Despite her own admission that wrestling "is not a girl thing," Teshya Alo is doing her best to start changing some minds.

The Honolulu native, who has already propelled herself into the national spotlight at the age of 11, went a step beyond last week by becoming the first girl to win both freestyle and Greco-Roman national titles against the boys at the ASICS Kids' Nationals in Orem, Utah.

"It felt very awesome because I never thought that I could do that, but I felt confident and I beat them," said Teshya, who competed in the under 75-pound, novice (ages 11-12) divisions.

In the freestyle, Alo went 6-0 with three pins in a field that included 22 boys. In the Greco-Roman, she went 7-0 with two pins in a division that had 18 boys. At the Olympic Games, women wrestle only freestyle while men compete in freestyle and Greco-Roman.

"I don't think any differently when I wrestle a boy or a girl," Teshya said. "I just love to wrestle, and I want to go against the best."

By winning two of USA Wrestling's triple crown tournaments (folkstyle is the other), Teshya became the first female double winner and just the third girl to win a Kids' National title.

Teshya, who has already won 11 national titles, has had an eventful summer, winning other tournaments in Colorado and Idaho. She also was named National Wrestler of the Week last week by www.themat.com.

Teshya began entering tournaments around the age of "6 or 7," but according to her father, Leroy, she's been competitive along with younger sister, Teniya, 10, since much earlier.

"When they were younger, they'd love to play around on the rug," Leroy Alo said. "When I saw that, I said, 'it looks like they're wrestling.' "

However, Teshya said that it wasn't until a runner-up finish at the U.S. Girls' Wrestling Association Championships in the summer of 2006 that she began to take the sport more seriously.

"Before that I just did it because I liked wrestling, but when I saw all the winners getting interviewed, I knew that I wanted to be there, too," she said. "I lost in my final match of the Nationals that year and I was disappointed, but it made me mad and want to train harder."

Teshya said the loss served as motivation — enough so that she went on to win the triple crown (freestyle, folk style and Greco-Roman) at the AAU National Championships in Nebraska later that summer.

The following year, Teshya captured the USGWA title in Michigan and the Women's Body Bar championship in Colorado.

Despite her success, Teshya said she never takes any opponents lightly.

"I always think in my head that I have to keep training or I'm not going to get better," she said. "Practice is my time to train and have fun, but I have to stay focused ... I can always play after practices."

It is that attitude that has Team Hawai'i coach John Robinson in awe of the soon-to-be teenager.

"I can coach her like she's a senior-level wrestler, and she can do almost everything, but then she comes off the mat and you see her playing with a roll of tape," Robinson said. "When you see her wrestle, you forget how old she is."

Teshya kicked off her summer schedule with a pair of gold medals at the Women's National Championships in Colorado Springs back in May before matching the feat at the Western Regionals in Pocatello, Idaho in June. She took the freestyle and Greco-Roman divisions and was second in folkstyle.

Robinson believes Teshya can take the sport as far as she wants.

"She improves every time she wrestles, and she always tries to find the toughest competition," Robinson said. "She has a lot of natural ability, but the best part is that she still enjoys it. She says her goal is to become an Olympic champion and right now, she's doing everything she can to stay on that route."

Robinson even compared her to two-time NCAA champion and Saint Louis alumnus Travis Lee, and Roosevelt graduate and world champion Clarissa Chun, who competed in the Beijing Olympics.

"(Teshya) can be like Travis Lee," Robinson said. "Clarissa was the first Olympian, but she can outdo them."