Taylor Whiting would not cut it as a post player on a girls basketball team.
Wrestling is a different story, however, as the Lena senior won her fourth straight state championship Feb. 28 with a 10-5 win over Manitowoc Lincoln’s Emjay Neumann in the 114-pound championship match at the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament in Madison.
A Kohl Center crowd of more than 15,000 people watched as Whiting became the first girl to win four championships and wrap up her high school wrestling career with a 57-1 record. Three of her championships came while wrestling for the Wildcats, while her first as a freshman came while wrestling for Oconto Falls.
Whiting open-enrolled at Oconto Falls High School as a freshman before transferring to Lena High School as a sophomore.
“(Oconto Falls) was a better fit for me,” she said. “We have a few girls here and there. I think we’re going to grow. We have a lot of girls in youth (wrestling), so that’s pretty cool.”
Late bloomer
Whiting, who is 4 feet, 11 inches tall, didn’t start wrestling until she was an eighth-grader.
“I think there are a lot of pros and cons behind it.” she said of her height. “When you learn what’s good and bad about it, you kind of fit into your spot.”
Her four championships followed the four that her brother, Clayton Whting, won from 2019-22 for Oconto Falls. He sat between Lena’s coaches for his sister’s semifinal and championship matches. Clayton Whiting now wrestles at the University of Minnesota after two seasons at the University of Missouri.
“He knows me better than anyone,” Taylor Whiting said. “We had to keep him calm a little bit. He’s awesome, and I love him to death.”
She has been able to watch several of her brother’s college matches.
“I try to get to every competition that he has,” she said. “He supports me as much as I support him. Before, we had a nine-hour drive (to Missouri) and now it’s only four.”
Although Whiting has only been wrestling for five years, she said the sport has had a huge impact on her life, including getting recruited to wrestle at the University of Iowa, where she plans to study sports psychology.
“It shaped me in so many ways,” she said. “I’ve made so many new connections through wrestling and it’s really shaped me into a person. Nothing comes easy, so I’m really grateful.”
Whiting received the No. 1 seed in her weight class after wrestling only 12 WIAA matches during the season. She spent much of the season competing in national tournaments around the country.
“I get the opportunity to get different looks all year,” she said. “I also get the opportunity to go out to the Olympic training center and train with some senior world team members. That gives me some different looks and different feels. I’m looking into the Olympics for sure, hopefully in 2028, and I’m going to the world team trials in April, so I’m super-excited.”
Four in a row
Whiting’s championship came after pins in the preliminary and quarterfinal rounds and a third-period technical fall in the semifinals. That win set up a championship matchup with Neumann, who Whiting has trained with in the past.
“I really wanted to live in the moment,” she said. “Win or lose, I didn’t want to have any regrets coming off the mat. The crowd stayed until the end (of the tournament) to watch me win that last title. To see everyone stand up and realize, ‘Hey, I’m the first one to really do this,’ and the fact that my brother is here is even better.”
Officials stopped the match twice due to an injury to Neumann.
“She’s a competitor,” Whiting said. “I get to train with her, and I’m very grateful it was me and her in the finals. I’m really happy that she was able to get off the mat, and we were able to finish the match.”
Whiting’s accomplishments came while living in a small town in Oconto County.
“It just shows that you can do anything, no matter where you are,” she said. “Having the opportunity to be known in Lena the way I am and the fact that I can have younger girls look up to me is awesome.
“I got really emotional after warmups knowing that this is it. At the same time, all good things come to an end and I’m excited to see where I go.”
Taylor Whiting faces Manitowoc Lincoln’s Emjay Neumann in the girls 114-pound state championship match. (Greg Seubert)
Lena’s Taylor Whiting faces Brillion’s Brinley Miller in a 114-pound quarterfinal match Feb. 26. She pinned Miller after opening the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament with a pin of Mineral Point’s Tatum James. (Greg Seubert)
