Wearing a black bomber jacket and a gauzy black skirt, her blonde hair blowing in the wind, Christina Jenne looks like any other sophomore girl trudging through the grass outside of St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria. Come the weekend, however, Jenne will don her green-and-white Asics singlet, step on the mat, and join the other three girls who comprise her school’s female wrestling team.
Jenne recently won at the CIF-Southern Section Masters Tournament in Corona, and she’s the first wrestler of any gender from her school to qualify for the CIF State Wrestling Tournament. But she is more than just a championship wrestler; Jenne wrestles boys. And wins.
“I’m a good example for everyone that a girl can get out on the mat and not only wrestle with a guy,” she said, “but pin him down and beat him.”
Jenne is the only girl on the team who wrestles boys. Because of the rules, however, she is only able to wrestle with male members of the junior varsity team at St. Joseph, and not in formal competitions.
“People always tell me that I shouldn’t wrestle boys because if they lose, then they’ll lose their dignity,” Jenne said. “Those same people say that I’ll get hurt, cry, and can’t possibly win.”
Some of Jenne’s coaches are these people, often making it clear that they don’t think it’s right for her to spar with boys and expect to be treated as an equal.
“I think if a girl can keep up with the guys, then she should be able to wrestle with them,” she said.
She often struggles with gaining respect from her own male counterparts on the team. It is constantly suggested to Jenne that she is in the wrong place on the mat with the boys and would be better off playing a girls’ sport, like volleyball or softball.
“But I’ve been wrestling since I was 7,” she said, “so that would never stop me.”
The negativity Jenne faces makes a strong support system a necessity. Hers is built around her family, friends, and some of the other wrestlers and coaches.
“I know the coaches over at [Ernest] Righetti [High School] and they think what I do is fine,” Jenne said. “They actually encourage it in practice and would like to see it more in competition because it makes me a better wrestler.”
Jacob Gonzalez, a freshman on Jenne’s team and her ex-partner during practices, also considers her an asset regardless of her gender, even if some of their teammates can find her intimidating.
“All of my guy friends are more than a little scared of her,” Gonzalez said. “But it’s my first year of wrestling, and she’s taught me a lot. She’s definitely proving everyone wrong.”
Jenne wants to try out for the 2018 summer Olympics during her senior year.
“I know I’m good enough,” she said.
This article appears in Feb 27 – Mar 6, 2014.
