Jacob Lauing
jacoblauing.md@gmail.com
They are only a year apart. They both wrestle for Cal Poly. They’re both kinesiology majors. They both placed in the top five in the state during high school. They both want to win a national championship every year.
They are brothers.
Everything about Dominic and Blake Kastl screams sibling rivalry, but their relationship is anything but that.
Dominic, now a redshirt sophomore at Cal Poly, and Blake, a freshman, have been competing with each other their whole lives, yet have developed a positive relationship.
“It’s definitely not a rivalry,” Dominic said. “It might have been when we were younger, but now it’s not. It’s just a friendly competition. If he beats me, I’m not going to accuse him of anything.”
The two brothers grew up on a 150-acre ranch in Half Moon Bay, Calif., before moving to Gilroy for Dominic’s senior year at Gilroy High School, where he was ranked No. 22 in the nation for his weight class by Wrestling USA and won four CIF- Central Coast Section titles.
“The boys began wrestling as they grew up, so it’s been about 15 years,” their mother Edith Kastl said. “It’s always been a part of them. When they were younger they did wrestling and rodeo. The more serious they thought about wrestling, they had to sacrifice rodeo. Hard work, dedication and sacrifice, that’s what wrestling has taught them.”
The Kastls moved to Saint Paris, Ohio for Blake’s senior year, where he attended Graham High School, and placed second in the Ohio state finals en route to becoming a National High School Coaches Association All-American.
Edith and her husband Lance are both Cal Poly alumni, yet they made a strong effort to ensure their boys chose a college on their own.
“We didn’t try to play favoritism at all,” Edith said. “For both of them, we wanted Cal Poly to be the last school that they looked at. We knew it was such a beautiful place. We wanted them to see what else is out there before visiting Cal Poly so they would have an open mind. Both of them chose it for their own completely individual reasons.”
Dominic had a stellar redshirt freshman season at Cal Poly last year, winning a Pac-12 Championship at 165 pounds and going 2-2 in the NCAA National Championship. He finished the season as the Pac-12 Freshmen/Newcomer of the Year and ranked the No. 3 freshman in the nation for his weight class.
“He is setting goals for me,” Blake said. “I always want to one up him and he always doesn’t want me to do better than him. It sets the bar. But I’m not going to get depressed if I don’t win the Pac–12 freshman year.”
The 149-pound Blake took the first step in filling his brother’s shoes by choosing to attend Cal Poly this year.
“I was honored that he chose to come here,” Dominic said. “It was a little weird; I didn’t think he was going to come. He was a big recruit out of high school. I think he was in the top 10 recruits in the nation. When he decided to come here I told him, ‘We are here to win, and we are not here for any other reason.’”
With both Dominic and Blake at Cal Poly, they could re-kindle the relationship that had taken a toll when the two brothers were across the country from each other last year.
“Now, our relationship is really close,” Blake said. “I go to his house on weekends. We hang out all the time. We practice together. We kind of grew apart when I moved. I came here over summer with him and bonded. He’s been showing me how to get to the next level and showing me new stuff that I didn’t know.”
And while their relationship is friendly, there is no lack of competition between the two brothers. They aren’t envious of each other’s success; they use it for motivation.
“This is the very kind of sport that’s an individual battle but they are teammates,” Lance said. “And though it’s more of a brotherhood, they are teammates and they push one another.”
Including this year, Dominic and Blake will have three more seasons to wrestle together at Cal Poly, and they both have the highest expectations for themselves.
Dominic is looking to make Cal Poly a powerhouse school, and become the first Mustangs wrestler to win four Pac-12 Championships. Blake wants to win a national championship and be an All-American every year.
“It’s definitely going to make both of us better,” Dominic said. “We don’t want to let the other person win. We like to push each other with who gets better grades, who gets better scores on the run, who gets higher in the lifts. We are just really competitive in all aspects so it will be great for us.”
And of course, they both have answers to the ultimate test of their brotherhood: Who would win in a duel between them?
“Oh, definitely me,” Blake said. “If there was a middleweight, if he made 160 I think I could take him.”
“He likes to say I get the better hand because I’m a little fatter, but I think it’s because I have better technique,” Dominic said. “We’ll see.”
Edith, as any parent would, shows no favoritism toward either of her boys.
“That battle has been waged many times when they were younger, and it will probably be waged a couple more times,” Edith said. “As a parent, I won’t even go there.”