The lasting image in sophomore Shayla Martinez’s mind from her first trip to the state wrestling tournament wasn’t her two opening pins or her eventual defeat in the semifinals.

It was seeing the faces of the state champions: a reel of fist pumps and tears and gold.

She wanted that. And a year later, she got it.

Wrestling for the district team at Broomfield, the Monarch student’s eyes welled with tears after pinning Loveland’s Abigail Stearns in the Class 5A 190-pound finals last month. Her arm was raised toward the Ball Arena rafters in victory. All of her then fell into the arms of her dad, Sam Barajas, the one-time state runner-up who’d been in her corner of the mat through the three-day state meet — but really, much longer, she said.

Now, the first girls wrestling champion from the Boulder Valley School District is the first girl to be named the Daily Camera wrestler of the year.

“I was at state last year and I remember seeing all these girls become four-time state champions and watching the excitement on the wrestler’s face after winning the state title,” Martinez said. “It made me think, ‘I want to do that, and I want to be the best. So, I have to put the work in to be the best.’”

From her freshman to sophomore season, Martinez transformed herself. Not only did she move up in weight class — from 170 to 190 — it was clear from the outset that her ability on the mat had risen as well.

The final touches came later.

“She was in some matches at the beginning of the year that she was down and down big sometimes,” Broomfield coach Jake Johnston said. “She wasn’t always dominating like she could’ve been. She had to focus on how she could perform herself rather than worry about her opponent. I think when she realized that she had the ability to dictate what would happen, that’s when things really took off.”

Following her lone defeat of the season — losing to On The Mat’s then-5A No. 1 girls wrestler, Pine Creek’s Melanie Marin Lopez, in January — Martinez pinned her remaining 12 opponents, nine inside the first period.

She finished the season 29-1 with 26 pins.That loss “was a humbling experience,” she said, looking back. “I had to think differently. And I also pushed myself harder in practice because I wasn’t going to let it happen again.”

Martinez, still a relative newbie in just her second year in the sport, is now eager for more. She wants to turn a state championship into a state legacy. Not 10 minutes after her finals win at Ball Arena, she announced, “I want to be a three-time state champion.”

Before it, she knows there’s more work to be done.

Over the next few months, Martinez is planning to compete at national premier wrestling tournaments such as the U.S. Open in Las Vegas and the U.S. Junior national championships in Fargo, N.D.