Amy Fearnside has accomplished incredible feats in four years with the Live Oak wrestling team through her dedication and competitive spirit. Faith, however, gave her the confidence to conquer any obstacle.
You would never guess Fearnside, a senior who is poised to become Live Oak High School’s first CIF state champion on Saturday, was afraid of anything after watching her in action this season.
Fearnside is in her natural environment on the mat, under the spotlight at a crucial dual meet, or tucked in the corner of a gym for a weekend tournament match. The opponent’s name doesn’t matter, same with their school and gender. Fearnside goes all out, her expression never changing. It’s difficult to tell when she breathes.
“It looks like I’m going fast, but I’m actually really relaxed,” the guileless 17-year-old said. “In my mind it’s a lot slower than you think.”
Fearnside is conditioned and trained to a point where she expects to win every match. It wasn’t always that way for her, though. Fearnside once was capable of being overcome by a fear of what she has not done much of this season – losing.
“I was so anxious and scared and nervous,” she said. “Fear is the enemy.”
Fearnside needed support on a higher level, and found it about three years ago when she fully committed herself to serving God. Her outlook on sports and life changed.
“I have to just know that it’s all in God’s hands,” she said. “Whatever his will for me is gonna happen, and I’ve got to praise him when I win and praise him when I lose.”
The former has played out more often as of late. Fearnside placed fifth at the inaugural CIF Girls Championships a year ago and has wrestled in three straight Central Coast Section championships, taking top honors for the first time on Feb. 4. She has quietly played a prominent role in helping build Live Oak’s program to where it is today, at the forefront of the Blossom Valley Athletic League and on the cusp of crowning two state champions – herself and sophomore Isaiah Locsin.
“It’s always a plus to have team leaders, and she’s one of the leaders for the girls and the boys,” Acorns coach Robert Fernandez said. “She’s just been a big part. She’s a big contribution.”
Although soft-spoken, Fearnside leads with her work ethic in and out of the wrestling room. She has maintained a 4.0 grade point average while devoting most of her free time to wrestling and two Christian-based youth groups.
“She’s a great athlete. She just wrestles and fights. She doesn’t take anything lightly,” Live Oak captain Tyler Pederson said. “She’s got great discipline, too. She comes in ready to work every day.”
A culmination
Fearnside is set to complete an already spectacular prep career with a second trip to the CIF Girls State Invitational Championships, which begin at 10 a.m. today at Lemoore High School just outside of Fresno.
Fearnside, now 34-3 with five tournament titles this winter, is among the favorites to win the 108-pound title; an honor she was thinking about as her arm was raised at the CCS finals four weeks ago.
“I’m not going to celebrate too much because I have my mind on state,” she said afterward. “I’ve been thinking about it since last year. It’s never left my mind. My eyes are on the prize.”
With her superior fitness and savvy, Fearnside looked a cut above her competition at sectionals, showing again why Fernandez hasn’t shied from wrestling Fearnside against boys in dual meets; she has beaten two this year. Fearnside pinned her first three opponents in the opening minute. She led 12-5 in the final before putting Santa Teresa’s Sabreena Shelton to her back in the second round.
Fearnside avenged a loss from the 2010 CCS finals.
“I was thinking, ‘This is for you, God. This is all for you,'” she said.
Fearnside’s long-awaited CCS championship was like a culmination of an extensive martial arts career. Before she took up wrestling, Fearnside did jujitsu for seven years and judo for several months. She took third at the 2008 Nikkei Games, considered by many as the U.S. Open for junior jiujitsu students.
Fearnside took a break from the sport to focus on wrestling but plans to pursue a black belt once her collegiate career is over. She plans to wrestle on scholarship for Jamestown (N.D.) College.
“With that kind of martial arts background, the fundamentals of positioning and stance were there for Amy,” Fernandez said. “It was an easy transition.”
Jiujitsu includes hands-on fighting with many of the same moves used in wrestling. It comes in handy when taking on a bigger opponent, something the compact 5-foot, 2-inch Fearnside does regularly.
“It gave me the right mentality, the fighter’s mentality,” she said. “I figured out how to control people with very small joints. So, like, I know exactly how far to go before you can break somebody’s wrist.”
Overlooking the girl who paints her fingernails green during the season could have painful consequences.
“You have to be prepared for Amy. Be very prepared,” Live Oak sophomore Isabella Fernandez, Robert’s daughter, said of her practice partner. “She’s really strong, and she’s really fast. That obviously makes me work harder, so it makes both of us a lot better.”
Isabella also will wrestle this weekend, following a fourth-place finish at sectionals at 114 pounds.
It wasn’t long ago that Fernandez watched his older daughter, Moriah, capture Live Oak’s lone state title at the 2008 Girls State Wrestling Championships, which evolved into a CIF-sanctioned event three years later.
Fernandez sees parallels between Moriah and Fearnside.
“They’re two different athletes, but it’s kind of interesting,” he said. “Anytime you have two girls like that who win consistently, you’re going to see a lot of the same traits.
“Moriah had been doing it for so long. She was a technician; she had a giant toolbox. Amy’s (is) not as big as Moriah’s, but still she has good technique skill set. She’s got great technique, but her core strength is everything.”
That, combined with her relentless attacks, allows Fearnside to defeat opponents from the inside out.
“She gets in your head,” Shelton says. “Can’t let her do that.”
The girl who once feared losing has become one to fear on the mat. The girl who used to be mistaken for a cheerleader – maybe it was the blond hair – around campus is known as “that girl that wrestles.” She could stand out more than even after Saturday night.
Fearnside has already beaten her biggest opponent.
“I’m not going to be afraid of anything,” she said.
CIF Girls State Invitational Championships
Tournament begins at 10 a.m. Friday at Lemoore High School. Consolation rounds are scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Saturday followed by the finals at 6 p.m.
