McALLEN — Edinburg High freshman Tanya Mendoza finished her opponent at the Holiday Havoc Wrestling Tournament in 41 seconds.
Her win lifted her to a season record of 13-0 and the championship medal in the 110 pound weight class at McAllen Rowe High School.
Heading into her championship match, she felt what most people would feel going into the ring with another person ready to get it on — scared.
But after the referee waved her arm to begin the match, any regular spectator would figure she wasn’t afraid, and that she knew precisely what she was doing as she pushed and shoved her opponent for a right time to strike.
Wrestling is not new to Mendoza, and at first look she might seem as an easy win for her opponents before entering the ring with her.
At 110 pounds, she doesn’t carry around bulging muscles, but she knows what to do when she enters the ring.
“I never want to lose,” Mendoza said.
Wrestling is almost part of her DNA. Her father, Abel Saenz, is the Edinburg High wrestling head coach. He first introduced Mendoza to the sport when she followed him to work when he was a wrestling coach in Corpus Christi.
Growing up, she got into daily scuffles with her brothers. It fueled her competitive drive.
“That’s where I learned to wrestle,” Mendoza said.
After attending different wrestling camps and watching her father’s successful wrestlers reach state and competing herself, she decided to give up the sport for many years.
“I was introduced to wrestling in the third grade,” Mendoza said.
Going into her freshman year, she decided to give wrestling another shot and she’s off to a dominating start.
Even though she has yet to lose this season, she continues to fine tune her techniques.
“I’m aggressive,” Mendoza said. “I don’t like it when people beat me.”
One of her signature moves is the cross face cradle, a move she uses almost reflexively to pin her opponents with her tight and suffocating grip.
“I get on the mat and it’s so fun for me,” Mendoza said.
At the district dual Saturday at Edinburg North, she went 9-0. In a more recent match up with Edinburg Vela, she went 2-0 and followed up with another 2-0 campaign Tuesday at the Holiday Havoc Wrestling Tournament at McAllen Rowe.
“I’m just excited about the season,” Mendoza said about her wrestling success. “I’m confident, but I know there are other wrestlers working just as hard as me. I know what I have to do and in order to be a good winner you have to know how to lose.”
Mendoza may not have lost in the ring this year, and she won’t admit if she’s lost some challenges at home to her brothers.
“She doesn’t like to lose at anything to them,” Saenz said about Mendoza. “There is a park outside our back yard and if they want to find out who’s the fastest they go out and race, or if they want to find out who’s stronger they lift weights at home.
“It’s very competitive at home, and she is the most competitive,” Saenz said. “And she brings that competitive drive to the wrestling ring.”