West Lafayette's Kaplan sisters dominate the wrestling mats against boys and girls alike

WEST LAFAYETTE — A change occurs when senior Rose Kaplan walks into the West Lafayette High School wrestling room.

Volumes of banter from chattering 14-to-18-year-old boys subside. A stillness floods the red mat. The official practice can now begin.

Kaplan and her Isabel, a sophomore, don't seem to fit the narrative of wrestlers at first glance. Neither possesses huge hulking muscles, an intimidating stare or battle scars from the thousands of rounds the pair have endured since they both entered the sport in elementary school.

Rose started wrestling as a fifth grader and Isabel started in the third grade. They stand 5-foot-3 and 5-4, respectively, with Isabel holding the slight height advantage.

"(Rose) is aggressive and she will back guys off the mat and run them clear off the mat," said West Lafayette assistant wrestling coach and art teacher Morgan Asay.

The rest of the team comprises mostly of football players who take on wrestling as a second sport. When either Kaplan speaks, their ears perk up — and they listen.

"(Rose) might be a girl, but she'll beat the guys just as badly as she beats the girls," said 215-pounder junior David Curl, a captain of the football team who led the Red Devils in tackles this past season.

Rose Kaplan is the reigning Indiana girls state champion at 120 pounds and has a scholarship to Indiana Tech, the No. 13 ranked NAIA women's wrestling program.

Winning state would've been good enough for most girls wrestlers but not Rose. She took it to the next level and competed in the IHSAA boys state tournament last year. Kaplan made the top four in regionals and qualified for the Semi-State.

"(Rose) is an absolutely fundamentally sounds wrestler and she just happens to be a girl," West Lafayette wrestling coach Rick Roseman said.

Any athlete close to Rose and her sister's 100-130 range is met with a clinic of grapples, holds and lessons in leverage. Rose specifically, grabs an arm and calculates her next move in milliseconds.

By the time Rose grabs ahold of her opponent, she dictates the terms of the entanglement. And in less than 30 seconds time, she has her opponent's back.

"It's really satisfying to see all the work that you've been putting in pay off," Rose Kaplan said. "And it shows in the next season when you're just dominating because not everyone was working as hard."

Rose and Isabel have wrestled in a combined 157 tournaments, meets and dual meets since 2017, according to trackwrestling.com. One could take all the wrestling matches of the other West Lafayette members, combine them and still not come close to the quantity of matches the Kaplans have completed.

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Rose being the more accomplished of the two sisters is Alexandrian in her approach on the mat.

"It's like she's playing chess and everyone else is playing checkers," Roseman observes.

But how did Rose Kaplan, and by extension, Isabel — a 2023 126-pound regional champion — become such prolific wrestlers? Here's how the rise to becoming girls state champions and contenders on the boys side happened for the Kaplan sisters.

Losing comes natural

Rose and Isabel became wrestlers after starting self-defense classes at Impact Zone. The duo learned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after being placed at the gym by their father and learned under the tutelage of professor Carlos Soto.

Rose began picking up skills and learned holds rather easily. Rose's skills were already starting to blossom from an early age. She had a passion for rolling and figured wrestling would be a seamless transition.

He was right. Pretty soon the gi and belt for would be matched with a singlet and ear protectors.

At first, Rose lost again and again. Ian recalls her winning just once during her first year of tournaments.

"We had many weekends when (Rose) was in elementary school where we woke up at 6 a.m. when it was 10 degrees outside pitch black and we would drive an hour and a half to some junior high gym, wait all day only to lose two matches in 20 seconds, turn around and go home," Ian Kaplan said.

But losing never seemed to bother Rose. She didn't cry on the mat after being pinned. There was never a thought of ever quitting. She was enjoying the sport. There would always be another opportunity and another tournament to try again and improve.

It's why Rose remains even-keeled. Both she and Isabel stay in the moment.

Wrestling dad takes a step back

Rose and Isabel weren't always winners, but their father was a decorated wrestler at Davidson College and went 18-1 during the 1998-1999 season. He takes an indifferent approach at meets.

"I didn't think they were going to wrestle," Ian Kaplan said. "I try not to make them do anything when it comes to sports or when it comes to anything. I just tell them if there's a camp, there's a tournament they want to do, they just do it. If they don't want to do it, they don't do it."

The elder Kaplan now teaches Etymology at Purdue and views himself as a chauffeur. Yes, he competed and had a successful career, but wrestling is his daughters' sport nowadays. It's their passion.

"Our dad is the ultimate reason why we are able to push ourselves so hard," Rose Kaplan said. "We are doing it for us and not someone else."

Existing in the present

Neither sister has vocalized plans larger than competing in college. Their focus is on what's in front of them, often their next opponent and how they can drill the perfect cross face or work arm drags.

There's no plans or goals to make the U.S. Olympic Trials in the coming years or win a championship in college.

But that doesn't mean neither sister isn't capable of achieving those things.

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"I could see (Rose) being an All-American next year," Roseman said. "I think she gets into the varsity lineup her first year and then absolutely she could be an Olympic qualifier and be an Olympic representative. No question about that."

Rose and Isabel have their minds focused on the goal at hand which is advancing beyond Friday's Semi-State at Penn High School in Mishawaka.

Pressure and thoughts of losing are far from the minds of either Kaplan.

"I'm just gonna keep my mindset good and whatever happens happens," Rose Kaplan said.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: West Lafayette's Kaplan sisters share road to wrestling success