The only thing harder than winning a state wrestling title is defending one.

Just ask Auburn senior grappler Katrynia Todd.

“It’s more stressful for sure,” the defending 140-pound girls wrestling champion said. “You have a lot of pressure on you because you want to do it again.”

Last season Todd was nearly perfect on the mat, wrestling her way to the Mat Classic XXIII championship with just one regular season loss, an overtime decision to Sedro Woolley’s Haylee Rabenstein.

At Mat Classic, Todd was perfect, winning her first two matches by pin before avenging her loss to Rabenstein in a four-overtime 2-1 victory. In the 140-pound title match, Todd outlasted Lincoln’s Imari Jones with a 6-4 decision.

This season, despite two losses – one a 3-0 decision to Oregon wrestler Katie Eddy at the Kelso Invitational on Jan. 7, the other a 3-2 loss to Evergreen’s Stephanie Simon at the Lady Lion Tournament of Champions at Auburn Mountainview in December – Todd believes she is even better.

This season, it’s all in the mechanics.

Although she has been wrestling since she first turned out and made the varsity squad as a sixth-grader at Tacoma’s Meeker Middle School, Todd says it’s her experiences this past year that have made her a better wrestler.

“I think last year I depended on the head-and-arm (maneuver) and maybe one other move,” Todd said. “This year I’m actually wrestling. I’ve only thrown the head-and-arm twice this year.”

Added her coach, Erick Opel: “Last year she did a lot of head and arm moves. You’ll see that in a lot of kids in the early years of wrestling. It’s a one-move throw to the ground and an easy way to get a pin, basically.”

It also makes a wrestler more predictable, which is an issue when you step up to a higher level of competition, such as regional tournaments and the Mat Classic.

This season Opel and Todd worked on throwing a few more moves into her repertoire and generating more aggressiveness in order to make her a better wrestler.

“We’ve kind of banned that (head-and-arm throws) move this year so we could learn some other stuff,” Opel said. “She’s pretty aggressive but can be a little defensive at times. She’s worked a lot this year on having a few more moves in the arsenal.”

A major step in her improvement this season was Todd’s participation in the USA Wrestling Junior Women Freestyle Nationals last summer in Fargo, N.D.

Although Todd went 1-2 in the tourney after suffering a shoulder injury, Opel said the experience was invaluable.

“She learned some freestyle moves,” he said. “And you can see that in her matches nowadays. You can see her just battling these ladies in matches.”

“Nationals helped me a lot,” Todd added. “It actually got me to wrestle. There are a whole different set of rules in freestyle. It got me to shoot (for the opponent’s) legs. I was afraid to shoot before that.”

Todd explained that she always worried about taking a chance when shooting to grab an opponent’s leg and take them down.

“I’m always afraid when I shoot that they’re going to sprawl out on me,” she said. “I’m a defensive wrestler. I catch people’s mistakes, and when you shoot you can make a lot of mistakes.”

Todd is hoping a little aggressiveness – coupled with her work ethic and a drive to get better every match – will result in a return to the Mat Classic podium on Feb. 17-18.

“My grandpa tapes my matches, every single one, and puts them on a DVD,” she said. “So I study the DVD for a week, until my next tourney. … I just figure out what I do wrong, what I need to improve on and whether I need to change it up a little. Usually the first time I yell at myself on the TV, (it’s) like ‘oh my god, I’m so stupid I should have done that.'”

Opel thinks that a repeat is definitely possible for Todd.

“I think her chances are improved this year for a state title,” Opel said. “We’ve worked harder and built up more skill. She’s a more complete wrestler this year than when she won the championship last year.”

“Hopefully I’ll take first again, that’s my main goal,” Todd said. “I just want to wrestle my best and leave everything on the mat. I don’t want to regret anything.”