Moriah Fernandez is making a statement on the wrestling mat
By Leann Shea
Morgan Hill – One of the premier female wrestlers in California, Moriah Fernandez is not your average 15-year-old high school student. The Live Oak sophomore has been making a name for herself and earning respect in wrestling circles for the past seven years and plans to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.
In 2000, Moriah placed first at the Nor-Cal State Freestyle Championship at the age of 9. Last year as a freshman at Live Oak, Moriah wrestled on the varsity squad, placed first at the Central Section Invitational to qualify for state, was seeded No. 1 for the girls state tournament although she did not wrestle due to a medical issue, placed fourth at the North Coast Classic and was given the most inspirational award. Just to name a few of her incredible accomplishments so far.
Moriah, the only female wrestler on the Acorns wrestling squad, was introduced to wrestling along with her younger brother by their father Robert Fernandez, who coaches the Live Oak wrestling team, when she was 8 and she has been pinning opponents ever since.
“It was awkward at first because I didn’t know what to do,” said Moriah. “When I first wrestled all I wrestled was boys. It didn’t make me uncomfortable at all, but guys don’t want to wrestle girls.”
“The competition’s good, it’s really hard,” said Moriah when asked what she liked most about wrestling. “It seems like there’s more competition than other sports.”
Moriah, who participated in field hockey and runs cross country, prefers freestyle wrestling to greco-roman and is good at leg attacks, which are usually her strongest move. Her favorite move is the hammer-lock.
She spends most of her time thinking, planning, training and conditioning for her wrestling match, which doesn’t leave much time for anything else.
When asked about any of her other hobbies, Moriah reluctantly admitted, after Robert pointed it out, that she played the violin for about three years. She chose the violin because she liked way the instrument sounds.
“She was getting good,” chimed in Robert.
“I’d rather wrestle,” Moriah explained.
“I like going to the movies or the mall and hanging out with my friends,” said Moriah, “But even during my free time I think about wrestling. I would like to wrestle in college and go as far as I can. I’d love to make it to the Olympics.”
She would like to stay in California to attend college and said she would probably attend a school that has a women’s wrestling team.
During the summer, Moriah got the opportunity to train at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista after being invited by the US Women’s coach, Terry Steiner.
“It was really exciting,” said Moriah. “It was a lot of fun, I spoke to some of the athletes there. They train constantly. They’re really nice people, I wasn’t expecting to talk to them. I didn’t think I would have a chance like that.”
In addition to training in Chula Vista over the summer, Moriah placed second at the California State Freestyle Championships, attended camps at Menlo College, Iowa State, Stanford and the Arizona Camp of Champions.
“I’ve been training at Stanford for about three or four months,” said Moriah. “It a lot of fun. I get to train with more advanced kids and the coaching is real good.”
This season Moriah has only been beaten by two of female wreslting’s heavy hitters in the No. 1 ranked girl in the nation Lauren Knight and the No. 6 ranked female Ivy Bier. She has already faced Bier several times this season and feels she has learned from the experience.
“She (Ivy) goes out and gives it her all, doing everything she can,” explained Moriah. “She is non-stop motion. But then once she is off the mat, she is like the nicest person. She’s laughing and joking, she’s a really nice girl. We still talk after.”
In fact, according to Moriah, a lot of the female wrestlers across the state and nation are part of a close knit community because they are all going through the same thing.
To keep in shape and prepare herself to achieve her goals, Moriah follows a healthy diet all the time, lifts free weights three times per week and runs year-round.
“I enjoy the training,” said Moriah. “I take it all as a part of the deal.”
This season as a member of the Live Oak squad, Moriah has finished second at the Peninsula Invitational, placed first at the North Coast Women’s Classic as well as the Outstanding Wrestler award and placed second at the Castro Valley Girls Classic.
When asked what she makes of all her accomplishments so far, Moriah said she’s not sure what to make of it.
“I’m still kind of like, ‘I can’t believe I did it.’ I hadn’t thought about what it meant,” said Moriah.
On Friday, Moriah participated in the Lady Lancer Wrestling Tournament in Manteca and came away with a second place finish, losing only to Knight. She finished 4-1 in the tournament with all her victories coming by pin. She even almost got the best of Knight, who is several years her senior.
At just 15 Moriah is already knocking on the door to becoming one of the top ten female wrestlers in the nation, it is all a matter of time before she takes over.
