Amy Fearnside experienced a rise in success that only a senior could dream about this year, capturing Live Oak’s first CIF title to go with a freestyle wrestling state crown she won in May.
As her résumé grew, Fearnside attracted scholarship offers from several colleges. She went with the one that reached out to her first – before she was a champion.
Fearnside followed through with her verbal commitment to Jamestown (N.D.) College on June 1, signing a letter of intent to wrestle for coach Tony DeAnda and the Jimmies on a partial scholarship.
“It’s kind of a relief,” Fearnside said Tuesday. “I had no idea what I was going to do and where’d I’d end up. I went with the flow.
“I was looking for a college that matched me as a wrestler and offered what I was after as a student. It worked out better for me to sign with them.”
Fearnside, who has an overall-grade point average of just under 4.0, plans to major in radiologic technology.
Her interest in Jamestown stemmed to her first trip to the high school state tournament in 2011. She filled out an information card for recruiters, not knowing where it would take her.
“I didn’t think I’d go there necessarily. It was a long shot,” she said. “(Live Oak coach Robert Fernandez) told me about it. They have one of the best coaches, and they’re one of the top 10 [women’s] wrestling schools in the entire country. I heard a lot of good stuff.
“When I went there for the first time in February, I loved what I saw.”
Fearnside described her signing as an “accumulation” of support she has received from her family, friends, teammates and coaches at Live Oak High School.
She has followed in the footsteps of the previous LOHS wrestling signee, Moriah Fernandez (2008), who competed under DeAnda at the United States Olympic Education Center, located on the campus of Northern Michigan University.
“We always push our seniors to get to the next level and wrestle for a good school and a good coach,” Fernandez said. “Tony will do a good job developing Amy physically and mentally.”
The lightning-quick 5-foot-2 Fearnside hopes to wrestle at 112 pounds, up from her usual 108-pound class. Her success in freestyle, the discipline of collegiate women’s wrestling, made her especially attractive to Jamestown.
“Amy is a great wrestler who finished her senior year with a state championship in … one of the states with the highest number of female wrestlers,” DeAnda said in a statement. “Not only is Amy a great wrestler, she is also a very giving person who has recently traveled with her church to Mexico to help the less fortunate.
“We look forward to her representing Jamestown College.”
Fearnside will travel to Fargo, N.D., in July for a national wrestling event.
