NK freshman reflects on road to her first state wrestling title

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Carly Anderson’s competitive drive, along with her experience growing up around some of Kitsap’s top wrestlers, fueled her to a state title win.

The North Kitsap High School freshman won the girls 2A 140-pound state title, defeating Othello Husky Addie Russell in the championship match Feb. 21 at the Tacoma Dome, finishing out her season with a 27-5 record.

Carly is the first girl from the West Sound to win a state wrestling championship as a freshman, indicating there is more to come from her in the future.

“I feel amazing, and I want to keep it going for a couple years and just keep doing what I’m doing, and hopefully have more titles,” she said.

Carly found her love for wrestling through watching her older brother, Dawsyn Anderson, wrestle for Bobby Reece at Vandit Wrestling Academy in Burlington when she was younger. Carly would attend all of Dawsyn’s tournaments to watch him wrestle and, at the same time, drew inspiration from other wrestlers, such as former Kingston state champion Peyton Reece, and former NK state champions Holly Beaudoin and Emily Gomez.

At the beginning of the 2025-26 season, Carly was losing a majority of her matches. Nonetheless, those losses served as learning opportunities, with North Kitsap wrestling coach Robert Gomez reminding her that she was only a freshman and that she has many more years ahead of her.

“He [Robert Gomez] just kept being positive towards me and gave me, you know, a lot of hope,” Anderson said. “When I asked him something, he would go up and tell me how to find success, and we would really work on that together.”

After winning the state title match, Carly was in disbelief. What she had been working toward since the beginning of the season had finally come to fruition. She notes that there were so many things going through her mind right after the match ended, like how she couldn’t wait to see her parents and friends.

Next season, wrestlers from across the state will be looking to dethrone Carly as state champion, but she said she “hates losing” more than she loves winning. Her competitive drive stems from when she was younger, competing against boys in wrestling.

“I feel I’ve always been competitive since I was young,” Anderson said. “Like when I first started wrestling, it was against boys, and I’m like, I don’t want to lose against these boys, and they obviously don’t want to lose to a girl.”