Merrillville’s Joy Cantu didn’t mind wrestling against boys.
But that wasn’t what she hoped to get out of her career.
“It was really hard at first because there weren’t that many girls, so the only choice I had was to wrestle boys,” Cantu said. “It made me better and gave me all of the mental toughness I had. But that was never my goal, to wrestle against the boys. My goal was to be dominant in the girls sport.”
After becoming an All-American over the summer, Cantu has a chance to prove her dominance in Indiana this season, her last at Merrillville but the first for girls wrestling as a sport sanctioned by the Indiana High School Athletic Association.
Cantu has a trio of top-four finishes at the Indiana High School Girls Wrestling Coaches Association’s state meet on her resume: third at 106 pounds in 2022, fourth at 106 in 2023 and second at 110 in 2024.
Cantu is also a three-time IHSAA semistate qualifier, having worked through postseason brackets that often featured her as the only girl. She has never shied away from that during meets — or practices.
“Practicing with the boys has benefited me a lot,” she said. “They’re tougher. They’re mostly like go, go, go, go.”
Cantu will still get that competition this season because the Merrillville boys and girls will continue to practice with each other, according to coach David Maldonado. But an official IHSAA postseason for girls means Cantu won’t have to navigate two tournaments.
“For the past three years, she’s been pulling double duty,” Maldonado said. “Last year, in a matter of two weeks, she wrestled 18 matches. You appreciate the effort, but there are times as a coach when you have to step in.”
Maldonado said the coaches held Cantu out of the Duneland Athletic Conference meet last season — over her objections — to let her rest as the matches piled up. But that won’t be a problem this season.
“It is some relief,” she said. “Because now I don’t have to do both. I just get to focus on one thing and one thing only — just one match at a time to get me to the state finals.”
That focus has been sharpened in the wake of Cantu’s two postseason tournaments during her junior year. Her runner-up finish in girls wrestling was difficult for her to handle, and her IHSAA regional meet ended abruptly when she suffered a concussion in her semifinal match. Cantu recovered in time to wrestle at the East Chicago Semistate one week later, but her overall experience left her unsatisfied.
“I felt defeated,” she said. “So in the summer, I was training, and that’s the most serious I’ve been about it. I felt as ready as I’d ever been to go to Fargo.”
Fargo, North Dakota, is the annual summer destination for USA Wrestling’s youth championship events, and Cantu placed seventh at 110 in the junior women’s freestyle to become an All-American. She was seeded 22nd but upset sixth-seeded Jayden Keller of Missouri in the consolation bracket.
“That was such an exhausting match,” Cantu said. “You just want to sleep for three days straight after that. But, yeah, that one was really satisfying.”
Cantu, who wants to continue her career in college, will have a familiar face in the wrestling room as she pursues a state title this season. Her younger sister Julianne, a Merrillville freshman, will compete at 135. Another younger sister, Joanna, is a junior at Hobart.
Julianne Cantu said Joy’s perseverance has been a source of inspiration throughout their careers.
“Her pushing, her making me want to go to practice when I didn’t want to go to practice, that’s helped me a lot, and she’s just always pushing me to do better,” Julianne Cantu said.
Joy Cantu is pushing herself, too, with the hope that her one and only shot at an IHSAA state title proves to be successful.
“Right now, it’s just doing what I’ve always done: work hard and then come back the next day,” she said. “Don’t focus on the wins and losses. Just keep going.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.
