Jayda Fulp Garners National Championship Title

National Champion. That is the newest title to Jayda Fulp’s ’25 lengthy athletic career awards list, becoming the first-ever Falcon to garner that title in any sport. She did it on February 24 in wrestling at Lehigh University.

Fulp is a rare competitor, and that’s coming from Wrestling Head Coach Hugo Muñoz. He has been coaching her since she was nine, and, as he states, she’s the only athlete he’s ever coached who could compete for an hour and not want to stop. She just likes to compete and continue to get better.

A three-time All-American, Fulp has only competed in wrestling since the summer before ninth grade and has qualified for nationals every year. As a freshman, she placed second; as a sophomore, she placed third. This year, she finally earned the title and had an undefeated 26-0 season. 

At the start of the year, Fulp set three goals: improve her technique, go undefeated and win National Prep. “That kind of influenced me to do better at practice, during conditioning, really try against the boys, especially Luke Tierce [’24], he’s more my weight class [which is 145]  and Alex Parsons [’26], he’s 157. So they gave me a pretty good push to prepare for big tournaments like Texas Women’s Classic, Prosper and Lamar.”

Hitting all three goals was an amazing feeling. Going into that final match and going undefeated, she felt on top of the world.

Only competing in five tournaments, Fulp averaged four matches in each competition, most of which were one day. These competitions helped her prepare even more for nationals. “I would say going against public school girls really helped develop my game, and then I went against two girls who are nationally ranked, so … those hard matches, which lasted all three periods, was similar to what I was going to see at Nationals Preps with the other girls who are nationally ranked too.”

This season, Fulp competed at the Texas Women’s Classic, the Eagle’s Nest Tournament, the Lamar Invitational, the Lady Trojan Classic and the Texas Prep State Girls Tournament, where she placed first in her weight class every time. For most of the season, Fulp was competing against public school wrestlers. At the state tournament, she competed against only private school competitors to qualify for the national championship.

Heading into the week of nationals, Fulp thought she was going to be the No. 1 seed, but two days before she traveled to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a Wyoming Seminary competitor changed weight classes, which bumped her to the No. 2 seed. That same girl was who she would end up facing in the championship round. 

When comparing this national championship to previous years, Fulp felt she was most prepared for this one. “My freshman year, the first time, that was difficult,” she said. “I went against a girl who really played with me mentally and physically, and I didn’t know how tough this sport was going to be. She was hitting me in the face sometimes, and I was kind of being nice. Then, the second year, I went in knowing more throws and more moves. I was going to use them, but I was also mediocre, like I'm not going to be too aggressive. And then this year, aggressiveness finally hit me and mentality hit me too, like give it everything, so I think that played into this year. Mentally I think I advanced.”

Since the first round consisted of 16 spots and only 13 competed, three wrestlers didn’t compete in that round. When asked if having a bye is what she preferred, Fulp said not so much. “Honestly, for me, it’s worse because I like to have a warm-up match to get me going. Also, on the second day, we only competed once, which kind of hurt me because I didn’t get good matches in before that final match.”

In the championship match, Fulp was up 4-0. All of a sudden, her competitor scored two points to close the gap with a takedown. In the third period, she started to drain physically, and it could all change because it was such a close match, but once the official began counting down from five, it was all over. “Once he started counting down, I was like, ’Oh my gosh’; I just held onto her leg until he got to zero, and that’s when I jumped up and screamed.” 

“When it was all over, I just remember hearing my mom scream from the top of the rim, Hugo clapping, and all of the Wyoming Seminary girls and guys go quiet. That’s all I remember,” she said. Fulp’s fan base on the floor was Muñoz as coach and Joseph Brunson ’25, who was there to compete as well, whereas her competitor had an entire team cheering her on. “That was intimidating a little bit, but I wanted to prove them wrong as well,” she said. 

To wrap up this season, Fulp has one thing to say - “Thank you to all my training partners, Coach Hugo and Coach Mia for really believing in me.”

What are Fulp’s plans for the summer and next year? Just more tournaments and going for another title.