By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Challenges are hard to come by for Edinburg Vela’s Miranda Melchor. Not only is she undefeated through 19 matches over the course of her career, winning all three tournaments this season, but she’s claimed all but one of those victories during the opening round.
“That’s kind of her M.O.,” coach Jody Cantu said. “It’s going to happen quick, so don’t blink or you’ll miss it.”
During practice one day, Melchor was working on technique with Luis Vega, her male counterpart, before a teammate suggested the two spar. Hungry for a challenge, Melchor accepted, even though she was giving up roughly 65 pounds and one year to Vega, who is also an all-district offensive lineman on the school’s football team.
“I was like, ‘OK, no problem,’” Melchor said. “But in my mind, I was like, I have to really push myself harder.”
She took the match into the third round before losing.
“I woke up sore the next day,” Melchor remembers. “It was probably the most tiring thing of my life.”
“Honestly, I think she puts on a better fight than some of the guy heavyweights I go up against. It’s pretty surprising,” Vega added.
“She wouldn’t give up. Normally the girls don’t put that much fight, being overpowered by a guy. But she actually put up a good fight. She could hold her own.”
If Melchor appears even more driven than she was last season, it’s because she is. Her sophomore campaign came to an abrupt end after she was ruled academically ineligible, forcing the three-sport athlete to miss the basketball and wrestling seasons.
She missed regionals, thus eliminating her from state contention.
“Honestly, it broke my heart,” she said. “I cried so bad. I cried forever because, for me, I love wrestling. I know I could’ve done more to get my grades up, but I didn’t. It motivated me so much because everyone got mad at me. ‘You could’ve gone to state. Why’d you fail?’ It just made me really mad to the point where I wanted to come back and wrestle to prove them wrong.”
Forced to sit out, Melchor trained on her own. She worked out twice a day to get in the best shape of her athletic career, adding the type of strength that makes her one of the favorites to win district in the 215-pound weight class.
Her technique has improved, as well. The half-Nelson hold, in particular, is her specialty.
“As soon as the referee says go, it’s an immediate takedown,” Cantu said. “She just charges with a single-leg takedown. And once she’s on top, that’s all she wrote.”
So far, she’s 12-0 this season, having won the Gator Roll, Mustang Invitational and Snakebite Invitational. She’s helped lead a charge in which the Lady SaberCats have placed in tournaments for the first time in their two-year history. To date, they’ve nabbed third place twice this year and have finished as runner-ups in Grulla last week.
Still, Melchor sets her goals high. One of her this matches this season against McAllen High ended in the second round — a non-issue for most wrestlers — but it served as the type of eye-opener, Cantu said, that has fueled Melchor even more.
“Her practices since then have been really focused and really intense,” he said. “It kind of sent her back to square one.”
The goal for her, of course, is to compete at regionals and then state. Doing so would not only be beneficial for the direction of the program, with plenty of wrestlers expected back next year, but also for Melchor, who is trying to deliver on her potential.
“This year, she gets to validate herself,” Cantu said. “That’s what drives her, and she’s not letting go. Talking to various people, they all said the same thing. ‘Man, she could’ve been good last year.’ But circumstances kept her from going to regionals. I think she’s heard enough of that. She’s had a year of people critiquing her, a year of ‘what-if.’
“I think that’s really put her in gear and really, really focused her to finish what she started.”