York County female standout to wrestle for powerhouse college program in Tennessee

• Stewartstown's Tiffani Baublitz has committed to wrestle for King University in Tennessee.
• Baublitz is ranked No. 5 in the nation at 164 pounds among female high school wrestlers.
• Baublitz has won two female high school state championships in Pennsylvania.

Fate played a key role in helping Tiffani Baublitz find her way from York County to King University in Bristol, Tennessee.

Originally, the standout Stewartstown wrestler was not looking to venture out of the state to compete in college. The Kennard-Dale High student was looking at mostly Pennsylvania schools to continue her blossoming wrestling career.

At the suggestion of her mother, however, Baublitz decided to visit some colleges along the way to competing in the Soap Defense Super 32 wrestling tournament in South Carolina. Baublitz won the 160-pound women’s title at the prestigious event. Her future also grew much more clear.

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Impressed by King coach: One of the stops on the way to South Carolina was at King, which is near the Tennessee border with Virginia. Baublitz already knew a handful of current wrestlers at King, but quickly fell in love with the school after meeting coach Jason Moorman.

“Them being already established and having a solid (female wrestling) program definitely helped my decision,” said Baublitz, who visited the campus back in October. “And I heard a lot of really good things about the team, but I didn’t know much about the coach. And when I went down and met him, we just really clicked.”

After the visit, her decision became clear and she recently signed her commitment papers to join the King program.

York County woman earns championship at prestigious wrestling tournament in South Carolina

A three-time Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association Coach of the Year who has helped King to four WCWA national titles, Moorman left a quick and positive impression on Baublitz.

“His coaching style really stuck out to me,” Baublitz said. “And you know when you meet someone and you just click right away with them? That was us.”

A big fan of the campus: The campus itself also played a part in her decision.

“I was looking for not a small campus, but not a huge one either,” she said. “One close to a city. And when I got there, the campus was just beautiful … very scenic. And I’m not going to complain that it was really warm out (in mid-October) either.”

King finished 10-1 last season before the campaign was cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Standout high school career: Baublitz has already won two MyHouse Pennsylvania High School Girls’ State Wrestling Championships. Girls' wrestling is not yet a sanctioned PIAA sport. Entering this season, Baublitz was ranked No. 5 in the nation at 164 pounds. USA Wrestling, FloWrestling and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum partnered to create those preseason national high school rankings.

Before Baublitz ventures down to Bristol next year, she’s looking to take advantage of any and all opportunities left ahead of her during the upcoming season.

With the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus for indoor athletic events, Baublitz isn’t quite sure what is next.

“I’m going to keep training,” she said, noting she hopes to compete with the K-D wrestling program as well as training with an outfit from Maryland. “But with corona, I’m not really too sure what’s going to happen. I do know for sure that whenever I get the chance, I’m just excited to wrestle.”

Reach Ryan Vandersloot at sports@yorkdispatch.com.