Bremen senior Nore Turner and his freshman sister, Morgan, have one season to wrestle together.
The duo is determined to make the most of it, pushing each other to do big things.
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“It’s an ongoing competition,” Nore said. “It motivates her and motivates me. Nobody talks about it, but I want to go out here and win state and hopefully she can do the same.
“I think she can definitely be a finalist. I just want us to do good together.”
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The Turners are both South Suburban Conference champions. Nore won the 120-pound title Saturday at Argo, while Morgan won at 106 in a tournament mostly filled with boys.
“I’m proud of her making some sound at the boys’ level,” Nore Turner said of Morgan. “She came in undersized at that. She had a lot of doubters. I’ve been trying to support her and bring her up.”
Nore (24-1) and Morgan (24-2) have both had highly successful seasons.
Morgan said her older brother has helped her be ready to compete at the high school level, whether against other girls or boys.
“Being able to share my dream with my brother has been amazing,” she said. “It’s great being able to look up to somebody who is very accomplished and is a good mentor who has actually been in the limelight and has been able to wrestle in these events.
“He’s able to give me tips and pointers about what it’s like to wrestle in these competitions.”
A chance occurrence launched Morgan Turner’s wrestling career.
“One time I was at practice, they brought her onto the mat and she was just playing around,” Nore said. “Then she tossed one of the best kids in the room at her weight. The coaches were like, ‘Get her on the team!’”
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Since then, Morgan Turner has built quite the impressive resume, highlighted in November by winning a gold medal for Team USA’s girls team in the U15 Pan-American Championships in Colombia.
She’s certainly made her own mark on the sport.
“I was always in his shadow, I guess,” Morgan said of Nore. “I wanted to make a name for myself. He’s a scrambler, so I stopped doing that. I started doing everything opposite of how he does it, so I created my own style.”
Morgan is ranked No. 1 at 100 pounds by Illinois Matwomen, while Nore is No. 6 at 120 by Illinois Matmen.
Nore is hoping a state championship will end a remarkable comeback after he broke his femur and dislocated his kneecap in August at football practice.
“They told me I wouldn’t be able to walk for a full year, but I had to overcome the science,” Nore said. “I was able to get back for the start of wrestling season.
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“This is my last year and I couldn’t miss it.”
Champs again: After edging Lemont via a dual tiebreaker to win the South Suburban Blue title, Oak Forest again snuck by its rival to take the championship for the entire conference.
The Bengals scored 180 points to Lemont’s 177, taking the title despite having just one individual champion to Lemont’s six.
Senior Caden Muselman was Oak Forest’s champion at 132, but he knew all the points scored by his teammates — including runners-up Hunter Hale (138), Hunter Daniel (145), Steve Strelow (152), Jackson Castaneda (160), Max Corral (170) and Joe Castaneda (182) — were huge.
“Everyone wrestled well, and it feels great to win this,” Muselman said. “It’s big. We’ve been wanting this for four years.”
Caravan coming on: Defending Class 3A state champion Mount Carmel is getting healthy and looking dangerous for the postseason.
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The Caravan finished second behind Marmion at Saturday’s Catholic League Meet. Lukas Tsirtsis (106), Seth Mendoza (120), Michigan recruit Sergio Lemley (138) and Colin Kelly (170) were individual champs.
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
