Planfield South's Lexi Janiak On A Mission To Win Inaugural IHSA Girls' Wrestling Meet This Weekend

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Plainfield South wrestler Lexi Janiak is ranked number 3 in the nation in her weight class, has won national tournaments, and competed in the Pan-Am Games.

As CBS 2's Matt Zahn reported Friday night, Lexi now has the chance to add IHSA state champion at the first ever girls' state wrestling meet.

"I'm proud, because of the amount that girls wrestling has grown," she said. "I started when I was in second grade, and I could count the amount of girls on my hand that wrestled in the state of Illinois."

Fast forward to now, and Lexi is one of 224 girls from 125 different schools competing at the state meet in Bloomington.

"It feels good, because it's like in a sense, we're trailblazers - opening the ways and inspiring other girls," she said.

It was her younger brother that got her into wrestling back in second grade. Now, they're both among the best of the best. Matthew Janiak, who's only a sophomore, finished sixth at the boys' state meet last weekend, and his big sister was his loudest supporter.

"It was actually cool, because I had a couple moments in my matches where like - because obviously, you don't normally listen to the crowd - but I could actually hear her yelling," Matthew said.

"I was probably more excited and nervous for him than he was. I was like shaking in between his matches," Lexi added. "I would be that crazy person yelling from the side."

What does Matthew think it'll be like watching her compete at the state meet?

"I'm sure it's going to be the same way it was for her as for me," Matthew said, "because I'm going to get into it a little bit too. The first ever IHSA - winning that would be pretty big."

"It would mean a lot," Lexi added. "It would prove to myself that all of these years, all the hardships, it just pays off."

Lexi will have a shot at that title on Saturday. She won her first two matches at state to make it to the semifinals.