By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current

In the inaugural season of girls’ wrestling at GHS, Taylor Krueger advanced to the Girls’ State Wrestling Meet on Feb. 24-25 at the Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington. Her twin sister, Sierra Krueger, was defeated in the final round of sectional competition held earlier this month at Geneseo High School, and has moved right into track.

Girls’ wrestling was new this year not only to the Krueger twins, but also the sport was offered for the first time at GHS.

With the State Wrestling meet approaching, Taylor is preparing by watching the boys’ wrestling team and watching them as they compete at the Boys’ Individual State…”You can learn by just watching wrestling,” she said. “While traveling with the boys’ team, I had the opportunity to practice at the University of Illinois Hull Hall, where the D1 athletes form the University of Illinois practice. I truly am blessed to have the opportunity to make it to State because, looking back on the season, I have come a long way and have caught on to things quickly. I have not wrestled many matches throughout the season, and I am going up against girls who have wrestled about 30 matches and girls who come from schools with larger enrollments than Geneseo, so that in itself is an experience.”

Taylor commented that when she first walked into the wrestling room for her first practice, she never thought she would make it as far as State, especially with it being her first year to be out for the sport…”I am so happy with how far I have come and how much my coaches push me every single day. I am extremely honored to be able to represent Geneseo Girls’ Wrestling at the State level,” she said.

The sisters shared the experience of wrestling for the first time in their lives in their senior year at GHS.

-TAYLOR KRUEGER – “With wrestling my senior year, I just wanted to try something new, but I didn’t fully realize how tough wrestling is, until now. Wrestling really allowed me to focus on myself as an individual and make decisions about eating healthy in order to maintain within a weight class throughout the season. Like my wrestling coach tells me, ‘if wrestling were easy, then everyone would be doing it’.”

“Looking back on the season, I wouldn’t change my decision for the world about going out for wrestling because I love the team atmosphere and the coaches are amazing,” she said. “I’ve really improved my mental toughness by being able to push my body and wrestle for the entire six minutes of a match. I can apply what I’ve learned about mental toughness in wrestling to my everyday life.”

When asked what advice or encouragement she might offer to younger girls, Taylor said, “Some advice I would offer younger girls is that wrestling is a hard sport mentally and physically, but if you are up for a challenge and willing to push yourself, it can be such a rewarding sport in finding out so much about yourself and your limits and making you stronger.”

“With wrestling, you get to choose the weight class you want to be in, your coaches don’t choose it. When on the mat, it is one on one, and you have to make decisions as things happen within the match. It’s great to have coaches and teammates support you, but in the end it’s just you and another girl on the mat. Another thing my coaches always tell me is that your body is capable of doing something that is hard, but it’s your mind that tells you that you can’t. You have to change your mindset to ‘I can’ and not ‘I can’t’. Overall, wrestling truly is an amazing sport if your are willing to put in the time and effort.”

-SIERRA KREUGER – “Wrestling my senior year is something that I will cherish forever. Not only because I made history of being a part of the first girl’ wrestling team at Geneseo High School, but also by growing closer with my teammates and coaches. I have really learned a lot through wrestling, especially mental toughness and eating healthier. I remember every practice Coach Tom Rusk telling us, ‘Your body is capable of doing the hard workouts, but it’s your mind that’s stopping you, don’t let your mind stop you!’ These are motivational words that I will use for my workouts or this track season.”
When asked what advice or encouragement she would share with younger girls, Sierra said, “I would encourage them to try something new and be willing to learn. I have tried many different sports throughout high school such as volleyball, tennis, basketball, girls’ wrestling, track and softball, along with travel softball and track during the summer. Through my experiences, I have met life-long friends and have experienced different coaching styles. Keeping an open mind has also helped me to learn new techniques or moves quickly in whatever sport I do.”

Even though the wrestling season has ended for Sierra, she feels good about her accomplishments, and said, “This season I felt that I performed well at tournaments with little experience under my belt. Going into Sectionals I was worried about wrestling girls with more experience than me and how I would compete against them. Whether the outcome was a win or a loss, I still put up a fight against them. Not only did I go up against girls with more experience, but also those who weighed more than I weigh.

“I normally wrestle in the 155 lb. weight class, but had to wrestle in the 170 lb. weight class,’ she explained. ‘Since each team can only have one girl for each weight class, I had to do a wrestle off earlier in the week, but lost, after wrestling two whole matches, and going into double overtime with my teammate Mady Mooney, who is a great competitor of mine.”

Sierra Krueger has started track practices and said, “I am really excited for this upcoming track season. Since I am done with wrestling, I have moved right into track. A few things different this year are that girls and boys practice together due to coaching changes. I will also have my sister with me this track season because last year she ran during the indoor track season, but did softball the rest of the season. Last year I also ran track and was a pinch runner for softball. I really enjoy running and have decided to only continue with track this season.”

Sierra will compete in the short distance events: 100, 200, and 400 along with the relays.

Taylor Kruger also is excited for the upcoming track season and said, “I will be in the best shape and cardio condition I have ever been in. This year I plan to do the 4/100, 4/200, 200 and 4/400. I know that I am not guaranteed any spots because the girls’ track team has a lot of phenomenal athletes, but with coming out of wrestling, I am in the best cardio shape I have ever been in, and I am looking forward to this season.”

The Krueger twins have chosen to attend Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Sierra said she has visited the school and has attended basketball and football games there “and really enjoyed it,” she added. “I like the size of the campus and how it isn’t far from my family – parents and family who live in Geneseo and my family who lives in Nebraska.”

“I have chosen to go for academics only, but want to join clubs and do intramural sports,” she said. “I currently am undecided on a major, but want to try different internships to gain different experiences.”