Campolindo’s 1st Female Wrestler Qualifies for State

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Karina Aza

Campolindo wrestler achieves historic qualification to CIF.

Senior Madison Lee qualified for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Wrestling Championship in Bakersfield California, which took place from February 24 to 26.

Lee is the 1st female wrestler to qualify for the CIF Wrestling in Campolindo history. Lee is also a North Coast Section medalist and the 2022 Diablo Athletic League champion.

“My win is really important because I think for being in such a male dominated sport and being really successful out of it is a really important accomplishment. That’s also 1 of the fastest growing sports. It’s a real challenge, like mentally and physically, to do wrestling,” said Lee.

“Our team is really special because I think we’re really accepting a culture that we’ve created. It’s really a close community,” Lee continued.

Lee’s teammates are incredibly excited and proud of her to be Campo’s 1st female wrestler to qualify for CIF. “A lot of the tournaments were originally made for males and originally women had to wrestle with the guys, but now…we’ll be able to isolate metals [and] we’ll be able to get the same rewards,” said sophomore wrestler Natalia Kalas.

Women’s wrestling is rapidly becoming more popular in society in general and at Campolindo. Many on the team hope that more girls will become interested in the sport.

“It’s really good to see our girls’ wrestling program grow because many girls feel that they can’t do wrestling because they are small. In wrestling, there’s not very many people so it’s a really huge thing to have 1 of the girls,” said freshman Camila Baxter.

Girls wrestling is often overlooked in athletics. Lee qualifying for CIF will hopefully help promote the program. “People need to pay more attention to girls’ wrestling because it is just as hard,” said Baxter.