Columba College: Jess Todd

Jess Todd
Jess Todd
Jessica Todd may look like a lean, mean fighting machine, but beneath the New Zealand champion wrestler's thick skin lies a calm and gentle 17-year-old.

Finding a balance between wrestling and academia can be a struggle at times for Jessica, but rather than solve the time-management problem with a ‘‘single leg shoot'' or a ‘‘half Nelson'', the Columba College pupil says diligence, focus and determination are the solution.

Recently, she proved her mental toughness when, in the first round of her first bout at the South Canterbury Wrestling Championship, she sprained her ankle badly.

Although she could barely move on it, she went on to win that bout and the final.

Jessica began wrestling when she was 8-years-old, and almost immediately she made her mark on the national scene by winning her first national title in the boys division of the New Zealand Club Championships.

Since then, she has won a stream of provincial titles, and in the past four years she has dominated at the national championships, winning titles not only in her age and weight, but also in higher weight divisions and age groups.

In 2007, Jessica won a gold medal at the Down Under Games and in May this year, she won two gold medals at the Australia Cup in Melbourne.

It was one of the proudest moments of her life because she managed to defeat the experienced international and Australian champion, 26-year-old Cassie Fields, in just under thirty seconds.

Later this year, Jessica will compete at the Commonwealth Cup in India.

A place among the top six could qualify her for the Commonwealth Games in 2010 - a goal she is squarely focused on.

This year, she is studying NCEA Level 3 accounting, computing, design, economics and statistics, and will study next year at the University of Otago.

Acheivements: Seven New Zealand wrestling titles; 13 South Island wrestling titles; New Zealand Secondary School Championships four gold and one silver medals (2008); Most Scientific Female Wrestler in New Zealand 92007); Down Under gold medalist (2007); Australia Cup, two gold medals Australia, USA and New Zealand (2009).

Role Models: Valerie Vili, Sarah Ulmer and the Evers-Swindell sisters.

Hopes for the future: To study commerce and computer science at the University of Otago.

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