By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Mt. Edgecumbe High alumna Sydnee Kimber earned her fourth NCAA championship title wrestling for the McKendree University Bearcats in Des Moines, Iowa, this weekend.
Originally from Sitka, Kimber, 22, won state wrestling championships annually for Mt. Edgecumbe from 2014 to 2017, where her father, Mike Kimber, was coach.
The four-time collegiate champion recalled the decisive moments of the tournament in photographic detail. After trailing her opponent, Traeh Haynes of North Central College, for the entire match, Kimber turned the tables in the second period.
“I was down 6-4 at that point, and so definitely I was just thinking in my head like, ‘OK, I’ve got to get back to my stuff,’ then I hit the ugliest – I don’t even know what kind of throw it was – with 48 seconds on the clock,” Kimber told the Sentinel by phone on Monday. “And I’ve never hit that (move) a single day in practice, or in a match. Never, ever hit that move. And it definitely wasn’t pretty but it got the job done, and I had her on her back.”
Kimber went for the pin and won the championship match by fall. Only a handful of women have earned an NCAA title each year they competed, Kimber said. The Bearcats took third place in the tournament overall.
Sydnee Kimber, wrestling for McKendree University, wins her fourth NCAA wrestling title Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, in a match against North Central College’s Traeh Haynes, left. Kimber is a 2017 Mt. Edgecumbe High School graduate. (Photo provided to the Sentinel)
Prior to the NCAA championships, Kimber and Haynes had prior collegiate match-ups on the mat.
“At the end of December, we were in the same regional qualifier, and so we met again for the third time in the finals of a tournament, and I got cautioned out of my match. I had scored the only point in the match, but I had been cautioned out and ended up losing that match,” Kimber remembered.
Prior to that loss, Kimber had gone two seasons undefeated in her 191-pound class, the Bearcats’ website says.
Entering her fourth and final NCAA championship bracket, she felt a great degree of pressure – especially as her rematch with Haynes approached.
“Emotions were definitely high going into that. I had a good beginning on the first day, and my first match on Saturday, I was feeling really good and the wrestling was good,” said Kimber. “Being in the national finals is a big enough deal and obviously then having the pressure of being a four-timer.”
Kimber opened with a win by fall against Sienna Lejeune of Adrian College, and followed that up by pinning Sacred Heart’s Jacklyn Smith. In the semifinals, Kimber beat Katja Osteen, from Simon Fraser University, leading to the rematch against Haynes in the final round.
With a rare fourth title under her belt, Kimber has a new goal: the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Our coaches have done amazing things for our team and for me personally and my wrestling, and so I’m going to stay another year and be a graduate assistant coach for the team and also train for senior world team trials this April… and of course, the Olympics next year.”
She has high hopes for Paris.
“It would be a dream come true, that’s for sure.”
She’s currently earning her master’s degree in athletic training, and due to ripple effects of the pandemic kept her eligibility to compete in the NCAA competition this year.
After her time on the mat wraps up and she completes her degree, Kimber is unsure what she hopes to do.
“I’m not sure what’s in the universe for me after another year or two of wrestling but I’m definitely open. I have no idea,” she said.
