Spokane boxer taking part in trials qualifier

The road to the 2016 Olympic Games begins in Spokane for nearly 300 hopeful boxers this week, including three former Olympians, three more world championship medalists and 11 other national champions.

And an ophthalmologist’s assistant from Spokane.

“I’m definitely a little nervous,” admitted Jillian Erstad. “But I’m also excited to see where I stand.”

She could hardly have picked a more daunting measuring stick.

The 25-year-old Gonzaga University graduate finds herself in one of the most loaded brackets in the USA Boxing National Championships, which starts a six-day run today at The HUB Sports Center in the Valley and Northern Quest Resort and Casino.

The event is the first Olympic Trials qualifier for the 10 men’s and three women’s weight classes that will be contested in the 2016 Rio games – and the entry numbers and talent level have increased accordingly over last year’s national event in Spokane.

And there’s no bigger name than Claressa Shields, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist and 2014 world champ in the women’s middleweight division.

Which happens to be Erstad’s division.

“Last year I was in the gym when the nationals were going on,” said Erstad, who trains out of BoxFit on North Division. “Claressa came by and I got to meet here and take a picture, and then go watch her compete in the finals. She’s so amazing – and she wins all the time.

“To maybe have the chance to fight against her is really cool.”

But there’s more. Raquel Miller, the 2012 national champion and world silver medalist, is also in that 165-pound bracket. So is Chatiqua Hemingway, another former USA champ.

“It’s loaded,” Erstad said.

And she’s actually stepping up in weight to compete. With only three women’s weight classes in the Olympics, there’s no avenue for light-welterweights (141) and welterweights (152) to get to the Games except to move up or down.

Not that Erstad is anything but a long shot this week.

She has just five amateur fights behind her, having won three. She’d played softball at Connell High School, and played a couple years of club lacrosse at GU. It wasn’t until 2013 that she made her way to BoxFit, looking more for a good workout than anything else.

“I wanted a more physical sport that would push me to my limits,” she said, “and something that would help me feel more confident about myself. I guess I didn’t want to be afraid to try it.”

By that fall, she’d talked herself into the ring for real, and though she lost her debut to a sparring partner of 2012 Olympian Queen Underwood in Seattle, she was anything but discouraged.

She was, in fact, hooked.

“It’s just you and that other girl – and a lot of adrenaline,” she said. “It’s awesome, crazy adrenaline. Once you get the nerves out of the way, everything you work for comes into play – but like Mike Tyson said, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

In addition to Shields, the two other females who won 2012 Olympic berths in Spokane will be back in action here – flyweight Marlen Esparza, the bronze medalist, and Underwood in the lightweight division. Miller, lightweight Mikaela Mayer and featherweight Tiara Brown are the world championship medalists entered.

Four men’s national champions will be back to defend titles won in Spokane last year, with welterweight Jose Alday and middleweight LeShawn Rodriguez seeking third straight golds.

Competition will be conducted in multiple rings at the HUB in 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. sessions Monday through Thursday. Action moves to Northern Quest with Friday’s semifinals at 11 and 5, with the championships settled over two sessions at noon and 6 p.m. on Saturday.