Senior-freshman sisters making most of lone prep athletic year

As a small child, Julia Kay O’Neill vaguely remembers watching her older sister, SarahJean O’Neill, make waves as a USA Swimming competitor in the early 2000s.

Fast forward to the 2014-15 school year, and Julia Kay is not only watching her sister succeed in athletics, she’s joined her.

For the last eight months, SarahJean, a Powell High School senior, and Julia Kay, a freshman, had the privilege to compete side-by-side for the Lady Panthers swim team in the fall, and now the PHS girls track and field team this spring. And, in what will ultimately be their only year together as prep athletes, the sisters are doing their best to go out on a high note.

“They’re great kids, they come from a great family, and I’ll tell ya, they work really hard,” PHS head track coach Scott Smith said. “They support each other really well and they’re just awesome kids to be around.”

While some siblings separated by three years may have a tendency to get under each other’s skin, the exact opposite seems to be the case for the O’Neill’s. Moments before stepping outside of practice for an interview on April 23, Julia Kay and SarahJean enjoyed a brief, playful wrestling match on the Panther Stadium turf. The two girls laughed and joked before attempting — and failing — to get serious when the tape recorder was in their faces.

“We just like each other,” Julia Kay said before bursting back into laughter with her sibling.

“I don’t know ... it’s kind of indescribable I guess,” SarahJean added about their relationship. “I guess if we could describe it, it wouldn’t be as special.”

That indescribable bond has grown this year, SarahJean said, as she’s helped guide Julia Kay through the ups and downs of high school sports. But through those highs and lows, the elder O’Neill said getting to watch her young sibling compete again has been icing on the cake.

“I’ve done several years of high school sports without her, and I think it’s good in my last high school year to do sports again with my sister because I used to have to hear about her success later,” SarahJean said. “Now, I can watch it as it happens and it’s awesome.”

And Julia Kay has certainly succeeded this season. The 15-year-old sprinter and distance runner collected six wins in either the 400-meter dash, 800 run or the 1600 this season. The 18-year-old SarahJean has two wins in the 400, however, she and her sister never compete against each other in races — and neither of them seem to mind. To that point, Julia Kay stated: “The things she’s good at, I’m bad at, and the things I’m good at —”

“I’m bad at,” SarahJean interjected.

Cliff Boos, who works with both girls as the PHS distance coach, sees no flaws in either, and actually expressed gratefulness in getting to coach the duo.

“How often do you get to see sisters get to do two sports together,” Boos asked. “And SarahJean has just been a real good mentor for Julia Kay and she’s really helped give her an idea of what procedures to use to be prepared and compete.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to have both of them here.”

While the two sisters are currently at PHS, SarahJean obviously won’t be come next August. The University of Wyoming is her next destination, where she hopes to continue her track career. And meanwhile, back in Powell ...

“Her being gone? It’s going to be awful,” Julia Kay semi-joked about her sister’s inevitable departure. “I just like her around.”

Coach Smith shared Julia Kay’s sentiment.

“It’d be nice if all of our good athletes had younger brothers or sisters of about three years,” he said. “We don’t get to see as much as we’d like, but we do get to see it from time to time. It’s going to turn out to be seven great years with the O’Neill’s.”

And as her final year of high school wraps up with Julia Kay by her side, SarahJean took a minute to reflect on what nine months of high school sports with her sister meant to them both.

“I’m not sure what I’ve left for her to learn,” SarahJean wondered. “I just hope whatever I did do, I set a good example and she’ll be able to capitalize on that.”