Earlier this year, Jaslynn Gallegos was asked by a National Public Radio reporter if she had any words of advice for young girls who are thinking about beginning to compete in wrestling.

“Just like anything, there's going to be points where it gets really hard and you don't know if you can do it,” said Jaslynn, this year’s Colorado honoree for the Tricia Saunders Award. “But if you push yourself and keep going, especially if you love it, it's worth it in the end to just keeping on doing it.”

Those words actually apply to anyone who takes up the sport of wrestling and it is advice Jaslynn lives by. A two-time Colorado girl's state champion, Gallegos this year also made history by placing fifth at 106 pounds in the Colorado 3A boys state tournament in Denver. Gallegos, who attends Mapleton Early College High School and competes for Skyview High School under coach Delfino Ro- driguez, won three matches in Denver to join Valley's Angel Rios as the first girls ever to place in the CHSAA boys tournament.

To qualify for state, she finished third in her regional, beating two wrestlers ranked above her in the state rankings along the way, and she finished her season with a sparkling 38-10 record.

Jaslynn comes from a wrestling family. Her older brother was a state qualifier, and she has two younger brothers who also wrestle. But they have a long way to go to match her accomplishments.

Along with her efforts in the Colorado state tournaments, she has one Junior Nationals folkstyle title to her credit, along with nine other third through sixth placings. She was named the Outstanding Wrestler in two high school tournaments this year, and has been twice ranked number one in the USA Wrestling's Girls Future Olympians at 106 pounds.

On the national stage, she has won three Freakshow titles in Las Vegas (two Outstanding Wres­tler awards), and has won the most pins/fastest time honor three times at the Fargo Junior Nationals.

Jaslynn also has a solid academic record, owning a near 3.0 grade-point average. She has also lettered in softball and helps host and coach a free youth wrestling program as a way to give back to the sport she loves.

“I think we all understand that it's a very physical sport,” she said. “You’re literally fighting someone to put them to their back. You're not thinking about anything else at the time because you're trying to win a match. For me, when I wrestle, it’s literally all muscle memory because I practice my shots and my stand-ups and my sit-outs and my pinning combination so often I don't even have to think when I wrestle.”