Belleville West’s three-time state wrestling champion is a girl

Kaylee Foster still remembers the day she got permission from her dad to compete on the Central Junior High School wrestling team.

She had been told no before, but the request, which came from the school principal, came in such a way that Donny Foster couldn’t deny his daughter.

“My dad didn’t want me to get hurt,” Foster recalled. “But when the principal called my dad and asked if I could wrestle because there was another girl on the wrestling team, my dad’s like ‘well since there’s anther girl on the team, I guess you can wrestle too.’”

That decision proved to be a wise one. Now a junior at Belleville West and in her fifth year of wrestling, Foster is one of the top-ranked high school wrestlers in the nation and last month captured her third straight Illinois Girls Folkstyle state championship in Aurora.

Competing in the USA Wrestling Cadet and Junior H-6 bracket, Foster defeated Monica Mendoza from Maine West High School 1-0 in the title match. The 135-pound Foster won her first two matches by pin in a combined total of three minutes, 25 seconds.

“What do I like most about wrestling? Winning. I remember when I was younger, I would hear from other kids how boys were better then girls. I would say that girls were just as good or better,” Foster recalled. “My brother Nick wrestled so I wanted to as well.”

The Belleville News-Democrat Class 3A Wrestler of the Year, Nick Foster ended his high school career in February as a three-time state tournament medal winner. His third place finish in the 152-pound weight class earned him all-state recognition for the third straight year and he will attend McKendree University on a wrestling and football scholarship beginning in August.

But Nick Foster still isn’t ranked as high as his sister.

Brother and sister

“Kaylee gives me a hard time sometimes. But.... come to think, she is ranked higher then I was,” Nick Foster said, laughing. “She’s ranked second in the nation, the highest I was ranked was No. 9.”

It was Nick who got his younger sister involved in the sport — although not intentionally — five years ago. Foster would go to practice and like most siblings, Kaylee would tag along and want to compete.

“We go at it once in a while and she holds her own,” Nick Foster said. “I have the advantage because I’m stronger and weigh more, but if we were in the same weight class, it would be a match. Kaylee is strong, smart and she’s very flexible. I’m tougher on her than I am on anybody else because I know she can take it and because she’s got a great future.

“But, I’m also very protective. We’re close. It’s just her and me at home now. She’s a wrestler but she’s also my younger sister.”

Dad says no

Like most fathers probably would be, Donny Foster wasn’t exactly thrilled when his daughter approached him with the idea of wrestling on the boys team. In fact, Donny Foster was 100 percent against the idea for a long time.

“I just didn’t believe it was right for a girl to wrestle on a boys team. After a while and Kaylee kept us asking me, I sat down with my wife and we decided to let her give it a try,” Foster said. “It took me about two years before I could go and watch her compete. It was tough. Once I saw her wrestle, I found out just how good she really was at wrestling.

Now, like most people who have watched Kaylee Foster compete, her dad thinks she could be one of the best around.

“When the time comes where she decides to fully dedicate herself to wrestling. I mean really give it her all, then yes, I think she has a chance to be world class,” Donny Foster said. “Right now, I think she’s doing it maybe just for something to do. She has a lot of ability.”

Holding her own

Because the Illinois High School Association does not sanction girls-only wrestling, females who want to compete at the high school level must do so with the boys. While some girls are able to compete on the junior-varsity team, others such as current standouts Foster and Grace Kristoff, of Althoff, are able to more then hold their own at the varsity level.

On a few occasions, Kaylee has been inserted into the Maroons lineup by first-year coach Joe Rujawitz.

“Let me put it this way: When Kaylee wrestles — and she has wrestled at the varsity level for us —she wins more then she loses,” Rujawitz said. “That is saying something because we have several solid wrestlers in the 138-145 weight classes. I don’t when the last time she lost to a girl was. It’s been a while.”

Rujawitz said that Kaylee Foster has most of the elements needed to be a successful wrestler. Foster combines a strong athletic background along with good technical ability, strength, great balanced, and an excellent wrestling IQ.

Kaylee credits her big brother for a lot of her knowledge.

“Nick coaches me and I’ve learned a lot about wrestling from watching and being around him,” Foster said. “He’s a good big brother.”

Rujawitz has put brother and sister together in the practice room as workout partners from time to time. But not often.

“They wrestle hard against each other when they wrestle. But we didn’t do it that often,” Rujawitz said. “One of the things that stands out with me is that when Kaylee wrestles in practice or in a match and when she gets taken down or gives up an escape, she’s really upset with herself. She’s got that mentality where she just hates to lose.”

Up next

Kaylee Foster plans on wrestling more tournaments this summer before trying to contend for a starting spot on the Maroons’ varsity lineup next year. Because of her excellence in the Illinois State Folkstyle Tournament and other competitions, she is being heavily recruited by many of the top women’s college programs in the nation.

Rujawitz said that local schools such as McKendree University and Lindenwood University already are recruiting Foster.

“I really haven’t given it much thought yet. I’m thinking maybe I might like to go to McKendree because Nick will be there,” Kaylee said. “But then again, I may want go to go away to college. I haven’t decided. My ultimate goal is to compete in the 2020 Olympic Games. I don’t know if I’ll be able to, but it’s my goal.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 11:45 AM with the headline "Belleville West’s three-time state wrestling champion is a girl."