Summers Season of Perfection
23-0 for Berkeley Senior
Courtesy Wrestlegirl.com

VALLEJO - Unbeatable? Maybe.

Unbeaten? Emphatically.

Berkeley High School wrestler Jere' Summers maintained her perfect run through the girls tournament season on Saturday in the California Girls State Wrestling Championships at Vallejo High School, adding two more pins to her already burgeoning total.

After her two matches at state, Summers, a junior, has wrestled 23 times this season. She is 23-0. She has 23 pins.

Read that last sentence again. That's right, Summers is 23-0 with 23 pins.

Only once has she gone into the second round this year -- against the girl she beat Saturday for the state title, Rachel Knight of Etna. Last week in the state qualifying tournament at San Leandro, Knight battled Summers to a stalemate through the first two minutes of 162-pound action, only to get tossed on her back and pinned 46 seconds into the second period.

Berkeley girls coach Hugh Johnson appreciates what he has in Summers.

"It's a real treat to be able to work with elite level girls," Johnson said. "It's kind of a kick."

In the state final, Summers and Knight spent a good minute sizing each other up before things got interesting. Much to her credit, Knight shot a nice single-leg on Summers, but was unable to do anything with it.

Summers quickly countered, wrapping Knight up with her devastating head-and-arm 1:20 into the first period, flipping her on her back and pinning her at 1:23.

It is Summers' first state championship.

"It's cool," she said after the match. "Since we had a qualifier, this year is better than last year."

Summers, who opted out of last year's tournament, was referring to the fact that, for the first time in the four-year history of the event, the Girls State Championship was not an all-comers occasion. Wrestlers were forced to compete in regional qualifying tournaments to earn the right to compete for a state crown.

More than 200 wrestlers from 137 teams across the state qualified and competed in Saturday's championships.

"It's hard to get too excited about it because I kind of expected it," Johnson said of Summers' title. "But this tournament is getting better and better. Winning it at any weight is pretty prestigious."

Summers was a little more excited.

"I like (being a state champion)," Summers said. "I wouldn't like to get beat. I didn't want to lose one match. It's an ego thing, I guess. ... I set high goals for myself this year. I shot for an undefeated season, and I shot for pins."

And she got them.

In fact, Summers is so dominant at 162 that other wrestlers in the state have either tried to drop down to 154 or bump up to 173 to avoid her.

"(Knight) confirmed what other coaches have said," Johnson said. "A lot of girls dropped to other weights to avoid Jere'. That's a pretty big compliment."

Summers' teammate, 116-pounder Lily Dorman, also won a medal on Saturday. Dorman, also a junior, dropped a tough 8-6 overtime decision to Balboa-San Francisco's Hanna Carlberg in the semifinals, but battled through the consolation semifinals and finished with a pin of Amador Valley's Lauren Neves at 2:57 to place third.

"Lily has wrestled really well," Johnson said. "She pretty much handled all of her other opponents."