Truman Middle School student Kiley Mehringer recently won the Silver Medal for Team USA in the 2017 Pan Am Taekwondo Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Kiley, who is in eighth grade, competed in the Cadet — ages 12-14 — Under 97-Pound Black Belt Sparring Division.
She represented Team USA as the wild card, according to a news release.
Kiley defeated opponents from Nicaragua and Canada in the first and semifinal rounds.
In the finals, she met 2017 USA National Team member Sophia Oceguera, and fought a very close fight to the very end, with Kiley taking the silver and Sophia taking the gold.
At Truman Middle School, Kiley is an “A” student in the Lindbergh Eager Achievers Program and an Academic All-Star, the release stated.
She has been training in Taekwondo since she was 5 years old and trains at Taiga Taekwondo under Master George Sloan in Arnold. Kiley trains five days a week and hopes to someday make the national team and the Olympic team.