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Siblings Kobe and Katy Wessels couldnt sit still while growing up in Lewiston.
So, their parents, Stephanie and Chad Wessels, put them in every sport or activity imaginable.
We played soccer, track, basketball, Katy Wessels said.
We did everything.
That hyperactivity set them on a path to collegiate sports careers.
Kobe, a four-time All-American, just wrapped up his four-year NAIA cross country/track and field career at Lewis-Clark State College, while Katy Wessels enters her fourth year of NCAA Division I volleyball at the University of Washington.
Its just a mentality, LC State cross country/track and field coach Mike Collins said.
You need to build off of each other, and I think thats why you see athletes from certain families and certain groups do better.
Kobe kept running While most of his friends embraced football, basketball and baseball, Kobe Wessels path was distinct.
He had gone on numerous fun runs with his mother growing up, and gravitated to distance running in middle and high school.
In terms of fitting in, those sports didnt do him many favors, Kobe said.
But what they did give him was a purpose, a community, and some of the deepest friendships and relationships in his life.
It was kind of hard to take it super seriously until I just eventually loved the sport and continued to try my best, Kobe said.
The summer before his senior year at Lewiston High, Kobe began dating Emily Collins a fellow Bengal track standout and the daughter of LCSC track and cross country coach Mike Collins.
Kobe spent time with Emilys family over the next year and it was at the Collins household when Mike Collins essentially recruited Kobe at his dinner table.
Hey, are you planning on running (in college)? Mike Collins said he asked Kobe, to which he responded that he didnt know.
Its like Well, Id like you to run for me, and it is kind of funny, because Im not sure he really thought about it a whole lot.
Not only had Kobe not seriously considered a college athletics career prior to this conversation, he wasnt even planning on going to college, Kobe said.
It wasnt because he didnt want to, though, as Emily Collins shortly learned.
My dad went inside, and that was it.
And so I turned to Kobe, and I said, Do you want to run in college? Like, do you want to run at LC? and he was like, Oh yeah, I do, like, that would be cool, I would totally do that.
And I said, Okay, well, when he asks you again, you say yes, Emily Collins said.
So I told my dad, I was like, Ask him again another time, and he will probably give you a more accurate answer than that.
Sure enough, Mike Collins asked again, and Kobe became a Warrior.
At LC, Kobe exhibited exponential growth, gradually implementing his coaches feedback into his craft, all the way to numerous All-American marks.
He doesnt get super high, he doesnt get super low, he takes things in stride, and hes definitely very coachable, Mike Collins said of Kobe.
He listens, he pays attention, and he learns as he goes.
That dedication, Collins said, has grown Kobes confidence to the point where he earned All-America honors as part of the outdoor 3,200-meter relay team his freshman and sophomore seasons and an All-American finish in cross country during that second year.
However, sickness derailed his All-American pursuit his junior year, setting the stage for an epic finish in 2026.
Kobe claimed All-American honors in the 1,000 at the 2026 NAIA Indoor National Championships in March, starting his kick about 300 meters out and finishing in third place.
I remember walking up thinking I was ready, Kobe said.
I dont remember much else after that.
At the finish line Emily was waiting for him.
He walked over and I gave him a hug and he was like, Im sweaty, and I was like, Yeah, I can tell.
Emily Collins said, her voice brimming with pride.
Kobes career has been amazing to watch, Katy said, and inspired her to work even harder.
He has accomplished great things, and he is definitely one of the hardest workers I know, Katy said.
Watching him grow from the high school athlete that he was to becoming a four-time All-American was just insane.
Hes worked so hard.
Trading purple for purple Ask her brother, and Katy Wessels is one of the best Lewiston Bengal athletes in school history.
Her accolades back it up, earning all-league honors in basketball, winning four letters in track and field and earning three volleyball all-league awards.
Asked if she agreed with her brothers assessment, Katy took a humble approach.
I would say growing up in Lewiston and going to Lewiston High School, I think it just inspired me to work hard, Katy said.
Part way through her high school career, Katy said that she realized that volleyball was her best sport and ticket to the next level.
So, she sunset her basketball days in favor of club volleyball, commuting up to the Spokane area multiple times per week.
Her club teams T3 (2022) and CPA (2022-23), expanded her skills and in 2023 she helped CPA win an Evergreen Region U18 title.
Being a part of that showed me that there were other girls out there that had the same dream as me of playing collegiate sports at a very high level, Katy said.
Eventually, colleges took notice of Katy, including one of the biggest institutions in the region the University of Washington.
UWs head volleyball coach Leslie Gabriel known to her players by an abbreviation of her maiden name, Tui made a trip to Coeur dAlene to watch Katy play.
Katy said she recalls being intimidated to meet Gabriel for the first time, but quickly came to know who she truly was.
I moved away at 17 years old to go to UW to go play, and I was getting really homesick, and I had told Tui, then Tui took me out to ice cream, Katy said.
From then on I almost look at her as like a mother figure that I have in Seattle.
Gabriels inaugural season at UW was Katys freshman year, so Katy has seen the program grow through its first two seasons in the Big Ten Conference and first three years of Gabriels team building.
Katy is one of the older players on the roster now, giving her a newfound leadership role.
Im not (a) gonna-give-you-a-whole-spiel kind of leader, Katy said.
I want everyone to think of the game in their own way.
..
I want to be the hardest worker, and since Im surrounded by people that also want to be the hardest workers, thats how we push each other.
Two more years and a 9-5 These days, youre apt to find Kobe Wessels traversing Highway 95 and U.S.
195 between Lewiston and Pullman.
The recent college grad has a full-time gig at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories as part of the companys research and development team.
Thanks to a recent amendment to the NCAAs rules that extends athletes eligibility to a full five years, Katy can play two more seasons of college volleyball, instead of just one.
I was definitely not ready to be over with college, she said.
So Im very excited that I have two more years.
Thats two more years of memories with her teammates and two more years of the Wessels clan traveling near and far to support her.
As for Kobe, running will continue to be a part of his life in some form, he said.
Its also likely that a number of Seattle trips are in his future.
A staple of the Wessels clan.
Showing up.
Last fall, when UW visited Pullman for a showdown against Washington State, Katy enjoyed a packed house of Wessels family and friends at Bohler Gym.
That was far from the only match her parents attended, however.
The two made frequent trips to Seattle and across the country to support their daughter.
They also showed up for their son.
My parents have missed very few of my meets.
Thats pretty impressive because Ive had a lot of them.
Same with Katys games; I mean, theyre traveling all over the place, working just as hard as we are to give us the opportunity, Kobe said of his parents.
Family comes first.
Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2260, [email protected], or on X or Instagram @Sam_C_Taylor.