BROOMFIELD >> The last time Broomfield junior Samantha White donned her singlet for state, she let her nerves get the better of her. She didn’t know what to expect.

All she needed to do was relax.

On Saturday at the Girls Region 3 tournament at Broomfield High, she secured her spot back to the big stage when she beat Brighton’s Lydia Nevarez by fall near end of second period (3:40) in the 130-pound semis. She added the title of “regional champion” to her name later in the evening with a third-period pin over Yuma’s Destiny Henderson.

“Last year was definitely a reality check,” White said. “It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be because I came in, and there were a lot of girls I’d never wrestled before. They were kind of scary.”

This season, her new mentality has led her to a 10-7 record and another chance to show Colorado what she’s got. This time, she’ll be ready.

“I got a stall call because I wasn’t taking shots. She was also making it very hard to take shots,” White explained. “Every time she shot, I guess, it was just nice to get the sprawl in or just to get up. When I pinned her, I was fighting for my life in that moment. Oh my gosh. I was just so relieved.”

Bouncing all the way back

When an injury stole the last two weeks of the girls wrestling season from Mead senior Kirsten Davis last year, she knew nothing could stand in her way when it came time for her to hit the mats for this year’s regional competition.She ensured she would secure her ticket to Ball Arena next weekend when, in the semifinals against Vista Peak’s Rachel Allred, she outlasted her opponent to win a 12-2 major decision. She claimed silver later in the evening after Chatfield’s Camryn Scott pinned her with 23 seconds left in the match.

A bad pin attempt in practice a year earlier removed her from the regional competition with just days to spare.

“It was really hard. I knew that I had been pushing myself as much as I could the rest of the season,” Davis said. “I placed in every tournament we went to. I had a really good record. I felt like I’d learned a lot about wrestling and I felt like I’d done really well for my season already considering it was only my second year ever wrestling.”

In year three, healthy once again, Davis is not only competing. She’s thriving as the fourth-ranked wrestler in her 145-pound weight class, according to Tim Yount’s On the Mat rankings. At 33-6, she’s been nearly untouchable, even when she’s under the weather.

“I came just intending to do my best that I could,” she said. “Given that I didn’t get to go to state last year, I was really determined, so that I’m sick didn’t even really play a factor. I just really wanted to go to state.”

Now, she will.

From manager to master class

When Cassandra Mehia’s friend first introduced her to the sport as a junior, she didn’t realize how far her journey would take her.

She certainly never expected to make state for Legacy on her first try.

On Saturday, however, she enthusiastically achieved what was once thought impossible when she pinned Broomfield’s Max Ziegler at the 2:36 mark in the semis of her heavyweight competition. She didn’t look like a novice with a 10-11 record. She finished her night in second place after Riverdale Ridge’s Natasha Kuberski pinned her in the first period of the title match.

“Last year, my friend was a wrestler and she wanted me to be her manager,” Mehia said. “I was like, ‘OK, I’ll come out and manage.’ I saw them at practice. I saw them in tournaments. And finally, we got to state, and I was like, ‘I want to do that. That looks like fun. I get to beat on girls and not get any penalty for it.’”

Once Mehia won her first match, the light bulb turned on. She knew what she needed to do to achieve the dream that began only a year earlier. Now, she’ll get to beat up on other ladies — legally — when she steps under the bright lights of Ball Arena on Thursday.