HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING: OWEN FAMILY MAKING THEIR MARK ON HORSEHEADS WRESTLING (2023-02-07)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
For years Chloe Owen had watched her older brothers wrestle for the Horseheads wrestling team.

Now, the seventh-grader is a member of the team herself.

The Owen family are becoming synonymous with Horseheads wrestling as Brett Owen coaches and three of his kids, Chloe, Cael and Coleton, all wrestle on the varsity boys and girls teams.

For Brett Owen having the time with his kids at wrestling is special.

“That’s the one thing I always convinced myself during each season, it’s a tough job,” Owen said. “It’s a tough job, we don’t live in the school district. I don’t work in the school district, the business is down in Waverly, we live in Ridgebury. But, I always remind myself how fortunate I am to get to spend two hours a day with my kids.

“It was really cool until Cael started driving, now we don’t have that half hour drive home anymore. It’s okay, because Cruze (who is in 6th grade) is in the the youth wrestling and I’m here staying with the youth program with him and him and I get those hours by ourselves.”

Cael always remembers the drives home after matches, and how fun they were after wins, and how quiet everyone was after losses.

“After losses it was like an hour of critiquing and how to improve more, after wins it was funny, we kind of cracked jokes the whole time, but after losses it was more intense, you had to be quiet,” Cael said.

These days Cael drives home with Coleton and Chloe and they still talk about wrestling on the way home.

“We still have our conversations between us three and how we can improve,” Cael said.

The Owen family has a mix of experience among the wrestlers. Cael is a senior captain on the team, and a state qualifier. Coleton is a sophomore starter on the varsity team while Chloe is a seventh grader in her first year of wrestling. Cruze is a sixth grader in the youth program.

Having everyone wrestle just means more chances to push each other to be better.

“We have practice partners at home,” Coleton said.

“We don’t practice at home,” Chloe shot back to her older brother.

Whether they always practice at home or not, they always support each other.

“It’s very exciting watching your siblings grow up right behind you and being able to watch them and critique them throughout the years when they want your advice,” Cael said.


NEW TO THE SPORT
This is the first year of girls wrestling as a sport in New York, and in the first season the Blue Raiders have a team.

It might seem like as the coaches daughter Chloe was destined to be a wrestler, but it wasn’t actually Brett who talked his daughter into wrestling.

“Chloe was a big surprise,” Brett said. “We knew we were going for the girls program last sprig and I kept asking her and she was like, ‘no, I’m not going to, no I’m not going to.’ And, then toward the end of the school year Mr. (Randy) Hollar her phys ed teacher said if you want to become a better lacrosse player you should wrestle. Well her first love is lacrosse.

“I got home that night and Tiffany (Brett’s wife) said did you tell your dad what is going to happen and she’s like ‘no,’ I’m like well, ‘what’s going to happen?’ And she said I’m going to wrestle and I was like ‘what?’ And she said ‘Mr. Hollar said this.’ And I said, ‘this is great.’ She came out, she’s having a blast and having all three of them is great. We spend a lot of time together.”

For Chloe wrestling is something she thinks will help her with lacrosse.

“I play defense, so it will help me with defense,” Chloe said.

Things are much different for Chloe this year as she’s now on the wrestling team, and not sitting up in the stands watching her brothers and dad.

“I get to be with the team and not in the stands,” Chloe said.

All of this makes it easier for Chloe to talk to cheer on her brothers as well.

“They can hear me better, they actually look at me and look scared or happy,” Chloe said.

And, it means that Chloe has to listen to her dad, and not just watch him coach.

“I actually have to listen to him this time,” Chloe said.

It’s fun for Cael and Coleton to see their little sister wrestling this year.

“It’s awesome seeing her wrestle, it’s a huge experience that she’ll never forget about how she started with this program from the beginning,” Cael said.

Now, all four of the kids are involved in wrestling.

“It’s good to have the whole family wrestling now,” Coleton said.

As the daughter of a coach Chloe knew some of basics of the sport starting out, but people expect a lot from her.

“I knew what shots were and breakdowns,” she said. “I’ve got to know all the moves. They expect me to know a lot, but not like all the technique.”

There are plenty of pointers being offered to Chloe, but she doesn’t always want them.

“My dad would like try and get me to practice at home, but I didn’t want to,” she said.

He brothers always offer to try and help her out with her wrestling.

“We try, she always ignores them and is so bossy about it,” Cael joked of offering pointers to his sister.

“Every time we try and teach her something she goes, ‘no, I’m done’ and goes into her room,” Coleton said.

The girls team has its own coaches, and that helps Brett to be able to watch his daughter wrestle more in her first year of the sport.

“I think I have only been in the room for the girls one time this year,” Brett said. “Coach (Terri) Gill invited me up. I was like, I don’t have to do this. It’s good, it’s your guys program, she responds better to other people than her dad.”

Chloe’s older siblings have seen some of themselves in the way she wrestles.

“I think part of us see a little bit of me inside of her with the aggression and after the losses acting kind of angry,” Cael said.

“It’s funny to see her aggression on the mat,” Coleton said.

For Chloe after watching her siblings reactions on the mat in the past, she now understands it all more.

“I used to think it was so funny they would cry after a match,” Chloe said. “Now I understand it.

And, she sees plenty of them in how she wrestles.

“When they do breakdowns, that’s how I do it,” she said.

And, Chloe has learned a lot from her siblings.

“I think I’ve grown a lot because I watch my brothers, and the people on my team who went to states,” Chloe said.

Both siblings have enjoyed watching the girls team compete this year.

“It’s been good, the girls have improved quite a bit through the year and it’s cool how they are battling on the mat,” Cael said.

“It’s fun to watch them compete,” Coleton said. “The girls are a whole different thing, they are way more aggressive.”


ONE LAST YEAR
It’s Cael’s last year of high school wrestling, and he enjoys having his siblings with him for his final season.

“It makes it a lot more enjoyable,” Cael said. “It’s kind of cool having them all with me at this point.”

And, it’s fun for Cael to see how each of his siblings have grown as wrestlers.

“It’s pretty fun, a lot of fun for all of us seeing each other grow and develop from the start to now,” Cael said.

Having the whole family in the sport just makes things even more special.

“It’s a huge difference, you can definitely tell by the atmosphere we bring,” Cael said. “Especially with everyone wrestling now, it’s a whole different experience you can’t express.”

Earlier this year it looked like Cael’s season might come to an end. He got hurt at the Southern Tier Memorial, and feared the worst. But, now he’s back, returning last week for senior night, and preparing for sectionals.

“I was terrified when I got hurt,” Cael said. “I thought this season was over. But, being back is incredible, being with the guys again it’s just a different atmosphere for me. I’m bringing more light to the room.”

For Cael it’s crazy to see how far things have come for the Blue Raiders since he started on varsity.

“It’s very remarkable, we have worked so hard from the beginning,” he said. “Having my dad come in my eighth grade year and push us to where the program is now, it’s incredible.”

Cael has always felt some expectations being the coaches son, but he also puts a lot of expectations on himself.

“I definitely put a lot of high expectations on myself to compete well and do well,” he said.


FATHER AND COACH
For Brett Owen when his kids are wrestling you can usually find him sitting next to the mat, cell phone in hand recording the match.

All wrestling season long Bret is coach, but when his kids wrestle he tries to take off the coaching hat and put on the parent hat.

“”It’s tough for some of them to realize when I’m dad and when I’m coach,” Brett said. “I try and be dad most of the time, when they get to the mat I try and take a back seat. You’ll see at tournaments, I’ll go to a different mat and let someone else coach them. You’ll still see me watching their matches pretty hard and intently.

“The parent does come out of me sometimes and I’m screaming hit this, but I definitely play more of a father role, especially with her (Chloe).

All of the kids have seen plenty of videos their dad recorded of their matches, where the emotions come out and he starts screaming and cheering them on.

“It’s hard to find a balance between is he a dad, or is he being a coach right now,” Cael said.

But, having your father as a coach, and siblings on the team, also means that you have people to celebrate all the big moments with.

“It’s a lot easier to understand everything we need,” Cael said. “We won and can enjoy it or we lost and can go over what we need to fix.”


MORE TIME TO GO
Coleton is enjoying this year with his older brother and sister, knowing that next year Cael will be graduated.

“It’s awesome, especially at tournaments when we both have a match at the same time,” Coleton said. “To see our reactions after we win or lose, and we talk to each other after.”

Coleton is excited to see what happens not just the rest of this year, but next year and in the future.

“I’m excited, we are going for our fourth sectional title in a row and a third STAC title in a row, it will be fun to see how we do,” Coleton said.

Right now, the siblings get a lot of chances to spend time together, and it’s time they will remember, even if sometimes siblings can get on each others nerves.”

“Depends on what attitude they are in,” Chloe said of spending time with her siblings. Sometimes, I don’t like being around them, but it’s okay. Now they want to like spend time with me.”

Even with Cael graduating, and Coleton going into his junior year, there will be plenty of wrestling left for the Owen family.

“We’ll still have Cruze hanging in there, he’s only in sixth grade,” Brett said.
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IN PHOTO: Horseheads’ Chloe, Coleton and Cael Owen. . . PHOTO BY BRIAN FEES.