Rosemary Flores hits a headlock on Arieana Villeascusa of Arizona to win the Cadet Nationals title at 124 pounds. Justin Hock photo

According to researchers at the University of Florida, the American Alligator has the most powerful bite in the world with a force of 2,960 pounds, perhaps the most frightening creature in the world.

However, the American Alligator would tremble in fear because the force of its bite does not remotely compare with the force of Rosemary Flores’ devastating headlock.

That power-driven headlock was one of the keys for Flores’ historic week in Fargo, N.D. where she won two tournaments, the USA Wrestling Women’s Cadet Nationals at 124 pounds and the Women’s Junior Freestyle Nationals at 125 pounds.

Flores, a 16-year-old from Staten Island, New York, acknowledges the power behind her signature move.

“Once you get stuck in there… sorry you’re stuck,” said Flores. “You can fight and hurt more or you can just get pinned.”

That was certainly the case in the Cadet Nationals where Flores recorded a 4-0 record, all four wins coming by fall. It was capped it all off with a pin of Arizona’s Arieana Villeascusa in 42 seconds in the finals. The tournament features the nation’s best 15-16 year olds.

Flores came back two days later to win the Junior Freestyle tournament, winning in the finals against California’s Tianna Camous by injury default after executing a number of headlocks.

“Fantastic, absolutely fantastic,” said Cheryl Wong, coordinator of women’s wrestling at New York City’s Beat the Streets wrestling program.  “I knew coming in that she had a chance, but are you kidding me? That was incredible.”

With the Cadet Nationals title, Flores became the first USA Wrestling national champion in the history of the New York City Beat the Streets program which has grown dramatically in the last decade, providing opportunity for both boys and girls. The Beat the Streets expanded to add women’s wrestling program in 2010.

“Beat the Steeets is really good because it supports us so much, so that kids are able to compete. Without Beat the Streets, I probably wouldn’t be able to be here,” she said.

Flores was one of the high school wrestlers chosen to compete in Times Square at the Beat the Streets Gala in May. She was named the Beat the Streets Girls Wrestler of the Year, and with her new national titles, she is quickly becoming a role model for young women wrestlers in New York

“It feels really good,” said Flores as she couldn’t help but smile. “I feel like I am setting an example for all girls wrestling in New York City and this will hopefully lead to more down the road.”

Wong also touched in the importance of Flores’s incredibly significant wins.

“The fact that she put in so much hard work and that it paid of sets a great example,” said Wong.  “That will give our program a ton of momentum and more support and hopefully more girls coming out to wrestle.”

Flores’ historic feat is even more incredible considering the incoming junior’s wrestling career began merely a year ago.

“I did karate for nine years and loved it,” said Flores, who is a second-degree black belt.  “When the program I went to closed down last year, I wanted to find a sport to compete in with the same morals.”

That quest for a new challenging sport led Flores to the head wrestling coach at Curtis High School, Chris Alena, and the man who may have had the most profound impact on her wrestling career, assistant coach Angel Mercardo.

“He [Mercardo] deserves so much more credit than he gets for Flores,” said Wong.  “He is the one in there pushing her every single day, making her better and beating her up.”

Flores competes at 112 pounds on the boys team for Curtis, and often found herself in some excruciatingly tough matches.

“When I go out there and wrestle boys, they are going to go a lot harder then they usually would,” said Flores.  “They just don’t want to lose to a girl.”

Despite their best efforts, Flores’s impeccable dedication and hard work paid off with much success, as she capped her season with a 24-16 record and was named the captain of her high school team.

“Coach [Alena] said he would have laughed before if someone would have told him that a girl would be the captain of his team,” said Flores.  “But he admired my dedication and the way I led by example and felt I was the best leader on the team.”

However, even though competing against the boys was fun, Flores knew that if she wanted to reach her high goals that she would have to get her name out there and wrestle in the best all-girls tournaments.

That is where Beat the Streets entered the picture.

Wong had started the women’s program at Beat the Streets in 2010 after wrestling competitively herself for 15 years.  She wanted to stay involved in wrestling and also find a way to draw more girls to it.

“I went to all the boy’s circuits to campaign to the girls who were wrestling for boy’s teams and to begin promoting the girl’s circuit,” said Wong. “Everywhere you will see one girl on a team here and one girl on a team, so we had a lot to work with. I just wanted to take what I knew was out there with what was already here.”

According to Wong, Flores was one girl who was dead-set on following the program.

“Since girl’s programs didn’t exist, Beat the Streets helped me find tournaments and showed me where to go,” Flores said. “I had the goal of wrestling in college but knew I had to do more to get myself noticed by college coaches.”

Flores began training with Wong at Beat the Streets a few days a week while training at Curtis High School the rest of the time.  However, all the travelling to major tournaments that the program recommended accumulated considerable expenses for her family.

“I told my mom that I know we are spending a lot right now,” said Flores.  “But if some coach sees me and offers me a college scholarship then it will all be worth it because it will cost less in the future.”

Rosa Flores, Rosemary’s mother, has been completely understanding of her daughter’s decisions and aspirations and always been there to support her.

“None of the parents usually come out to the girl’s wrestling events, but Rosemary’s mom is always there,” said Wong.  “Because they can’t or they don’t support girl’s wrestling, most girls don’t get the kind of support that she does and I think she wrestles harder because of it.”

Not only has her mother always supported Rosemary, but she also instilled many of the tremendous morals and values that Flores still carries with her.

“My mom always told me that if I didn’t get good grades then I couldn’t wrestle,” said Flores.  “I’ve kept that because if I want to wrestle in college or in the Olympics I will still need a career to fall back on.”

Earning the highest honor roll every year of her education career, Flores has certainly maintained that stable mentality and found balance between athletics and education that many fail to discover in a lifetime.

But, just like a truly great champion, Flores knows that her journey is far from over.

“I want to be an Olympic champion someday, so I know that I need to stay hungry and stay focused,” Flores said.  “I’m at the top now but there will always be people trying to take it from me so I need to work on my weaknesses and improve.”

One day, Flores hopes that she will be able to give back to the women’s wrestling community as a coach or program instructor. With the determination she has shown on the mat, she could set her sights on any career she wants.

“I want to be able to help a lot of girls,” said Flores. “I love wrestling and want to coach right now, so that is what I will work towards.”

Rosemary Flores’s wrestling career is still in its early stages, yet she is already one of the bright spots in the future of women’s wrestling, a sport which has seen tremendous growth and all around improvement in recent years.

However, until she ventures out into the world to accomplish the next set of goals in her life, Flores will continue to apologize to any girl or boy who has to feel the wrath of her deadly headlock.