Lehigh women’s wrestling first-year takes down barriers

On February 18th, 2023, Audrey Jimenez made history.

She was the first female to compete in the Arizona State High School boys wrestling championship.

She was also the first female to win.

In previous years, she competed against girls in the state wrestling tournament, winning the state title her freshman, sophomore and junior years.  

After petitioning to compete in the boys division at the start of her senior season, Jimenez won against four boys in the 106-pound weight division at the 2023 state tournament.

Jimenez made national headlines. While she recognized the wins were a significant moment in sports history, to Jimenez, it was just part of her life — perhaps even less notable than other things she achieved along the way.  

“I did so many great things, in my opinion, outside of the high school level,” Jimenez said. “But they only noticed the high school level because I was competing against boys.”

Jimenez is the number one pound-for-pound athlete in the country — a ranking system that measures the skill of fighters regardless of weight classes.

She’s also a 2024 Olympic trials qualifier and holds two world silver medals from 2022 and 2023 competitions. 

“It didn’t matter that I made the senior national team as a 17-year-old,” she said. “What really mattered was that I won the boys’ state championship.”

When Jimenez started to focus on wrestling, there weren’t many females participating in the sport. 

During her high school regular season, she traveled with the boys’ team to matches in Nevada and other towns outside of Arizona. 

But prior to senior year, when it came to the state championships, Jimenez was required to return to the girls’ division. 

When her athletic trainer and coach filled out the petition paperwork and it was approved, Jimenez said her hometown community in Sunnyside, Arizona, was very supportive. 

She said it wasn’t about just beating the boys, it was about having a fair shot. Her coaches and athletic trainer believed it was best for her, and she proved them right. 

She said she loves the sport, so to her, it doesn’t really matter who she’s wrestling with or against. 

“It was something that another girl in Arizona (hadn’t) done before,” Jimenez said. “It was pretty exciting that I was the first to be able to do it.” 

Jimenez was introduced to wrestling at age 11 by her uncle. 

He had opened up 10th Planet, a franchise jiu-jitsu gym, and she trained in jiu-jitsu with him for four months. She then began learning wrestling techniques and takedowns. 

“When I did find jiu-jitsu, I realized the individual aspect of the sport,” Jimenez said. “I guess just being able to defend yourself really drew me in.”

At 17 years old Jimenez, made the under-20 World team and received bronze. This past year, she made the under-20 and the under-23 national teams and was No.2 on the senior national team. 

For Jimenez, her achievements at the national and global competitions are more important than beating all the 106-pound boys in Arizona.  

She said the best part of her national wrestling career has been the opportunity to train with her idols. 

“That was my dream,” Jimenez said. “Just being able to hear from my idols and see them practice and practice with them, that was just super amazing.”

Jimenez competed against someone she’s always looked up to in the last round of the Olympic Trials this past April — Sarah Hildebrandt, bronze medalist and 4x Senior World medalist. Jimenez made it to the 50kg freestyle finals but lost to Hildebrandt who went on to win gold at the Paris Olympic games. 

Jimenez said she’s blessed to have had the opportunity to compete against her idols. 

She also had a torn ACL and meniscus at the time, an injury with which she continued to wrestle and train with for eight months. She underwent surgery over the summer and is now about 5 months post-op. 

While recovering from ACL repair surgery, Jimenez has focused on acclimating to Lehigh’s campus and her new teammates. 

Lehigh fields a club women’s wrestling team that competes in matches such as Warrior Duals, Columbia University Simulation Dual, Women’s Nationals and U.S. Open in Las Vegas, Nevada. Many athletes are recruited to the team, even though it isn’t a NCAA-recognized sport. 

Jimenez’s sophomore teammate Lesly Maria Hernandez met Jimenez over the summer, and they’re both from the Tucson area.

Hernandez said she thinks having Jimenez on the team and having a lot of incoming first-years with successful wrestling careers brings attention to the program. 

“It just kind of builds upon that leverage that we’ve already kind of created with our club,” Hernandez said. 

Lehigh’s women’s wrestling program is continuing to grow. The club team, which was started in 2020 now has a roster of 24. 

Though currently a club sport at Lehigh, there’s a NCAA Division I movement to get more universities to establish women’s wrestling teams in their universities. 

“It’s history-making at the moment,” Hernandez said. “We are all pioneers of the sport. We’re literally making our own path at this point.”

Coach Brazel Marquez said Lehigh is aiming to be the fifth university joining Presbyterian College, Sacred Heart University, University of Iowa and Lindenwood University that has a Division I women’s wrestling team. 

Marquez said Jimenez is helping the program grow, and she knew she would be the “face of any program.” 

“She’s an awesome kid, very selfless, very humble, hard working and has an incredibly high drive to be a top academic student,” Marquez said.