CLEARWATER, Fla. — Cerenity Whiting didn’t have much success in sports until she stepped on to the wrestling mat at Countryside High School.

“My goal my freshman year was just to try a sport, because I wasn’t good at any sports honestly,” she said.

What You Need To Know

  • Countryside High School junior Cerenity Whiting has only been wrestling for a couple of years, but she's already won a state title

  • She is now getting ready for the national stage, while recruiting more girls to the sport

But at the time, her school didn’t have a girls’ program.

“I had to wrestle with boys, and I would say that kept me going, because I didn’t want to get beat by them," she said. "So I just kept wanting to improve and just show them that I could beat them as well."

She quickly found out that wrestling was her sport.

“It really challenged me, because, you know, it’s not, like, ideal that a girl is supposed to be a boy so it really put in my mindset, ‘If I can be a boy then what can I do with girls?’,” Whiting said.

That was just a couple of years ago.

Now, the Countryside High junior is a state champion.

“It meant a lot really, because, you know, in the county a lot of people thought that our wrestling team really wasn’t going to do anything this year," she said. "So I’m very proud to represent the team and show that, you know, we’re still going, and we can still create state champs.”

Now, she has her sights set on a bigger goal: Whiting is getting ready to compete for a national title in Virginia. 

Her coaches say her dedication is unmatched. 

“She bought in, she went all in on the program,” said Countryside wrestling head coach Drew Jeffreys. “She went all in on reaching her own success. She showed up every single day, and never missed a practice. Never left a practice early, never questioned what her coaches were telling her.”

Whiting is a team captain, and she’s also a trailblazer, inspiring more girls to give wrestling a try.

“Once they start showing success, especially when they’re a local talent like Cerenity, other girls in the county can see, 'Oh I can do it too.’ And it really grows the program overall,” Jeffreys said.

Whiting said she’s not only wrestling for herself, but for every girl who was told “no.”

“Just keep going, because a lot of people will doubt you and it will make you feel bad, but just keep going because you’ll eventually get better and improve and make a statement,” Whiting said.

She says the discipline and confidence she’s gained from the sport will stay with her well beyond her time on the mat.