MUKILTEO — For Kamiak girls wrestling, the team’s first day of practice on Monday felt like a typical introduction to a season. Kids scrambled to submit the right participation forms. Coaches went over team guidelines. The team participated in ice-breaker activities.

But aside from the opening day formalities, things could not have been more different.

After seeing Lillian Burgess and Eden Cole win titles in their respective weight classes at last season’s District 1 4A Championships in February , coach John Knight-Baldwin said he hoped the team would grow from just eight wrestlers — not enough to fill out a lineup across all 14 weight classes — to 16-20 the following season.

Knight-Baldwin and the returning wrestlers took significant steps to recruit both incoming freshmen and curr

See Full Page