Four of a kind

"Kicking and crying - times four."

That's the headline at the top of the Powell Tribune when the Brence quadruplets, Baylee, Charlee, Emma and Kathryn, were born in April 2006.

Now, just over 17-1/2 years later the quartet is heading to its final state swimming meet in Gillette, while continuing to conquer their senior year at Powell High School and planning for their separate futures.

SWIMMING START

Swimming has long been a part of the quartet's lives, spanning now over a decade since they started swimming at age 6 during a Red Cross training along with Swim America.

"That's where Jerry [Rodriguez] found us," Kathryn said.

She said that it took them some time to pass through the levels of Swim America, but along with the encouragement of their mom and grandfather they continued to swim while finding the joy in swimming through Rodriguez.

All of the Brences continued to enjoy swimming throughout the USA Swimming program at the Powell Aquatic Center while also progressing through the Powell Middle School team before reaching high school.

That was where each swimmer started focusing on each of their individual talents, which included Emma deciding to branch off into diving.

"Compared to the other three I am not as naturally gifted at swimming," Emma said. "I don't have the endurance and the strength to be at the level they are because they are amazing at it."

Emma said she was inspired through her love for other artistic sports that she participated in while growing up, such as dance and watching gymnastics, before being encouraged by her mom to go out for diving.

"She texted our coach Heather [Christensen] - we knew her through swimming because her daughter did swimming with us - and she said absolutely you can come," Emma said. "It was a little bit of a journey because Heather has never taught a beginner diver, and obviously I was learning something new."

Emma said that being on the other side of the team helped her respect what the swimmers go through while being proud of her sisters and supporting them in the pool.

Charlee said she has been allowed to mess around on the board before, gaining respect for her sister in the process.

"I've been on the board a couple of times," Charlee said. "Heather lets me dink around occasionally, it is quite terrifying actually. I've blistered the bottom of my feet and I could never do it. It's something that takes so much courage and commitment. I am glad for her to see it through even through all the hardships."

Whether Emma is diving or Baylee, Kathryn or Charlee are in the water - you will always find a Brence cheering along on the sideline.

"They are like built-in best friends," Baylee said. "I've had so many best friends on the swim team who will do the same thing, but I know without a doubt I can see Emma walking alongside me yelling even though I can't hear her and I know Kathryn is probably at the end yelling. Even though I can't hear them I feel them and I can see them and I think that's really special."

Each of the Brences has continued to improve each season in high school, growing since their freshman year when only Kathryn and Baylee qualified for the state meet.

This year all of the Brences have qualified for state, with Emma qualifying in diving, Baylee and Charlee qualifying in five events while Kathryn qualified in four.

Each Brence has become focused on a different stroke, with Baylee being a distance specialist in the 500 free, Charlee just behind in the 500 along with being strong in the 100 fly, while Kathryn is tops in the 100 breast for the team.

That didn't stop the four of them from getting a senior night surprise at the PAC when they got there, racing not one, but two relays together on their final night.

"It was our biggest dream even before I switched to diving," Emma said.

That final night saw them all swim on the 200 medley relay as well as the 200 freestyle relay in front of the home crowd.

"We figured we were just going to do the medley relay together," Baylee said. "I thought it was so cool because we occasionally did it in USA (Swimming) ... Even other teams (Cody) looked over at us and noticed. I thought that was super cool to swim that on senior night as a final farewell."

STANDING OUT ON THEIR OWN

Although all four of them have been seen as a quad their entire lives, they each try to find a way to stand out on their own in one way or another."At first I had cheer as my own thing but then I convinced Emma to come join me," Kathryn said. "I am happy to have her on my team because I love having her cheer next to me."

Along with that, Charlee played basketball to start high school before opting to focus on swimming while Baylee also played soccer before focusing on swimming in the winter.

While they have always been seen as a group, Charlee said that being individualistic has been one of the hardest things.

"That's the struggle with being quads, is you're often guilty by association," she said. "There's been some struggles where people are scared of hurting your feelings. If you spend enough time with us you'd see we each have our own different personality."

Baylee said the group also has their own sense of style to stand out.

"Occasionally we will steal each other's clothes but it doesn't happen that often because we all have our own way to dress," Baylee said. "We have different tastes in music sometimes, different tastes in extracurriculars even outside of sports for hobbies - that's kind of fun."

Emma said sometimes people forget that even though they are quadruplets, they are not the same person.

"It's like if we were to have older brothers or sisters everyone is different," Emma said. "I think you have to really key in on those different personalities, hobbies and likes. You really need to focus on who we are as a person because if you don't understand that then you will look at us as a unit and basically that gets lost in translation when we do the same thing. My biggest fear is that I am going to get something I don't deserve. There have been times when that has happened but you rise above that and prove everyone wrong."

LIVING ON A LEGACY

One of the other things the Brences have continued to do together throughout the years has been FFA, each participating in their own specialty areas of interest.

"We all do it to different degree levels," Baylee said. "Emma and I are much more into leadership than say Kathryn and Charlee are but they are really into their competitions."

Those come through different Career Development Events (CDEs) where Emma will do wool judging, Baylee does vet science, Charlee does Environmental and Natural Resources (ENR) and Kathryn does agronomy.

Baylee said that the group will sometimes not even see each other at an event all week, unless they are at a conference together.

"FFA has really just been a testament to how we were raised. We were raised on a farm, our mom was in FFA, our dad was in FFA so it's kind of been a tradition. Through FFA we grew together and realized we didn't have to do the same thing," Emma said. "FFA kind of opened our eyes and expanded our interests. We all found something we love within it and it was a way for us to become a little more independent."

Kathryn said that through FFA they have found different interests, such as Baylee wanting to be a veterinarian, Emma finding her voice as a leader, Charlee in ENR to potentially become a game warden and Kathryn's love for agronomy.

"FFA has helped build the backbone of our career options and helped us explore other things," Kathryn said.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

Finishing out the school year together, the Brences are now anticipating heading out on their own to pursue careers in their respective fields.

"In the sense of school it's crazy to think that in 365 days it's going to look completely different," Charlee said.

She said she plans on studying wildlife management not too far from home post graduation.

"It will also look weird that we are not together," Kathryn said. "I don't think we all plan to go to the same college so it will look a lot different in that sense."

Kathryn said she plans to major in agronomy while honoring their grandfather's legacy at Dickinson State University in North Dakota.

"We all have different career paths that we want to go into, so none of us will know what the other is going through which is going to be hard," Emma said. "Growing up being the exact same age, pretty much doing the exact same sports and activities, we've known what each other is going through."

Emma said she plans attempting to become a state officer for FFA before going to Laramie County Community College to get a degree in communications before going to Montana State University-Billings to get a bachelors in public affairs or public administration.

Baylee said she plans to go to LCCC to show livestock collegiately before going to Colorado State University to get a doctorate degree in veterinary medicine.

"On the flip side it has been really fun," she said. "I am excited to go adventure somewhere else and find people outside of my sisters - even though I love them a lot, I really do. I am going to miss them but I am excited to be independent by myself."

Baylee, Charlee, Emma and Kathryn Brence are the daughters of John and Karlyn Brence of Powell and granddaughters of Charlie and Gail Brence of Ekalaka.