Senior Khloe King went straight to the medical tent after the first round of the UIL State Wrestling Championships.
Although the injury first happened in November, King wrestled through the pain in hopes of making it back to the Berry Center for the championship.
During the first round, King aggravated the hand injury, providing a challenge she could not overcome.
“The main challenge was competing with the hand injury,” coach Jeff Knight said. “She never used that as an excuse; but it’s hard to wrestle with your dominant hand being injured, especially since there is so much hand fighting and grip use in matches.”
This wasn’t the only challenge for the senior, who missed much of her junior season with a concussion. The 100-pound weight class, which King wrestles in, returned five medalists from the 2024 State Meet.
King’s hand injury made it challenging for her to perform with a focused mindset. In the first round, Lila Breedlove from Borger High School took advantage of this, beating King in the second period by a technical fall.
Later, in the consolation bracket, King was pinned by Julieta Chapa from La Joya Juarez-Lincoln High School. Going into the meet, King knew the 100-pound weight class would provide challenges, especially in technicality.
“Both of my girls were from up north, and they are known for being super well-rounded wrestlers,” King said. “So they have a technical level and a strength level that are on a completely different level as me.”
While King was competing, she had her family watching to help support and coach her from the crowd. Before each match she spent her time with her family and coaches to review video and go over strategy.
King’s dad, who used to coach wrestling, could be heard from the crowd giving advice during each of the matches.
“It was really nice, especially having my dad there, since he did coach here,” King said. “Even though he wasn’t able to be in my corner, it was really nice, because you could hear that man from a mile away, so I could always hear him. But also having my mom there to comfort me after my match, it meant a lot to me because she knew that I’m not the best at losing.”
Although King was disappointed in her losses, she said she was happy to end her career surrounded by her coaches in a competitive atmosphere. King worked hard to become one of the winningest girls wrestlers in the past four years.
“Khloe has been a solid member of our program for four years,” Knight said. “She leads by example with a hard work ethic. She is consistent, has a plan, works well on technique and has been a good role model to follow as a student athlete.”
