“I’m so close. This could change everything.”

The thought runs through sophomore Eva Jara’s head as her quarterfinals match counts down to the final seconds at the girls wrestling state championships. After battling injury and grief, her hard work has gotten her far.

Jara started wrestling her freshman year, two years after the sport was officially sanctioned in the state of Iowa. She spent that initial year focusing on having fun and didn’t take it very seriously.

“I always was naturally strong, and I was out for half of the season in my freshman year,” she said. “I wasn’t too good, but it was really fun.”

Jara went into her second year with more focus and fewer distractions, and a determination to go as far as she could. She surpassed expectations and found herself on the state podium at the end of the season.

Wrestling wasn’t just a sport for Jara; it became a coping mechanism and a distraction for some problems she was dealing with in her personal life. 

“During wrestling season, especially wrestling in general, it just really helped me focus and feel like what was most important,” Jara said.

Wrestling is known for being incredibly intense, both physically and mentally. Jara said she has to focus on her mindset, because if she’s mentally in a bad place or thinks she is going to lose, she doesn’t put in the same effort.

“Wrestling is such a mental sport, and I feel like I’ve had a personality shift because I had a priority to check,” she said. 

Both her freshman and sophomore seasons were full of injury. She’s had a subluxation in her elbow, a broken clavicle, a soft tissue infection in her knee and a dislocated shoulder. 

“I definitely had a lot of injuries this year. And honestly, the pain of getting the injury wasn’t the worst part. It was the thought that I couldn’t wrestle, and I wouldn’t be able to practice and I wouldn’t be able to improve just because of some stupid mistake,” Jara said.

A second-place win at regionals qualified Jara for the state tournament. She and her teammate Brianna Lucero ’27 were the two qualifiers from the team.

Jara entered the tournament as the ninth seed. Her main focus was simple: win her first match. 

The Iowa girls state wrestling tournament is a 16-girl bracket, so as the ninth seed, her first match was against eighth seed Aubrey Borcherding from Dallas Center-Grimes High School. Jara ended the match with a pin with only one second left in the first period, sending her to the quarterfinals.

For her second match, she had a rough draw: first-seed Briar Luderman, who had only one loss on her senior year record. She had lost to her twice, including in the regional finals a week prior, and had made her peace with how far she had gotten. 

While warming up for her quarterfinals match, Jara noticed that her opponent didn’t seem to be taking their match as seriously as she was. One of her assistant coaches, Jackson Fowler, also made this observation and subsequently made a bet with Head Coach Michael Mettenburg.

“He mentioned how he thought it was like one of those ‘Our Planet’ documentaries where the lion’s about to [attack] the zebra and how it’s already gone, like you already know the lion’s gone,” she said. “So Jackson made a bet with Mike that if I beat Briar, then they would get me a lion shirt to represent the beast side of me.”

Few would have expected her to win, but she did. She had prepared for the match the entire week, specifically focusing on her wrestling style. Her coaches would try to mimic her style when they wrestled and made a plan.

“It was neutral or nothing, because I had the strength advantage against her. I have stronger arms,” she said. “So when I got an underhook, she wouldn’t get out of it super fast. So we were trying to play on that and avoid being on top as often as possible, and if she chose bottom, then just let her go.” 

The first period was dominated by hand-fighting with neither of the two taking a shot. Her opponent deferred her decision so Jara chose neutral going into the second.

The third period started scoreless with Jara in the top position, and she followed the plan and let her go right away, putting the score at 1-0 against Jara.

Jara then tried what is known as an underhook snapdown, and her opponent attempted to use it in her favor but stumbled. Jara, victory suddenly within reach, was able to rotate and secure a takedown and a two-point lead.

“‘Oh my god, I just have to keep going,’” she recalls thinking. “I was getting really tired. I just had to push through it.”

With around 30 seconds left in the match, Jara was able to score three nearfall points, widening her lead. Her opponent scored a reversal with around 15 seconds left, but the two points were not enough to overturn Jara’s lead.

“I was shocked. It was such an adrenaline high,” she said. “After I won, my coaches were just all up on me for like, five minutes, and I called my friend and my parents.”

Fourth seed Mallori Stutsman was her final roadblock on her path to the state finals.

With 47 seconds left in the first period, Stutsman went in on a shot, but Jara was able to sprawl and turn it into three points in her favor.

The second period started with Jara up 3-0. Stutsman deferred and Jara chose to start in neutral position. No points were scored in the second, and Stutsman chose the top position going into the third.

Stutsman turned Jara to her back early in the third, Jara was able to recover, but still got four nearfall points against her.

Jara then gained control with a two-point reversal and then turned her opponent to her back for four nearfall points. Her opponent escaped to bring the score to 9-4, but was unable to score for the rest of the period.

And then the sophomore, with only two years of experience under her belt, became a state finalist and the second West High girl ever to reach the state finals.

Jara’s go-to warm-up music comes in two genres: hard funk and pop. The hard funk is designated for the matches where she has to be very serious and focused about winning, and the pop, typically artists like Katy Perry or Taylor Swift, is for her less serious matches.

This match was definitely a hard funk situation, and she psyched herself up before walking through Xtream Arena’s tunnel through smoke, sparks and lights.

“I was just thinking ‘I could do this. I could do this, like I got this,’” she said. “I felt mentally terrible that day because my friend recently had died so I was just really down in the dumps, and Jackson was like, ‘Hey, you got this, you got this match for him.’”

A few days before the tournament, one of Jara’s friends unexpectedly passed away. If she had won her finals match, she was planning on dedicating her medal to him.

Her final match was only 38 seconds. Her opponent got a takedown and when she went for the pin, Jara’s shoulder started bending at an awkward angle. The referee didn’t call it until after Jara’s shoulder came out of its socket.

But regardless of the loss, she knew he would still be proud.

“A second place medal is okay, too. I know he would be proud of me no matter what,” she said.

Jara said she had only met a few months ago, but he was a really good guy. She said he had struggled with mental health, and wishes the subject was less stigmatized, especially among men.

“I want them to speak up, because he should have told like an adult, not his friends, because we’re teenagers. We’re all teenagers. Yeah, and a lot of people feel overwhelmed with feelings like that,” she said. “He has a lot of people that care about him. I wish he knew that.”

Jara attributes a large part of her success to her support system. The team had six coaches this year and a strong bond. Throughout the season, Mettenburg, Fowler and Assistant Coach Jordan Bleil helped her improve.

“If I didn’t have a good relationship with Mike and Jordan, and if I didn’t have my team supporting me, my teammates came to watch me in my finals, and my best friend was also there,” she said. “Without that support system, I probably would not have made it there.”

Fowler was one of the coaches who helped Jara throughout her season. He said he was proud to see how far she had come this season despite setbacks.

“It was great to see the growth and perseverance Eva showed throughout the year,” Fowler said. “She missed a lot of time with injuries, but she was able to put it all together at the state tournament. We were all so happy to see her success at the right time of the year.”

The Trojans had 23 wrestlers on both varsity and junior varsity, creating a tight-knit and supportive community.

“I like having a personal relationship, or at least knowing who my teammates are. Amira (Vazquez ’29) and Camila (Rivera ’29) and Emmerson (Reimers ’28) are all super sweet and so supportive. My dad always tells me how those three come up to him and just gas me, ‘your daughter is so cool, she’s such a good wrestler,’ and I feel like that helps me perform better.”

Emmerson Reimers ’28 has also been on the team since her freshman year, and wrestles varsity in the 170-pound weight class. She is also Jara’s practice partner and describes her as very knowledgeable and a fast learner.

“When you’re practicing with her, she’s able to tell you, ‘Hey, no, you did that wrong.’ And it’s not because she had the knowledge already, she’s just able to pick it up so fast,” Reimers said. “I think that’s what makes her a really good wrestler. Once she hears something or sees something, she’s able to execute it right then and there. And the only thing that stops her is just her will to want to do it.”

According to Reimers, Jara uses this skill to help teach her teammates during practice, especially the freshmen members. Head Coach Michael Mettenburg recognizes her hard work and how she doesn’t only work to improve her own skills, but also those of others.

“Whoever she wrestles, she pushes in practice. So it doesn’t matter who her practice partner is,” he said. “She’s a great case study for hard work in the practice room. If you work hard at practice, and you ask questions and then you apply them, and you come off the mat and you ask questions and then you apply them, it just all works.”

After such a successful season, Jara is looking to spend more time wrestling in the offseason through a club team. She said she has been looking, but has struggled to find clubs that have people in her weight class.

But with a successful season comes more recognition, and with more recognition comes more competition.

“She’s gonna have a target on her back next year. All these schools, people know her name now, people are going to be wrestling her differently than they wrestled her this year,” Mettenburg said.

Mettenburg stressed that every season is a new one, and so every single team member has to put in the work no matter how much success they achieved prior.

“Wrestling is a sport where if you don’t put the work in, you’re not going to do well,” he said. “So what I’m hoping for her is that she doesn’t lose steam, and she doesn’t lose her curiosity and her love for the sport and her love for the grind.”

She looks forward to next season with a new goal: “I want it again.”

This story was originally published on West Side Story on March 24, 2026.