WHO’S NEXT? USAW STAR OF THE FUTURE Miracle makes mark
By Alexandra Pernice There were mixed emotions for the par-
ents of Kayla Miracle when the topic of wrestling came up. “I was 12 years old when I started wrestling,” Miracle said. “My mom said that I should go for it. She thought it would be a great idea because I was already at these tournaments, so she would know exactly where I was and what I was doing. My dad, on the other hand, strongly disagreed with my mom. He did not want me to wrestle at all, but he let me anyway.” The young athlete, inspired by her
older brother’s wrestling career, decided that she wanted to start working on the mat as well. Once she started, she found a love for the sport that was unbreakable. “My dad was a coach and my older
brother wrestled, so I was always around the sport,” said Miracle, a 2014 Junior World silver medalist. “I was at practices and tournaments, and I started to really think that I could wrestle. So, I started practicing and competing. I never ended up quitting, and I’ve been wrestling ever since.” Her career began to take off during her
years at Culver Academy, a boarding school in Culver, Ind. There, she compet- ed for the boys wrestling team and built her skills against the best opponents at the state level. “Indiana doesn’t have many girl wrestlers, so we didn’t have enough to have a league for girls,” Miracle said. “My freshman year, I made it to semi-state at 103 pounds and I lost in the first round. I had a great year my sophomore year, I won my first two matches at semi-state. I lost my match at state 4-0, so my season was over. “My junior year I won my first match at
semi-state and lost my second to a wrestler who did pretty well and got fifth. Senior year, I ended up getting a concus- sion the week of sectionals, so I wasn’t able to wrestle. Had I not been injured, my chances of making it to state and placing would have been very high.” From early on, she knew her wrestling
career would need to last longer than her high school days in order to achieve all of her dreams. As she began to compete against girls from across the nation, her
30 USA Wrestler
Junior World medalist Kayla Miracle has made a big impact on the Senior level this season. John Sachs photo.
focus shifted to thinking about the oppor- tunities ahead. “Ever since I started wrestling, I’ve had
my eye on the Olympic gold medal,” Miracle said. “I knew that I would want to continue to wrestle past high school, and this was even before I had been wrestling against girls. When I got to high school, I started wrestling in the girl’s circuit out- side of school. “My first big tournament was in Oklahoma City at Nationals, and after that I competed at Fargo Nationals. I was kind of thrown into the circuit, so it made me understand girls wrestling more. The opportunities wrestling in these tourna- ments afforded me made me realize that my goals were realistic, and it helped focus me on what I wanted to do for col- lege. I knew that in order to accomplish my goals, I would have to go on and compete in college.” Deciding to wrestle in college was the
easy part in Miracle’s next steps. The dif- ficulty came in actually choosing a school. “I had my fair share of choices,” said Miracle. “I could have gone to the Olympic Training Center, or I could have gone to King or Oklahoma City University for college. My dad applied for this coaching position at Campbellsville though, and when he got offered the job he told me that he would not accept me competing at the collegiate level because he did not want to have to coach against me.” After a campus visit to Campbellsville though, she fell in love with the school. After her father, Lee Miracle, took his position at the school, she joined the wrestling program and found a fit that was just right for her. “There are a lot of great things about Campbellsville. I come from a pretty small, private high school, so I’m not very comfortable with a large state school atmosphere. The smaller classroom envi- ronment that Campbellsville has to offer is exactly what I need. The largest class I’ve ever had was 30 people, and that was general education course. Now, I’ll start getting into classes that have 20 to 15 students, so it’ll be even better. I really like that, because if I have any questions or I need help with something, I feel com- fortable talking to my professor to get the help that I need. The school provides great academic opportunities, as well as a lot of study help for when you need it most. One of the biggest reasons I love Campbellsville though is that it is a Christian campus. I’m really passionate about sharing the gospel, and growing in my relationship with Christ. Here, I have the chance to grow and learn spiritually, and I have made many friends who want to do the same thing,” said Miracle. During her first year at Campbellsville,
she has begun to learn what being a part of an all-girls team is all about. Never without its ups and downs, the team has provided a family for the freshman wrestler. “If you’re on any women’s team, no
matter what sport or age, there is going to be drama. We had our fair share of that at Campbellsville, but in the end we
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