While most Whitman students were sprawled out on the beach this summer, or lazily eating ice cream next to a refreshing pool, senior Harriet Symington had other plans: she was wrestling.

Nearly 5,000 miles away in Zrenjanin, Serbia, Symington represented the United States in the 2013 Cadet World Wrestling Championships. Although she did not place, Symington said the trip was worth it since she received helpful coaching and had an amazing experience.

“I didn’t really know what to expect since it was my first international competition but it was an amazing experience,” Symington said.

There are two types of wrestling: folk-style, which is the normal type of wrestling for high school or college and free-style, which is more upper-body orientated. The championship was a free-style tournament, something Symington wasn’t used to. In the off-season, Symington wrestles folk-style so she had to learn a lot of new free-style techniques.

The qualifying national championships were in May in which ten girls from each weight class qualified. Then, over the summer, the qualified wrestlers had 20 days of training in Colorado Springs. They spent a week in Serbia at the championships, where they wrestled six hours a day on average, participating in 2-3 practices a day.

“I got so much good training and I made such good friends,” Symington said.

Among the coaching staff there was Terry Steiner, who helped the United States women’s wrestling team earn a bronze and silver medal in the 2004 Olympics—the first time women’s wrestling was part of the Olympics.

Whitman wrestling coach Derek Manon was unable to coach Symington for the championships since he’s not allowed to coach in the off-season unless it’s for a specific wrestling league.

Symington has been the only girl on the Whitman wrestling team for three years now and is still unsure of whether she wants to wrestle in college, although plenty of colleges have already contacted her.

Some of her top choices are King University in Tennessee and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.

As for this year, coach Manon said he has high expectations for Symington and said she will be a four-year starter for the team if she wins her wrestle-off for her weight class.

“She is a hard worker and a very tough wrestler so I’m expecting her to have a great season,” coach Manon said.