The Girls Wrestling team took home a champion this past month at their Everett tournament. Karianne Baldwin, who was crowned champion at the tournament, was interviewed a few days later after her successful win.

Baldwin has been wrestling for four years, but before that, she participated in dance for 12 years. With her desire to do something more than dance, Baldwin turned to an unlikely sport- Jiu Jitsu. “I got into jiu jitsu because my dad wanted me to try it. Then, I started wrestling a year later for the same reason,” Baldwin said.

Before joining the varsity high school team, Baldwin was wrestling for her last two years in middle school. Traveling across the country, she was named the fourth in the nation for her wrestling league. In November, Baldwin attended an event in Las Vegas where she went head to head with a 26 year old in a Jiu Jitsu match where she took home the belt of champions. When talking about her accomplishments, her teammates were eager to give their opinion on the girl and her success. “All her hard work has paid off,” Bobbi Jack, a junior varsity wrestler, said. “She has never missed a practice and she always puts in all her hard work, never cutting corners.”

Back in October, Baldwin attended the USAW Brian Keck Mem Preseason Nationals at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Ioha. Here, she earned the title of fourth in the nation, not by gaining a pin, but by racking up enough points to name her the champion. When asked why she decided not to go back to dance, she gave a strong opinion on her feelings towards her new found passion for both sports. “I like that they are solo sports, that they are very competitive, and I enjoy both of them alot,” Baldwin said.

Since the new school year has started, Baldwin has attended many different competitions across the state, but she doesn’t plan to stop there. “As a sophomore, so far I have been to Iowa and California this year,” Baldwin said. “But I plan to go to Texas, Nevada, North Dakota and possibly other places by the end of [the] year.”