DENVER – More fans than usual stuck around to potentially witness history during the final matches of the CHSAA state wrestling championships on Saturday and Brighton’s Matilda Hruby was more than happy to play spoiler.
The Bulldogs’ grappler put on a dominating performance to derail Timberly Martinez’s quest to become the third four-time girls champion, picking up a 9-3 decision as a decidedly pro-Brighton crowd cheered her on.
“This is the match everybody has been wanting to see all three years of my high school,” Hruby said. “And I did it.”
Hruby opened with a takedown of Martinez to quickly post a 3-0 lead, the only points until Hruby notched a reversal midway through the second period. After a lengthy delay to check Martinez for a potential head injury, the Pomona senior earned her first points of the match on a takedown with 1:20 to go. After that, all it took was one takedown for Hruby to leave no doubt and secure her third consecutive title.
In previous years, the matchup between perhaps the two most successful female wrestlers in the state would’ve fallen in the middle of proceedings. But new to this state tournament, the draw put the 155-pound matchup at the end. Still, most of the lower bowl of Ball Arena was packed to watch the bout.
Hruby said she predicted a low-scoring match, not unlike her 5-2 victory over Martinez at the Eaglecrest Girls Invitational in December. But the state match was more similar to Hruby’s second victory over Martinez this season — a 10-9 decision at the Tiara Challenge in January.
She also had the backing of the crowd at state, as one of her coaches pointed out before the match. The previous Class 5A girls matchup was quick, giving Hruby and Martinez ample time on the mat to warm up. A rowdy 165-pound 5A final one mat over where Pomona’s Emmitt Munson was victorious over Grandview’s Gunner Lopez resulted in a one-point deduction for unsportsmanlike conduct after flexing at the crowd. That kept some Grandview fans in the stands and vocal for the girls’ matchup.
(Eric Brown/ebrownfoto.com)
Hruby said she was happy to see so many fans staying past 9 p.m. and that it motivated her once she got on the mat. But before that, the junior was surprisingly calm.
“This was my hardest match on the mat, but at the end of the day, I was the most calm in the back,” she said. “I was the most relaxed I’ve been and didn’t start warming up 10 matches out like I used to. I started warming up only three or four out and that made my nerves a lot easier.”
Now, there will be a new female athlete chasing history at Ball Arena next year. Hruby would be not only the first four-time champion from Brighton, but she’d also be just the third female four-timer, joining Pomona’s Persaeus Gomez and Calhan’s Ciara Monger, who both completed the feat in 2024.
“At my school, there are no four-timers out there,” Hruby said. “Even out of the boys, we have zero. I’ve been trying my whole life to be the first and that’s why I’m here.”
