By NATHAN WHALEN

Special to the News-Times

Kaylie Baker, a senior at South Whidbey High School, placed second at the Mat Classic state wrestling tournament in 2024.

After winning the District 2/3 1A,1B,2B tournament in the 145-pound weight class Feb. 8, she will be one of eight wrestlers, boys and girls, representing South Whidbey at the Mat Classic that takes place later this week.

“It was a lot of fun,” Baker said. After the tournament, her record stands at 27-2 for the season.

She has been wrestling since her freshman year. Her brother, Gavin, convinced her to join. She said she competed on the Washington State National Freestyle team. During the summer of her sophomore year, she competed in the national freestyle championships in Fargo, North Dakota.

“I like that it teaches good sportsmanship,” Baker said of wrestling.

South Whidbey’s boys and girls wrestling teams competed in the district competition on Feb. 8. The girls team traveled to Life Christian Academy to compete in an eight-team tournament while the boys team competed in a three-team tournament at Granite Falls.

“The staff and I are extremely proud of all of our wrestlers this year,” coach John Sommer wrote in an email. “We graduated a lot of talent on the boys team last year and it has been great to see these kids step up into leadership roles.”

Dylan McKnight qualified at 106 pounds, Antonio Ellis qualified at 126 pounds, Beckett Walsh qualified at 136 pounds, Hayden Baker (Kaylie’s younger brother) qualified at 215 pounds and Owen Walker qualified at 285 pounds.

In addition to Kaylie Baker, Logan Schnobrich qualified at 110 pounds and Josie Ploof qualified at 170 pounds for the girls state tournament.

Sommer highlighted the leadership that wrestlers Nathan Welever and Liam Abadow provided throughout the year as they competed in two difficult weight classes.

The 1A boys wrestling tournament and the 1A,1B, 2B girls wrestling tournament takes place Feb. 21-22 at the Tacoma Dome.