Audrey Jimenez with a tech in the finals to punch her ticket to Final X! pic.twitter.com/9132XEXTHo
— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) April 26, 2025
Sunnyside graduate Audrey Jimenez continued her impressive performances this year by earning the U.S. Open freestyle championship at 50 kilograms Friday night at Las Vegas.
Her title punches her ticket to the Final X against an opponent to be determined June 14 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., where she will compete in a best-of-three series with the winner qualifying for the U.S. Senior World Team.
The Senior World Championships will be held at Zagreb, Croatia from Sept. 13-21.
2025 CLAW U.S. Open Senior Women Freestyle Champion – 50kg
Audrey Jimenez (Lehigh Valley Wrestling R) TF Erin Golston (New York Athletic Club); 11-0 (2:17) pic.twitter.com/WPEEZMFt6L— USA Wrestling (@USAWrestling) April 26, 2025
Jimenez qualified for the Final X in 2023 and lost to U.S. Olympic wrestler Sarah Hildebrandt in two matches. Jimenez was a junior at Sunnyside and Hildebrandt was 29 years old at the time.
Hildebrandt, who topped Jimenez last year to qualify for the Paris Olympics (where she won a gold medal at 50 kg), opted to not accept an automatic bid to this year’s Final X event.
Jimenez, now 19, has come on strong this year after undergoing knee surgery for a torn ACL and meniscus following her competition in last year’s U.S. Olympic trials.
She has mentioned she wrote in her journal at the time her concern about how the injury could affect her future.
She has not allowed a point between 11 matches at the U20 World Team Trials earlier this month and the U.S. Open, with the outcomes all techs and falls.
“I feel like I’m really good with my mind, body and soul,” Jimenez told FloWrestling after winning the championship Friday. “I’ve never been more grateful. I feel like I’ve overcome a lot, but with God’s grace, and the perfect people at the right time in my life, I have a different perspective. I’m just overflowing with gratitude.
“I think that makes it that much more fun to compete.”
In the championship match at 50 kg Friday, Jimenez won by technical fall 11-0 against Erin Golston, a 32-year-old international wrestling veteran from Marquette, Mich.
In the semifinals, Jimenez also won by technical fall 10-0 over Heather Crull, a high school senior from Modoc, Ind.
Jimenez also defeated Crull twice in a best-of-three final series in the U20 U.S. World Team Trials on April 6 at Spokane, Wash. Jimenez won both of her matches against Crull in that event by technical fall with a 10-0 score in each.
She will be part of the U.S. team that will compete in the U20 World Championships at Sofia, Bulgaria, from Aug. 18-24.
“I think really taking it in, being present,” Jimenez reasoned for her dominance since returning from the knee surgery. “When you’re present, you feel it. You’re out there on the mat and I’m not letting these nerves get to me. I’m being patient and taking my time.
“I’m really taking it all in. I think that’s been the biggest difference, just kind of accepting what I’m feeling and doing what I can to defer the negative. Just stepping out there with gratitude and having fun, focusing on my value and using wrestling to glorify God. That’s really been helping me.”
Recommended for you
