home a state title, Krislynn knew exactly what she wanted: a spot at the Iowa women’s wrestling summer camp.
She earned it.
Now, after winning a second straight state title, she wants to go back to Iowa again. This time, she’s helping pay for it the only way she knows how: by working for it.
That’s what made Martinez’s celebration in Park City feel so meaningful, even if it was brief.
The usually reserved sophomore, who prefers to let her wrestling do the talking, flashed two fingers after the win — a subtle but unmistakable nod to her second state title and the bigger goal she has in mind. She is halfway to what she wants: a chance to go 4-for-4 in state championships during her high school career.
“I’ve worked so hard to get to where I am now,” Martinez said. “So it feels really good to be getting my second one. Now I’m going after that third.”
Kapaun’s Courtney Nye and Hailey Estrada win Class 5A state titles
Kapaun crowned two 5A state champions in senior Courtney Nye and freshman Hailey Estrada.
Nye completed a dominant 39-2 season by repeating as the 125-pound champion with a third-period pin over Great Bend sophomore Brooklynn kelly in the finals. Nye pinned three of her four opponents at state and won her semifinal by 17-0 technical fall, becoming the first two-time girls wrestling champion in Kapaun history.
Estrada joined her atop the podium at 105 pounds, finishing 38-5 with a 7-3 decision over defending champion Brookelyn Treaster of Newton. It was a rematch of the regional final where Treaster prevailed in a first-period pin. The rematch in the state finals lived up to the hype, as the two traded takedowns, then Estrada broke a 3-3 tie in the third period with an early escape. She then sealed the title with a takedown in the final 30 seconds, becoming the third individual girls state champion in Kapaun history.
Winfield’s Abby Brenn wins a 4A state championship
Winfield senior Abby Brenn became the first two-time girls wrestling state champion in school history, finishing off a dominant 23-2 season by repeating at 190 pounds in 4A. Brenn capped her title run with a second-period pin over Iola junior Zoie Hesse in the state finals after winning the 190 title last season. She powered through this year’s bracket with three pins in four matches, as her only non-pin came in a 16-4 major decision in the semifinals.
Bluestem’s Reagan Neal wins a 3-1A state title
Bluestem sophomore Reagan Neal capped a 41-4 season with the 3-1A state title at 110 pounds, rallying for a stunning second-period pin over previously unbeaten Smith Center sophomore Keleigh Ochoa to hand her first loss of the season. Neal pinned all four opponents in her title run, but the biggest moment came in the finals after she trailed 10-2 on the scoreboard. After Ochoa scored a four-point nearfall in the first period, then a takedown early in the second period, Neal answered with an escape and then turned a takedown into the title-winning pin with seven seconds left in the period.
Wichita-area high school girls wrestling state medalists
Class 5A
Andover: Ashlyn Bachman, jr., 31-9, 235, second.
Andover Central: Trinity Williams, so., 30-9, 110, fifth.
Arkansas City: Jeslyn Swanson, so., 31-11, 145, fourth; Ella Perkins, fr., 28-10, 135, fifth.
Bishop Carroll: Molly Tra, fr., 37-11, 120, sixth.
Goddard: Brooklyn Simpson, so., 22-9, 120, fifth; Maryah Jones, fr., 14-8, 155, fifth; Sophia Castorena, fr., 25-15, 190, fifth.
Hutchinson: Aaida Brown, so., 18-9, 110, third.
Kapaun Mt. Carmel: Courtney Nye, sr., 39-2, 125, first; Hailey Estrada, fr., 38-5, 105, first; Bella Green, sr., 33-5, 145, second; Grace Hare, jr., 34-9, 135, second; Kristine Schmidt, sr., 33-9, 235, third; Ayva Besco, so., 31-17, 140, fifth; Brynnley Lerch, fr., 37-9, 130, fifth.
Maize South: Krislynn Martinez, so., 39-2, 100, first.
Newton: Brookelyn Treaster, jr., 30-5, 105, second; Ryah Bristol, so., 31-5, 140, second; Avery Hinojos, sr., 37-4, 115, third; Madyson Gomez, so., 23-13, 100, fifth; Jaeann James, sr., 29-7, 130, sixth; De’ja Giles, fr., 25-16, 110, sixth.
Valley Center: Mikaela Lara, sr., 37-11, 170, fourth; Azul Rodriguez-Colchado, so., 27-19, 235, sixth.
Class 4A
Augusta: Mylee Renville, jr., 37-7, 105, fourth.
Circle: Alexis Wall, jr., 28-1, 115, third.
El Dorado: Aryana Vance, jr., 39-4, 155, fourth; Izzy Greer, jr., 18-12, 235, fourth.
Haven: Tristel Schroeder, so., 40-10, 130, fifth.
Nickerson: Elizabeth Dick, sr., 28-2, 235, second.
Smoky Valley: Madison Zeller, fr., 26-12, 235; Kate Griffin, jr., 32-9, 190, sixth; Roxana Riedel, jr., 32-11, 135, sixth; Gracie Brady, so., 35-16, 125, sixth; Brylie Ricketts, so., 34-17, 130, sixth.
Wellington: Maddie Fullerton, jr., 37-4, 130, second; London Pourner, so., 36-10, 100, fifth; Mikayla Ybarra, sr., 33-9, 145, sixth.
Winfield: Abby Brenn, sr., 23-2, 190, first; Rheya Cook, so., 34-7, 235, third.
Class 3-1A
Bluestem: Reagan Neal, so., 41-4, 110, first; Maicey Marrs, so., 21-18, 105, sixth.
Douglass: Braylie Knisley, sr., 20-12, 235, fourth; Layton Roberts, jr., 26-19, 190, fourth.
Eureka: Harlie Owings, sr., 35-8, 170, fifth.
Sterling: Jacynn Boeken, so., 38-7, 115, fourth; Addison Morgan, fr., 37-11, 120, fourth.
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