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Mendez wins “Who’s No. 1?” national tournament in Austin, Texas BY SAMUEL BREWER co-sports editor On Oct. 3, junior wrestler Jesse Mendez gained a title many athletes dream of, but few can obtain. After competing at FloWrestling’s “Who’s Number One?” tournament held in Austin, Texas, Mendez was ranked as the number one wrestler in the entire country in his 138 pound weight class. Mendez was happy to get the opportunity. “I enjoy getting to wrestle against the best in the country and getting to prove myself. I’m always one to chase the best competition so when I was invited to WNO again I was super excited to get to scrap again after this pandemic,” Mendez said. A large difference between this year’s event and that of years prior was the absence of crowds. Even without the crowd noise, Mendez’s coach Bill Hawkin was surprised and appreciative of the work that FloWrestling did to create suspense in the event. “It was different. If you wrestle in an event like that there is usually a big crowd, people are cheering and yelling your name. This event was held in a convention center, but they still had the music and the smoke. They had the commentators for FloWrestling in the same room. It was still a high energy, high emotion event,” Hawkin said. Hawkin, along with other coaches at the Region Wrestling Academy, has been working with Mendez since he was seven years old, where he immediately saw someone special. “At an early age we saw signs of a lot of talent there. His work, ethic and his talent level were at another level even when he was young,” Hawkin said. The WNO usually puts the two top wrestlers in the country against one another, but Mendez’s weight group was different, so they brought the top three wrestlers in the country to compete, Mendez
Junior Jesse Mendez takes down opponent Joel Van during the FloWrestling “Who’s Number 1?” tournament. M in this weight class. Mendez plans to continue his wrestling career at the collegiate level and hopes to qualify fo PHOTO PROVIDED BY SAM JANICKI
coming in at the number two rank. Instead of only needing to beat one of the best wrestlers in the nation, he had to defeat two. After beating third ranked Jordan Williams of Oklahoma, he had to face off against top ranked Joel Vandervere of Illinois for the title of number one. Mendez was in trouble in the final period, he was down 3-0 and very close to losing his chance at becoming number one in the nation, but his confidence never faltered and he mounted a stunning comeback victory in overtime of the match. “His mindset was ‘I’m gonna win the match, nobody’s gonna stop me’. Jesse had the mindset, the motor, and the conditioning to get it done. He said ‘I’m not going to
stop wrestling, I’m going to win the match, I’m in better shape, and I’ve out worked everyone.’ That’s just the mindset he has,” Hawkin said. After becoming number one in the nation, many would feel pressure to hold on to this title, but Mendez doesn’t think anything changes. “I don’t feel much pressure. I love this sport and I love competing so even though I have a number one ranking to protect I’m still going to give it everything I’ve got,” Mendez said. After this win, Mendez was crowned number one in the nation for his weight class. Once he returned to Crown Point, he was welcomed with a parade around the
