Form of: state champions
Robbinsville – Leave it to “The ‘Ville” to be trendsetters yet again.
For the first time in North Carolina history, a pair of siblings have won individual, high-school state titles in not only the same sport, but the same season.
Aynsley and Kyle Fink put another notch in Robbinsville’s lengthy championship belt this season, with Aynsley capturing just the third-ever 106-pound women’s state championship June 19. Exactly one week later, Kyle became a back-to-back champion at 195 pounds.
But the similarities do not stop there. Aynsley and Kyle are not only siblings, but twins – Aynsley is 45 minutes older, if you are keeping track at home. As they both enter their senior seasons for the Knights, their recent success will only serve to up the competition both on the mat and at home.
Hooked early
Kyle cannot recall why the twins’ mother – Susan Crowe, a former Robbinsville athlete herself – took him to the Top Dog wrestling facility in Lincolnton at the ripe age of 4, but he does remember vividly what he did when he entered the building.
“I didn’t know what I was doing there, but I just ran around in circles,” Kyle said with a laugh.
Soon enough, Kyle fell in love with wrestling. Sure, baseball and football have occupied some of his time growing up, but the choice to stick with wrestling was easy.
“I enjoy the sport,” Kyle said. “It’s a lot of fun, and I like it better than anything else.
“I think if you want to be really good at something, you’ve got to focus on that particular thing. You have to put a lot of time and effort into it.”
And yet, while Kyle has wrestled since first grade, Aynsley made her way into the sport at a much later age.
Competitive spirit
“I like to be mean.”
Over the years, Aynsley has played basketball, softball, and competed in track and field. A fierce athlete – no matter the sport – Aynsley turned to wrestling as a sort of emotional outlet.
“I was fouling out of basketball in the first and second quarter, so I thought I would try a more physical sport,” Aynsley said. “I’m too physical. I tried what I could, but wrestling is the best fit for me.”
Aynsley still competed for the Lady Knights’ softball team this year – missing the first three weeks of wrestling practice in the process – but picked right up where she left off when she finally put on a singlet.
“When I found out there was a girls state championship, I knew I had a good shot at winning it,” Aynsley said. “I placed second last year, which only made me want to work harder this year.”
Championship swagger
Entering the 2020-21 season, wrestlers all across the state were faced with the latest start to a campaign in history. Normally a winter sport, wrestling was pushed back to the end of the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s calendar, due to COVID concerns.
The number of grapplers willing to compete after graduating from high school – and a lack of students attending school in-person this year – made for a smaller field to compete against. But the Finks defied the odds.
“I felt pretty confident about repeating,” Kyle said. “I was fully expecting to win the state title, so I fully dedicated myself to getting back there again, without messing it up.”
“I was already playing softball, so I didn’t really feel like I needed a break, since I was already doing something,” Aynsley added.
Siblings first
Of course, the pair root each other on. Kyle sat by and watched as Aynsley won her state championship, then Aynsley stayed late into the night to watch Kyle repeat as the 195-pound champion.
“We finally have something in common,” Aynsley said.
“We’re complete opposites,” Kyle observed.
Their previous sports would often overlap, which meant plenty of missed chances to cheer for one another.
“Wrestling has brought us closer together, because we never really got to see each other do stuff,” Aynsley said. “Being on the same team, we get to see each other have success.”
“It was cool to see her win a state championship,” Kyle said. “You watch somebody work really hard for something and it pay off? That was cool, especially for my sister.”
“It was crazy, because we had to switch gyms and everybody was tired (the day of the 1A men’s invitational), but it was cool seeing him win,” Aynsley said.