Wrestling, wrestling and more wrestling.

The Florence Middle School eighth-grader recently completed her first full freestyle season and is now preparing for folkstyle season. She competed individually and as part of the Wisconsin National Schoolgirl Team.

Caitlyn traveled with Team Wisconsin to the Lady Lincoln Freestyle National Duals in Byron, Ill., for her first competition. She won by a technical fall on all three opponents and was unscored upon.

This was Caitlyn’s first freestyle competition since 2014 when she won the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation State Freestyle Tournament. She repeated that quest in this year’s state freestyle in Wisconsin Dells, going undefeated and taking home the state title.

D’Nelle Kelley Photos Florence’s Caitlyn Kelley secures her second gold medal in the AAU Junior Olympics.

Caitlyn then competed in the Go Big or Go Home tournament in Oconto Falls. Here she wrestled in the freestyle and Greco-Roman divisions against her male peers. She placed first in freestyle and second in Greco-Roman.

In May, Caitlyn traveled to Rochester, Minn., to compete in the Northern Plains Regional Freestyle tournament. She finished this tournament with two technical falls and earned first-place.

Caitlyn’s final freestyle tournament of the season was the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Olympics in Des Moines, Iowa.

AAU hosts the largest multi-sport event in the United States with more than 15,000 participants held at five different locations over a period of 12 days. AAU offers an individual girl wrestling division along with a boys team division.

The only registered wrestler in the 90 to 100-pound Schoolgirl bracket, Caitlyn was moved up to the 100-107.

She took first place in this division, overcoming wrestlers from Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin.

She challenged herself again by competing in the high school 100 to 106-pound division against wrestlers from Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin.

“Caitlyn’s skills, technique and determination helped her succeed against older wrestlers,” said her parents, Eddie and D’Nelle Kelley, noting their daughter recorded a pin and technical fall in repeating with her second AAU Junior Olympic gold medal.

Overall, Caitlyn finished her first complete freestyle season undefeated as a schoolgirl. This upcoming season, she advances to the Cadet division where she could face wrestlers up to two or three years older than her.

Caitlyn now has her sights on the upcoming folkstyle season where she’ll compete in her final youth season as a middle schooler before moving up to the high school division next year.

Caitlyn will be traveling to Iowa twice in October for tournaments including Preseason Nationals where she hopes to compete in both the girls and boys division.

“Although she may not finish on top, Caitlyn focuses on the learning opportunities that come from losing,” said her parents. “Plus, wrestling boys who may be physically stronger help to make her a more successful wrestler because she develops skills that help counter her weaknesses.”

Caitlyn’s goals for the 2018-2019 wrestling season include finishing her youth folkstyle career by surpassing 400 career wins and bringing her final state title total up to five.

Caitlyn’s year-round training efforts are motivated by a desire to compete in the 2019 Women’s National Freestyle Championships in Texas next spring. Placing first at this tournament will qualify Caitlyn for the US World Team where she will represent the United States in the 2019 World Cup Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

To achieve this goal, Caitlyn has been participating in weekly personal performance training with a licensed trainer. She has continued in off-season wrestling practices during the summer in Coleman and with the Northern Stars Wrestling Club in Oconto Falls.

With the wrestling season approaching, Caitlyn will return to her Upper Level team from Escanaba. She practices there up to three times per week.

She also attends practices with the Florence High School wrestling team along with Team Wisconsin Cadet and Wisconsin Girls National Team.

As time permits, she also practices at home with her younger brother Breyson, who also wrestles and receives ongoing support and instruction from her mentor, high school junior Shamus McLain and her first ever wrestling coach Shane McLain.