Merrillville wrestler Joy Cantu expected this.
The wide smile on Cantu’s face suggested she also enjoyed every second of it.
“I knew I was going to be dominant in the sport,” she said. “I just wanted everyone else to see that I could do it too. I feel great about my season.”
Those satisfactory words from Cantu, the 2024-25 Post-Tribune Girls Wrestler of the Year, came after she rolled through the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s inaugural postseason for girls wrestling to validate her reputation as one of the top competitors in the country.
Cantu, a senior who is ranked No. 13 nationally at 110 pounds by USA Wrestling, finished the season with a 33-0 record and a state title. She saved her most dominant moments for the postseason, winning every match with a pin in the first period. At the state meet, her longest match came in the championship round, when she still needed just 53 seconds to pin Whiteland senior Brooke Lynn Fuller.
Cantu, who also led the Pirates to second place in the team standings at the state meet, attributed her success to her intense practice sessions and her experiences as the only girl in many brackets for three seasons until the IHSAA added a tournament for girls this school year.
“The only reason I’ve been dominant is because of what we do in this practice room and because I wrestled those three years against the boys,” she said.
While wrestling against boys, Cantu was a three-time semistate qualifier, and she also placed at three consecutive state meets held by the Indiana High School Girls Wrestling Coaches Association. Having one postseason tournament this season made Cantu’s winter less hectic.
“It was a lot easier this year with a lot less stress,” she said. “I wasn’t all ached up, and my body didn’t really ever feel sore. I felt good this year.”
Merrillville coach David Maldonado said the staff used to refer to Cantu as the “queen of Merrillville wrestling” because she was so often the only girl in the room. But that moniker became indicative of the reverence she commanded from anyone who watched her compete.
“She was the pioneer for it,” Maldonado said. “On any team, someone has to wear the crown. A lot of the guys respected her because of her intensity and her ability to hang with the boys. Nobody would mess with Joy.”
That respect for Cantu spread to younger teammates, including freshman Meagan Thomas, a state qualifier with a 25-6 record at 100 pounds, who attributed much of her success this season to daily practices with Cantu.
“She pushed me past my limits every day,” Thomas said. “I’m seriously glad to have had this nationally ranked girl to work with every day. It gave me a good look at where I am and where I can grow. I wouldn’t be the wrestler that I am without her.”
Cantu beamed with pride as she talked about the growing girls wrestling program that she’ll leave behind. But there’s one wrestler in particular she will follow closely — her younger sister Julianne, a freshman who was the state runner-up at 130.
“That’s exciting for me, that she was so good as a freshman,” Cantu said. “Now she can dominate for the next three years and become a three-time state champion.”
There’s more wrestling in Cantu’s future, too, although she hasn’t settled on a college yet. The NCAA is adding women’s wrestling to its tournament series next school year, and Cantu said two of her top options are North Central College in Naperville, Illinois — which has the second-ranked women’s team in the country — and Oklahoma State, which is adding a women’s team next year after being a perennial powerhouse in the men’s sport.
“I’ve been everything in this room,” she said. “All of my emotions have been here. I’ve laughed. I’ve cried. … There are just so many memories. It’s kind of crazy to think that I won’t be in this room every day next year.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.