KOKOMO — Senior twin sisters Catie and Cailin Campbell have been a fixture of the North Montgomery wrestling program for the past four years. Friday night the sister duo competed in their final Girls Wrestling State Finals at Kokomo looking to stamp their legacy in girls wrestling in the state of Indiana. After a long and eventful day, both Catie and Cailin stood atop the podium as state champions for the second straight year and the third time overall in both of their careers.
“It’s really cool to be able to get to share this with my sister,” Cailin said. “It makes the experience more fun you both can win at the same time.”
Catie took home the state title at 120 pounds by defeating West Lafayette’s Rose Kaplan via pin in the second round. Cailin in the 132 weight class defeated Kyra Tomlinson of Noblesville by 14-7 decision.
“We both know how hard we’ve worked to get here,” Catie said. “It’s just really rewarding for the both of us because we’ve put in a lot of hard work in the practice room in order to get here.”
The duo was a big reason that the Chargers were ranked the No. 1 girls team in the state earlier this season.
The victory for the Campbell’s cements their legacy as one of the most dominant tandems to come through the girls wrestling scene in quite sometime. Catie with the win improved to 27-1 on the season while Cailin is 26-3. Not only are they three-time state champions, they can say they both made the state finals in all four years and have left their mark without a doubt.
“It’s really hard to believe that we’re seen as role models for some of the girls at our school and around the state,” Catie said. “Some of the girls I’ve wrestled against are some of the best people I’ve ever met.”
Cailin echoed her sisters comments and also mentioned its nice to see all of the behind the scenes work pay off on the biggest stage.
“I’m really glad that I get to show how hard I’ve worked with these accomplishment,” she said. “We quit a lot of things just to focus on wrestling and I’m glad it all paid off.”
First-year Charger coach Mike Boesch when he became the head coach made it a priority to get the Campbell’s back to the State Finals. He was able to accomplish that goal as he watched both of his wrestlers cap their careers on the podium.
“That was one of my biggest fears when I first took this job was letting them down and not making it back here,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what they do in life, they are simply just hard workers. Anytime they face a struggle they are able to overcome it so that’s awesome to see.”
The Campbell’s hard work doesn’t go unnoticed by any means. Whether it be their competitors on the mat or friends they’ve developed throughout their careers they had plenty of people approach them after their victory to congratulate them on their success.
In practice they continue to push one another and the drive to succeed has made their sister bond that much better.
“Sometimes we get tired of practicing against one another because we know each other so well,” Catie said. “In the end we really enjoyed just making each other better. I really enjoy just watching Cailin succeed just as much as I do because it makes a real surreal feeling.”
The State Finals began at noon and with both the Campbell’s receiving a bye, it was a lot of sitting around and waiting to wrestle their first match. Once they both made the championship round as well, it had been almost two hours since they stepped on the mat.
In the end the wait was all worth it for both.
“I’m really happy to see how the competition has grown here at the state finals,” Catie said. “The weight classes for both of us were pretty stacked and it makes us see a good future for the entire sport.”
When asked what makes the Campbell’s wrestling so successful and dominant, Boesch was able to put it into a single word.
“Determination,” he said. “They are simply determined to achieve every goal they set out for themselves and they came out again tonight and accomplished another one.”
The Charger girls program isn’t finished as the Campbell twins we leave a tremendous legacy. Freshman Hailey Kunz also joined the Campbell’s at the state finals and wrestled in the 145 bracket dropping her first match.
Along with Kunz, North Montgomery also has a pool of incoming freshman to continue the great tradition that Catie and Cailin Campbell have built.
Congrats girls, it was very well deserved.
