(Photo: Jordan Kartholl/The Star Press)
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Olympic hopeful walks into the room, and no one bats an eye.
Budding wrestlers sit along a wall of the wrestling room at Marian University. They’re chatting as the world-class athlete plants herself among them and readies for practice. Familiar faces smile. Many are high-school aged athletes. Some are younger, not even in middle school.
She’s 18 years old, the wealth of experience evident this early July afternoon in the way she moves through warmups. One moment she’s chuckling with someone as she jogs and another executing a maneuver on the mat with precision.