Villa Duchesne’s Grace Kraeger thrives with championship outlook amidst trying times

The year 2024 has been nothing short of a roller coaster for Grace Kraeger.

The highlights of this year for the Villa Duchesne senior included a pair of individual state swimming championships in February, a perfect score on the ACT shortly thereafter and a state title in field hockey in early November.

But the year was unfortunately not without some tougher moments as well for Kraeger.

“2024 has really been all over the place for me,” she said. “February was fantastic, definitely the highlight of my 2024, with state swimming and the ACT. The spring was good, but over the summer we learned that my grandmother (Nancy Pollnow) had cancer, so that definitely made fall rough for me. And the state field hockey game was actually the day after her funeral. Definitely a crazy time for me.”

As she gears up for what should be a memorable senior season in the pool, Kraeger can look back fondly on her junior season as she was one of two area swimmers to take home two individual gold medals at last winter’s state championships.

At the Class 1 state meet, she captured the 200-yard freestyle title and later added a championship in the 100 backstroke. She was also a member of the Saints’ fifth-place 400 freestyle relay squad.

State championship time, though, is always a bittersweet time for Kraeger as her mind weighs heavy with thoughts of her father, Rob, who died five years ago.

“February tends to be a hard time just because that’s his birthday,” she said. “But his birthday always lands right around state, so I always feel a little extra special during state championships for swimming.”

Not long after winning her two state swim titles, Kraeger took the ACT and earned a perfect score of 36.

Adding to that accomplishment was the fact her twin brother, Thomas, also achieved a perfect score. Grace and Thomas attended school together through sixth grade, but now attend different high schools with Thomas being a senior at Priory.

“We’re really competitive with each other, but we don’t often overlap. So, for that to be something that we could both really succeed in was a lot of fun,” Grace said. “It was really something to celebrate together, especially since there aren’t that many things we can celebrate together, just playing different sports, taking different classes, going to different schools.”

Not only does Grace have a twin brother, but she also has a set of twin sisters, Elizabeth and Cecelia, who are 2023 Villa grads and now attend TCU (all three girls were on the Saints’ field hockey state championship two years ago). And to add one more kicker, their mother, Molly, is also a twin and also played field hockey at Villa.

“It’s definitely unusual. It’s always my default fun fact with two sets of twins and my mom being a twin,” Grace said. “It was just so much fun growing up with all four of us being two years apart. We would do everything together.”

The death of Kraeger’s grandmother — who also played field hockey at Villa — came exactly one week before the Saints’ 1-0 win over defending state champ John Burroughs in the Nov. 2 title game.

“We were really close. She taught my whole family how to live, how to die, how to have a great faith in God. I’m so grateful to her for that,” Kraeger said. “It was special to have my whole family together for the state field hockey game. It was kind of the running joke in my family that that was my grandmother’s first miracle.”

Kraeger was thankful to have a strong supporting cast around her to help get through the tough times.

“My family, my faith, my sports and my school are the four things that have been there through it all,” she said. “My teammates definitely made that hard time a lot better. Most of them came to funeral, which I didn’t know they were going to. They got out of school for it. I’m very grateful to Villa for that.”

After field hockey season was over, it was time for Kraeger to turn her focus back to swimming.

She won a pair of titles Dec. 7 at the season-opening Ladue Invitational and is spending this weekend competing at the Speedo Winter Junior National Championships West at the University of Texas in Austin.

“I actually just got back in the water about a month-and-a-half ago coming off of my field hockey season. I wasn’t entirely out of the water, but I was almost entirely out of the water on my scale,” Kraeger said. “I’m really just excited to get my toes back in the water this week and see how things go. Any good swims I have are kind of just an added bonus.”

Kraeger will once again team with junior Charlotte Brown to form a formidable 1-2 punch for the Saints this season.

Brown won the 200 individual medley championship and later posted a third-place finish in the 100 breaststroke at last year’s Class 1 state meet. The two are also teammates for the CSP Tideriders and Brown is also in Austin at junior nationals.

“It works out well that Charlotte and I swim different events. That makes it fun for the two of us. She’s good at her things. I’m good at my things,” Kraeger said. “Last year, we definitely had a very exciting first few events at the state championships. It’s really special for the two of us to be Villa’s first individual state champions.”

Kraeger’s senior season also means more responsibilities as a leader for the next wave of Villa swimmers.

“She’s a strong athlete and she’s a really good leader, no matter which group she is with,” Saints first-year coach Cheryl McCrary said. “She gets everybody involved. She’s encouraged them all to work a little harder and not skip out on sets or practices. And she’s been a great demonstrator in the water. Anytime I need something demonstrated, she’s always willing to do that.”

Once her senior year is over, it will be off to college for Kraeger, who is still exploring where to spend the next four years.

“I’m definitely still looking. I’m not sure where my heart will take me on this matter,” she said. “And I’m not sure if swimming will be something that I continue in college. It’s been great, but I’m just not really willing to sacrifice any of the other things that I want in a college for swimming, as sad as that is to me. The past year I’ve really fallen in love with swimming more than ever before, which makes it all the harder. But it’s not something I’m ruling out. If the perfect situation were to fall into my lap, I would take it in a heartbeat.”