Samantha Gipson ranked second in victories as a freshman among the wrestlers on the Evanston girls squad, behind only state qualifier Kennedy Murray, and fourth in the number of falls last year.
But Gipson never won a tournament title --- until Saturday.
Gipson broke through at the ETHS fieldhouse, muscling her way to the title at 125 pounds and leading the Wildkits to a third place finish overall at the Elias George Memorial Tournament.
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Isabella Vernon added a first place finish for the host team at 145 pounds and four other Wildkits --- Kyra Rivera (3rd at 115), Rachael Jacobs (4th at 120), Aileen Trejo (4th at 130) and Michelle Manalo (4th at 105) --- contributed top four performances.
The Kits actually entered two separate teams to add to a field consisting mostly of Chicago Public Schools. Evanston Blue totaled 135 points, behind only meet champ Hersey (174) and Rickover Academy (135), and Evanston Orange scored 34 points for a 12th place team finish.
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Gipson’s rise hasn’t exactly been unexpected, even though she’s only in her second year competing in the sport. She posted a 19-16 record last year, earned all-Central Suburban League recognition and 10 of those victories came via pins.
Now she’s a year older, a year wiser, and much more confident on the mat in the ultimate 1-on-1 physical sport.
“The difference between last year and this year? Now, I believe in myself and I know what I can do on the mat,” Gipson said. “I have a lot more confidence.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever won a tournament --- I placed at some last year --- and it really felt good. I wanted to represent for my team and they’re the ones who pushed me to do the best I could. The one thing I think I’m doing better is that I stay in position pretty well. I still have a lot that I need to work on.”
Gipson never wrestled before entering high school. But a chat with her father helped her choose her athletic path, although she also played flag football last fall for the junior varsity squad.
“My Dad wrestled in middle school and a little in high school (at Loyola Academy), and he always said wrestling was the hardest sport there is,” Gipson said. “I played some soccer, and some volleyball, but I felt like I needed to push myself more and play a more physical sport.
“Last year, the thing I felt I did best was to be coachable and listen to what the coaches said I should improve on. I tried to take their advice to heart, and I tried to push myself. The bad thing was that I’d get too emotional at certain times and let the negativity cloud all the positive things. I definitely have improved on that.
“I was pinned a lot (13 times) last year, but I don’t plan on being pinned at all this year. I just want to keep winning, go to State and see if maybe I can place.”
Gipson stormed to the title Saturday with pins against Sherlin Aguilar of ITW (1 minute, 5 seconds) and Audrey Sarinyamas of Hersey (1:14) before nailing another Hersey grappler, Soha Faisal, at the 5:05 mark in the championship match.
“She (Faisal) was very assertive against me. The first two girls I wrestled didn’t seem to know what they wanted to do out there,” Gipson explained. “But she was assertive and ambitious, and she took a lot of shots against me. But I did pretty well (defending against) and she wasn’t able to finish any of those shots.”
Vernon, also a sophomore, had no trouble disposing of her first two opponents with falls versus Azucena Luz of ITW (2:39) and Mary McFadden of Ridgewood (5:22), then scored an escape to account for the only score while topping Grace Grave of Maine West in the championship match.
