In today’s episode of This Hits Different, Shelby Cassesse tells the story of North Allegheny runners Wren and Robin Kucler, adopted as young children from China and now starring in track and cross country.
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Adopted NA twins running by the competition
The adoption process can be a whirlwind as much as it is a grueling wait. Deanna and Rob Kucler remember the application process well.
“The way it was worded was like, ‘would you refuse twins if they were offered to you,’” Rob said. “At the time, we had been married almost ten years and we very much wanted kids, and we were like, ‘sure, whatever.’”
That question wasn't exactly front of mind over 3.5 years later when the good news finally came in the mail from China.
When Deanna first opened the packet, she thought she was seeing double.
“There wasn’t really a cover sheet saying, ‘Congratulations, it’s twins,’” she recalled. “So I’m saying, hold on.”
“As she’s flipping through the pictures, all of a sudden there were pictures of two girls together, and they looked somewhat alike,” Rob said. “Deanna and I are both lawyers, and she kind of reverted to, ‘oh, it’s the paperwork, a duplicate.’”
Not duplicate photos, but twin girls. Wren and Robin were just around a year old when they became Kuclers. Rob and Deanna traveled thousands of miles to bring their daughters home, the start of a life where miles traveled would soon take on a whole new meaning.
By eight years old, Wren wanted to move as fast as her little legs would go, even if she wasn't allowed to leave the yard yet.
“I used to really like running, and I would run around my house just for fun,” Wren said. “And my parents wanted me to do a 5K, and I wanted to do it.”
Rob and Wren ran it together… at first.
“She was ahead of me and looking backwards and sad, ‘hey, do you want to go ahead and run to the end,’” Rob said. “And she said, ‘sure.’ And she just took off. Deanna was there at the end to meet her. She beat me, at nine years old, which is a little humbling.
Leaving her dad in the dust, she won her age group. It wasn't long before Robin started to run too, showing just as much promise as her sister.
“I like to run because it clears my head and makes me relaxed,” Robin said. “I like the feeling after we complete a run.”
The girls signed up a competitive club in Maryland, where they led the team to an AAU title in 2018 at just 12 years old.
Knowing high school was up ahead, Deanna and Rob went in search of more competitive opportunities for the girls.
“Somebody that we knew here happened to say, ‘why don’t you come back to North Allegheny. They’ve been the girls cross country champion, you know,’” Deanna said.
So, the Kuclers moved to the Pittsburgh area, and Wren and Robin began their freshman year at North Allegheny. Wren says she noticed stronger competition right away. But that wasn't a bad thing.
“There’s a lot of really good girls in Pennsylvania,” Wren said. “I’m really enjoying running with faster girls. They push me along.”
Stronger competition? Certainly. But the results, often familiar. The girls led North Allegheny to WPIAL titles in track and cross country, adding to their individuals accolades along the way.
Robin said coming into their first year of high school already as decorated runners gave them a leg up.
“It prepared us for all the big meets in our freshman year of high school that lot of the other runners, the other freshman, didn’t experience,” she explained.
They did it competing against girls with Division 1 commitments, more high school running experience, and even longer legs. Robin and Wren aren't even five feet tall.
Rob smiles thinking about his daughters lining up with and often blowing past girls over a foot taller. But then again, they've been surprising people for the last 14 years, ever since their parents pulled a picture of two faces from an envelope.
“As their parent, I’m very proud,” he said. “But just as someone who enjoys the sport, I think it’s great to have different types of role models and different types of people who can be successful.”