Royal mission

Senior Jaleen Roberts hopes to become the first girl in Kent-Meridian High School’s history to win a state wrestling title.

“I am definitely hoping to make it back to state,” Roberts said. “State champion is where my eyes are right now. I am just trying to focus on the next match I have to go, trying to focus on that right now, just what is in front of me.”

Roberts was one of the first girls from Kent-Meridian to place at state when she took eighth in the 120-pound weight class in 2015. Teammate Xochithl Suarez took sixth place in the 125-pound weight class that same year.

“I think it was good to show girls that they can be good at wrestling and it is a sport for girls too,” Roberts said of placing in state. “Girls can accomplish just as much stuff in wrestling that the guys can.”

Last year, Roberts qualified for the state tournament but did not place.

Roberts, who has lost just one match so far this season, started wrestling in eighth grade at Mill Creek Middle School.

“In seventh grade I played basketball, and I was benched for a lot of the season and I just decided the sport wasn’t for me,” said Roberts, who also plays soccer and runs the 400 meters and long jumps for the track team. “But since I was really athletic, I wanted to do something and one of my classmates one day told me she was going to do wrestling. I didn’t think she was serious but come to find out she was, so I was like ‘That will be pretty cool. I’ll do it too.’ When I was little my brothers used to wrestle with me just around the house, so I was always pretty tough.”

Roberts, who has cerebral palsy, is working to qualify for the 2020 Paralympics in track and field.

“Paralympics was a hard thing for me because I have always liked competing against everyone else in just normal races and normal sports,” she said. “I have always wanted to see myself as normal even though I do have a disability. It can slow me down a little bit. I will never know if I didn’t have it if I would be faster or better at sports.”

For now, Roberts’ focus is on the mats and each match she faces.

“This sport is so mental,” she said. “If I am wrestling someone, I don’t want to know what place they got in state. I don’t’ want to know what their past record is. I just want to wrestle them. If I hear a girl got second in state I’m like, ‘Oh no. I am going to lose or this is going to be a really tough match.’ If you don’t know, you go in to the match just ready to wrestle and your head is in that match. It’s not focused on what place they got or how good they are.”

Wrestling has become a more popular sport for girls in the past few years, Roberts said.

“When I was in middle school I was like, ‘There are no girls,’” she said. “There would be maybe one girl on the other team. I wrestled boys in middle school. I only ever wrestled one girl.

“When I got to high school I was super surprised to see how big girls wrestling is getting. It is huge. We have tournaments just for girls and state for girls.”

The boys team at Kent-Meridian is supportive of the girls program.

“I like how close-knit we are,” she said. “I like how the boys are super accepting. I know some schools don’t allow girls wrestling or don’t really like it. The guys on our team are very welcoming.”

Kent-Meridian coach Todd Owens said the girls wrestling program is building. There are six girls on the squad this year.

“The last two years we’ve had a couple (state) placers,” he said. “We are that point where we are working hard and getting real.”

Owens likes having Roberts in the program.

“She’s a great kid, great student, successful, well-liked by all her teachers,” he said. “She always show up to practice, never misses.”

After graduation, Roberts plans to attend Western Washington University in Bellingham and study education.

“Hopefully, after I am done with college and become a teacher, I can coach girls wrestling,” she said.

Roberts was one of 16 residents appointed to the city of Kent Parks and Recreation Commission in November 2014. She said she enjoys being able to serve her community.

“The city of Kent has given me the opportunity to participate in sports and activities even with my mom being a single mom, low income,” Roberts said. “It feels good to give back.”