Team North Carolina Women: Breaking Barriers and Building, Part 3 — Faith Bane and Savada Kitchen earned Fargo All-America honors while Team NC's women demonstrated both progress and the opportunity created by greater freestyle participation.

Team North Carolina's women made history at the 2025 USMC Nationals in Fargo, competing with skill and heart while demonstrating the growing strength of women's wrestling across the state.

Faith Bane and Savada Kitchen earned All-America honors, giving North Carolina two podium finishes across the Junior and 16U divisions.

Two Fargo All-Americans

Faith Bane

5th place

Junior 145 lbs

Bane reached the semifinals and earned All-America honors through resilience and strong freestyle technique.

Savada Kitchen

8th place

16U 207 lbs

Kitchen battled onto the podium and established herself among the nation's leading 16U wrestlers at her weight.

Participation defined the next opportunity

North Carolina brought 14 women across two divisions. Illinois brought 144. That disparity showed how participation influenced the size of each state's talent pool, the intensity of internal competition and ultimately its podium potential.

Freestyle was essential

For North Carolina women with national goals and collegiate aspirations, Fargo was more than another tournament. Freestyle is the collegiate style for women, making early and consistent participation vital to long-term success.

The pathway was clear: more girls wrestling freestyle, more often, with access to national competition and college-level goals. Greater participation would create stronger practice rooms, deeper state competition and more North Carolina athletes prepared to reach Fargo podiums.

The future remained bright

Fargo provided a demanding benchmark and a clear picture of the work ahead. Team North Carolina left proud of its effort and committed to building with greater intention, technical knowledge, experience and consistency.

Continue to Part 4: Moving Forward—The Future Is Bright for NC Wrestling