Earning a title at a tournament named “Alpha Female” seems appropriate for Katey Valdez.

The nation’s No. 1 100-pounder, per FloWrestling, earned her 100th career victory in the semifinals of the Vista Ridge Alpha Female tournament Saturday.

Then, with Valdez’s 101st win, the Doherty senior won the 105-pound bracket with a 20-1 technical fall in the finals against Bennett’s Emma Faczak.

“The 100th win felt better than the first, because I had all my friends and family there watching every minute of it,” Valdez said. “I’m doing my best to stay on top, keep my name out there, and getting ready for college.”

Valdez improved to 19-0 this year with the sweep of the tournament and, along with the tech fall, earned three pins in her earlier matches, which has been the story of this season for Valdez.

Of her 19 wins, 16 have come via pin. And of those pin-fall victories, nine have occurred in 40 seconds or less.

“Katey has the right mindset. She focuses on one match at a time and that’s what’s important to her,” Doherty coach Sam Martinez said. “Katey is facing tough competition. She bumped up against Discovery Canyon to face the No. 1 girl at 110 (Discovery Canyon’s Presley Pulido) and pinned her. She’s chasing the tough competition and not running away from it. Katey wants those tough matches to help her improve.”

In the semifinals and to reach the century mark, Valdez pinned Ponderosa’s Arianna Sanchez, who ranks No. 7 at 110 pounds.

The pin came at 1:07 in the first period and gave Valdez her second-fastest win of the tournament.

“I train multiple times a day and multiple days a week,” Valdez said. “I put in the extra work whenever I can.”

Newberg repeats as champ

In her 18 wins this season, Hayden Newberg had just one decision victory. The other wins came via forfeit or swift pins. If Newberg wanted to improve to 19-1, she needed to earn another gritty win.

For the finals, the nation’s No. 14 135-pounder, Newberg, faced No. 15, Broken Arrow’s (Okla.) Emily Beckley, and the Vista Ridge senior held a 3-2 lead heading to the final period.

Newberg, the defending 125-pound state champion, stymied Beckley from earning an escape point in the third and scored a takedown in the waning moments to secure a 5-2 victory.

“I think it was a good test because (Beckley) is ranked nationally and about the same as me and it shows that I’m keeping up with where I was last year,” Newberg said. “No matter what happened in that final period, I had to make sure she didn’t score any points. I knew that needed to happen for me to win the match.”

Newberg’s last decision win came Dec. 14 at the Poudre Shooting Stars Invite, where the Wolves senior earned a 3-0 win against Bennett’s Olivia Herrera in the finals to place first.

“I haven’t had a match where I’ve had to go into the third in a bit,” Newberg said. “It’s good to know I can still keep my composure and make sure I get the positions when it matters to secure the win.”

2 Pine Creek wrestlers earn first

After the award presentation, Melanie Marin Lopez jokingly said, “I’m dripped out” while wearing her first-place medal and holding her Alpha Female tournament bracket and singlet.

She earned that “drip” after Lopez secured four pins in the 190-pound bracket. But Lopez had to sweat out a victory in the finale to improve to 22-1 this season.

Lopez, ranked No. 2 at 190 per Inside Colorado Wrestling’s weekly rankings, faced Broomfield’s Shayla Martinez, who ranked No. 1 and had a 16-0 record entering the finals.

The operative word is, “had.”

Lopez scored a pin fall in the final period with 15 seconds left in their match and earned the victory.

“She almost got a shot on me at the end … but then I just caught her,” Lopez said. “We’ve been practicing with leg riders a lot, which is exactly what happened in my match. What we were doing in practice paid off, because that’s exactly what I used.”

Sophomore Gia Gabel, Inside Colorado Wrestling’s No. 4 ranked 105-pounder, improved to 20-3 and earned the 110-pound title at the tournament with a second-period pin over Broken Arrow’s Sophia Reece in the finals.

To secure a finals berth, Gabel endured a tough semifinals match against Vista Ridge’s Abby Wilfong and earned a 2-0 decision win.

“I put most of my faith in God, and He brings all my confidence,” Gabel said. “I just keep going with the flow.”

Pine Creek had the best team finish of all local schools at the event and placed sixth out of 31 teams with 102.5 points.

“I’m proud of our team because this is our first year as a Pine Creek girls team,” Gabel said. “We’ve come so far since the beginning of the season. I’m really proud of us. We’ve come so far.”