A graduate of Wyoming Seminary is preparing to take the Olympic stage in Paris this year.
Kennedy Blades, a 2022 graduate, was selected for Team USA in women’s wrestling for the 2024 Olympic games.
“I’m super excited to represent the U.S., especially at the highest level of my sport,” she said. “I’ll forever be a Blue Knight.”
Blades was a runner-up in the 2020 Olympic Trials at the age of 17. In her senior year at Wyoming Seminary, the school ranked number one in national high school girls wrestling, and she was among the top-ranked pound-for-pound recruits in the country.
Blades, a Chicago native, says her time at Wyoming Seminary shaped her as a person and an athlete.
“Wyoming Seminary definitely taught me a lot of accountability…I think that was the biggest thing I took away,” she said. “But it also taught me dedication and hard work.”
Blades attends Arizona State now, but says Sem helped prepare her to compete at the “highest level” academically and athletically.
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association voted to sanction girls wrestling in 2023, making Pennsylvania the 38th state to do so. Blades knows this is an exciting time for the sport, and hopes it will continue to grow.
“When I was younger, there were not a lot of girl wrestlers at all. Growing up I would just train with the guys,” she said. “With how fast the sport is growing…we need to play a role when we get to the higher level to show these girls that anything’s possible.”
Blades will compete in the Women’s Freestyle 76kg division at the Olympic Games this summer.
