Sunnyside sophomore Audrey Jimenez is representing Team USA in the women’s freestyle portion of the 2021 Cadet World Championships at Budapest, Hungary, with competition starting Wednesday.
Jimenez, the 2019 U15 Pan Am champion, will compete in the 49 kg (108-pound) class and is scheduled to first wrestle against India’s Neha Chougale at 2:30 a.m., Tucson time (11:30 a.m. in Budapest). Following a draw, she was pitted against Chougale in a pigtail match with the winner advancing to be among the final 16 competitors in that weight class.
Awaiting the winner of Jimenez-Chougale is Laura Ganikyzy of Kazakhstan.
Competition in the two-day event leads up to the gold medal match Thursday. Flo Wrestling is streaming the event live for a fee.
Jimenez was recently ranked No. 1 in the nation among high school wrestlers at 106 pounds by The Open Mat coming off her state championship for Sunnyside. Jimenez made history becoming the first female in Tucson and Sunnyside to win a state championship.
“It’s a great accomplishment for me and others,” Jimenez said at the time. “Hopefully this will be the start of growing girls wrestling at Sunnyside. I’m hoping that more girls follow in my footsteps.”
She has been trained by Sunnyside coach Anthony Leon, who led the Blue Devils to their fourth consecutive state title in March. Leon is in Budapest continuing to train and coach Jimenez.
2021 Cadet World Championships
at Budapest, Hungary, July 19-25
Opening women’s freestyle draws for the U.S. Cadet World Team:
40 kg: Erica Pastoriza (Phoenix — a junior at Sierra Linda High School in 2021-22) vs. Aizhan Muratbay (Kazakhstan)
43 kg: Angie Dill (Eagle Bridge, N.Y.) vs. Julia Dolna (Poland)
46 kg: Ava Ward (Centralia, Mo.) vs. Yana Dimitrova (Bulgaria)
49 kg: Audrey Jimenez vs. Neha Chougale (India)
53 kg: Katie Gomez (Van Nuys, Calif.) vs. Gerda Terek (Hungary)
57 kg: Savannah Cosme (Denver) vs. Selvi Ilyasoglu (Turkey)
61 kg: Korina Blades (Broadview, Ill.) vs. Emilia Hartmann (Austria)
65 kg: Grace Stem (Snow Shoe, Pa.) vs. Duygu Gen (Turkey)
69 kg: Amit Elor (Walnut Creek, Calif.) vs. Barbara Sere (Romania)
73 kg: Lillian Freitas (Modesto, Calif.) vs. Patrycja Cuber (Poland)
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District
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