32 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | FROM THE NEST STUDENT-ATHLETE PROFILE Trailblazing on the Mat Audrey Jimenez ’28 has already made history as a female wrestler winning an Arizona boys high school state title. Now she’s making more as Lehigh’s women’s wrestling squad enters its first varsity season. tournament because of COVID. There I just wrestled girls. My sophomore and junior years, I wrestled boys throughout the regular season, but only wrestled girls in sectionals and states. When I was a senior, we were like, ‘Let’s just try to ask them.’ My coaches and the athletic director at my high school put in a lot of effort to go to meetings with the board. Girls wrestling was growing, but it wasn’t as competitive as it was for the guys. The championship itself would be more fulfilling if I could wrestle the boys. At the very end, obviously we were both able to wrestle in the boys tournament. What else do you have on the horizon as far as wrestling goes? We have an awesome team [at Lehigh]. We’re building a great culture, and having a bunch of new incoming freshmen, it’s awesome to experience. We can do really well, especially with the first official NCAA Women’s Tournament [being held in 2026]. That’s exciting, and I hope we can win that and get some individual titles as well. After that, I want to continue to make world teams and medal at world championships. And then in ’28 there’s going to be Olympic Trials again, so we’ll see how that goes. What’s the best thing about Lehigh’s women’s wrestling program? We have really great values, we all have big goals, but more importantly, our coach always emphasizes building a foundation off of being good people and being there for each other no matter what, even off of the mat. Some programs out there that have such a high value on winning. That’s where all of us want to be, of course. … But having an emphasis on the person rather than the result, focusing on the process and having those foundational values is really special. What’s an interesting fact that most people may not know about you? I don’t have a farm, but we do have a lot of farm animals as pets at home. We don’t use pets for milking. We use the eggs. What animals do you have? Three pigs, three goats, one sheep, one miniature horse, about eight chickens and a rooster. We also have a bird, a couple of cats and three dogs.—Stephen Gross Fresh off the UWW U20 World Championships (in which three other Mountain Hawks participated) in Bulgaria, the World Championships in Croatia and the U23 World Championships 2025, Audrey Jimenez ’28 is prepared for Lehigh’s inaugural women’s wrestling varsity season. A six-time world medalist, Jimenez also finished runner-up at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in 2024. Major: Sociology What would your dream job be? When I was really young, a veterinarian or firefighter. Now it’s something within the wrestling community or helping underprivileged kids. I’m from a part of town in Arizona where many people grew up in unfortunate circumstances. Seeing that and all the potential in that area, I would love to help people reach their goals. How did you win the Arizona boys state title in 2024 after being a three-time girls state champion? Senior year, myself and one other girl had to petition the board of Arizona wrestling and ask if we could wrestle boys. My freshman year we hardly had a season. We jumped straight into the state CHRISTA NEU
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