It’s a big jump in one year from being a cheerleader to winning the silver medal at the girls Class 4A state wrestling championships, but that’s exactly what Oak Harbor sophomore Sydney Nelson accomplished.

Girls wrestling is becoming increasingly popular at high schools in Washington and Nelson won the first-ever medal for the Wildcats in the 160-pound weight class in competition held Feb. 16 and 17 in the Tacoma Dome.

As a freshman, Nelson was a member of the Oak Harbor cheerleading squad, but she said a friend talked her into going out for the wrestling team.

“I didn’t like cheerleading all that much and my friend Brianna told me she was going to do wrestling, so I decided to do it too,” Nelson said.

Nelson said she didn’t compete in any of the youth wrestling programs.

“At first I just wanted to do some conditioning and lose some weight, and then I really got into it,” she said. “As I went along, I said ‘I want to go to state,’ and I did.”

Nelson won the sub-regional tournament Feb. 3 in Juanita to advance to the regional tournament Feb. 10 at Liberty High School.

She was the fourth seed in her weight division going into the state tournament.

In her first state championship bout, she pinned Whitney McKormack from Hoquiam at the 53-second mark of the first period.

In the second round she took a little longer against Kali Mosier from East Valley-Yakima, but recorded a pin with 23 seconds remaining in the second period.

In the championship match, Nelson squared off against Kaylee Bishop from Washougal.

“She has wrestled for seven years and this is my first,” Nelson said. “We both have a lot of strength, that’s one thing, but she has a lot of skills.”

In the end, Bishop was a 9-1 winner by decision.

Unfortunately, this will be the last season Nelson will be competing for Oak Harbor.

“I’m going to be moving to Georgia,” she said. “My dad is in the military and he is being transferred to King’s Bay. We will be leaving in June.”

The move doesn’t make Nelson happy, but said she plans to continue her wrestling career.

“I hate having to move because I don’t get to do the wrestling camp this year,” she said.

At least she’ll always know she made a bit of sports history when she was in Oak Harbor.