DENVER –– Though 2021-22 constitutes only the second season in which girls wrestling has operated as a sanctioned high school sport in Colorado, the 118-pound female bracket at CHSAA's girls wrestling state championships featured a rarity practically never found within the sport.
Specifically, the state's 118-pound tournament inside Ball Arena includes not one, not two, but three defending state gold medalists.
Simply put, two defending champs don't often check into the same bracket at state, let alone a trio –– in Pomona's Persaeus Gomez, Olathe's Nicole Koch and Platte Valley's Navea Garcia.
"In my 28 years of covering wrestling, I can't remember ever seeing three defending champions in the semifinals of the same bracket at a state tournament," Tim Yount of On The Mat Rankings said.
As one could reasonably assume, each component of the consecutive-title-hungry threesome coasted through the early stages of the double-elimination tournament.
Eventually, all three found themselves one match away from reaching the championship round upon appearing in Friday evening's semifinals –– where Gomez and Resendez clashed for the third time this season.
Following a back-and-forth first round, Gomez utilized several takedowns to pull away from her semifinal counterpart for her third victory in as many tries over Resendez.
"Even though I've already beaten her twice this year, anything can happen," Gomez described. "I always stay humble. I always give everyone their respect. She's won state too, so she's a great competitor. And she's a close friend. So it sucks having to wrestle your friends, but it's great knowing all your work can pay off. I just knew to focus on my footwork against her."
Last season, Gomez posted a perfect 28-0 record en route to her first-career state title. This time around, Pomona's star heads into Saturday's finals against Koch with a 25-0 mark to her name in 2021-22.
Though each chapter of the sophomore's underclassman tenure appears practically identical, it isn't as if she hasn't improved this season.
Specifically, Gomez believes she has mastered the mental side of wrestling as a sophomore, which she hopes to continue utilizing to her advantage when hitting the mats on Saturday.
"Physically, I've grown a little bit, which is always good," Gomez said. "But I've really worked on the mental aspect this past year. More than anything, I feel like I've really improved with that and have been able to set up better game plans because of that. And that's what I'll focus on to put myself in position to be victorious tomorrow."
In Koch's case, Olathe's senior cruised to Saturday's finals following three wins by pin in as many tries at the state tournament.
Unofficially, the upperclassman will seek her fourth state title on Saturday –– in light of crowning herself a champion during both of girls wrestling's probationary seasons before seizing an official title last year.
"I'm feeling pretty good," Koch said. "I've never wrestled (Gomez) before, but I know she's pretty good. I'm just gonna keep my same mentality and go into the match with nothing to lose. And I'm just going into the match ready to wrestle as hard as I can."
Calhan's pair of defending state champs looks the part
Callahan's girls wrestling squad entered Friday's festivities owning a pair of title-hungry defending state champions, both of which looked the part during the quarterfinals and semifinals.
Specifically, junior 185-pounder Taylor Knox proved victorious by pin in the quarters and semis as sophomore 215-pounder Ciara Monger achieved the same fate en route to clinching a championship berth.
Meanwhile, Platte Valley's returning state champion in 161-pounder Navea Garcia improved her campaign record to 22-5 while coasting into the finals with a semifinal pinning of Bennett's Alissa DuBois.