Holt senior Marissa Sanabria knew the question was coming and prepared her answer.
Prior to each of Sanabria’s matches, teammate Maria Slaughter sits down with her to discuss wrestling strategy, and Sanabria knew the championship match at the prestigious Wonder Woman tournament Friday at Battle High in Columbia would be no exception.
“Before each match Maria asks me, ‘What’s your plan,’ and I tell her three shots I’m planning or the moves I want to try,” Sanabria said. “It’s hard to think during a match, so by telling Maria what I want to do, it helps me remember it.”
Sanabria verbalized her game plan, then executed it perfectly, defeating Lebanon junior Helea Bartel 6-1 to capture the 130-pound Wonder Woman title.
It was a breakthrough victory for Sanabria in a career that has amassed 106 wins.
“It was amazing. I loved how I could finally redeem myself from last year,” Sanabria said.
Sanabria, who said she would like to be a firefighter, is on a mission to extinguish the disappointing results of previous tournaments, one by one.
She finished seventh at Wonder Woman last season, losing to Alexis Dinwiddie of Jefferson City in the process. Dinwiddie also bested Sanabria for the District 2 championship last March, but when the two met in the Wonder Woman semifinals on Friday, Sanabria executed the perfect plan.
“I knew she liked side headlocks, tying me up and slowing me down, so I kept my space and shot my re-shots,” said Sanabria, who cruised to a 7-1 decision.
In the championship match, Sanabria faced Bartel, a second-place finisher at both Wonder Woman and the Missouri state tournament during her career who looked to take the logical next step on the podium.
“I knew she wanted to go upper body and she liked underhooks, so I had to stay away from that,” Sanabria said. “I probably could have moved her more, taken more shots and re-shots, so that’s something I want to work on.”
The 6-1 victory improved Sanabria’s record to 18-0 this season, including dominant performances at the Liberty Invitational and the Fort Zumwalt Invitational. In the Fort Zumwalt title match, Sanabria won by major decision over Collinsville sophomore Taylor Dawson, who is ranked No. 17 in the nation by USA Wrestling.
“She knows the wrestling, she shows the technique, it’s just believing in herself,” Holt girls wrestling coach Max Newbury said. “She believes that she can beat the girls who are ranked really high in the state and nationally, and she knows that people don’t want to wrestle her.”
For the first time in her career, Sanabria is keeping a notebook that contains her goals, her thoughts and the moves she wants to crystalize in practice.
“Every day I write, ‘Marissa Sanabria — 130 pounds — 2023 State Champ,’ ” she said. “Then, I write down everyday things I can do to become a state champ, so that really helps.”
Sanabria does not have to venture on her championship quest alone. Slaughter (14-2), who wrestled in the 125-pound state title match as a freshman, is on the same journey.
Slaughter wrestles in the 140-pound weight class and relies on superior strength to wear down, smother and pin opponents. Sanabria is a technician who is lightning-quick with her shots.
“It’s great because we both have such different styles of wrestling, and in the practice room, everything is a competition,” Slaughter said with a laugh. “You have to be really careful when you wrestle Marissa.”
Sanabria, who also plays midfield on the Holt girls soccer team, began wrestling in eighth grade when physical education teacher and former Holt girls wrestling coach Chris Kyle asked her if she wanted to give the sport a try.
As a freshman, she went 17-11, qualified for the state tournament and won two matches, but she had trouble managing the disappointment of losing.
“I always want to be the best at everything, and that freshman year was tough. Every time I lost, I cried and I couldn’t control myself, but I learned a lot from my losses,” Sanabria said.
She trained feverishly that summer, entered national tournaments and went an impressive 32-4 as a sophomore, placing sixth at the state tournament.
“Just a bunch of hard work and a lot of practices,” Sanabria said.
Sanabria put together a 39-6 mark as a junior, but that signature victory remained tantalizingly out of reach. She lost in overtime in the Wonder Woman quarterfinals, lost 6-2 to Dinwiddie at district and lost 4-0 in the state semifinals at Mizzou Arena, eventually placing fifth.
“I just wasn’t shooting my shots, and when I don’t shoot my shots and go my pace, I usually lose,” Sanabria said.
Last summer, Sanabria helped Team Missouri capture second place at Disney Duals. She earned All-American for the first time in October with a sixth-place finish at Preseason Nationals, and most recently, she became nationally ranked by USA Wrestling, appearing at No. 24 in the 132-pound weight class.
“That was amazing. I never knew I was going to be nationally ranked, so that was pretty cool,” Sanabria said.
Sanabria, who enjoys playing with her dog and making video blogs with friends, signed to wrestle at Lindenwood on Jan. 31 and wants to major in fire science.
In the meantime, her plans will be written in her trusted notebook and spoken aloud to both Slaughter and herself.
“My mindset was not great the last couple of years, but now, before every match I say to myself, ‘You’re the best,’ and that helps a lot,” Sanabria said.
Slaughter added, “She always tells me her plan and her backup plan, and it’s been working every single time.”
Story originally written for STLhighschoolsports.com