“When it comes to sports or any kind of competition, there’s a rivalry,” Tripp says. “But it doesn’t affect us after it’s over. We always go back to being friends.”
The 15-year-old triplets are freshmen at Talawanda High School, where Bristyl and Brilyn play varsity basketball while Tripp splits time between the freshman and junior varsity squads.
Their mother, Jana, says their special bond formed early in life while they were growing up in Tennessee.
“The shared a room until they were 5 years old, and they hated it,” Jana says. “But in hindsight, I think it’s the best thing that ever happened because they became very close.”
Brilyn didn’t speak actual words until she was 3 years old, but she didn’t have to because Bristyl and Tripp could understand the jibber-jabber and translate it for their parents, Joe and Jana.
A few years later, after the family had moved to Nebraska, it was Brilyn and Tripp who came to the aid of Bristyl after a classmate took her teddy bear and made her cry.
“The principal told me he has never seen two kids so quick to react,” Jana says. “They just swarm to each other’s defense.”
Sometimes they start off trying to do their own thing, but they usually end up back together. Like the time the girls were playing Barbies and Tripp was shooting off rockets. It wasn’t long before the three of them teamed up to strap a Barbie to the rocket.
“We do everything together,” Bristyl says. “It’s hard to do things apart.”
Even when they don’t share the same hobbies, they still manage to make it a team effort. Such as when the girls are showing their Clydesdale horses at competitions. Tripp stays involved by making sure the saddles are secure, and keeping track of his sisters’ event times and assignments.
“He’s kind of like our manager,” Brilyn said jokingly.
Their bright, fun personalities are already well known around the halls at Talawanda, where they most likely will spend the next three years.
When asked about their college plans, they respond in unison:
“We’re definitely going to the same school.”
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