Wellington Heights students Taylor Krueger and Kennedy Ray will compete at national kickboxing championships in AprilTwo Mount Forest teenagers brought home some hardware from the recent Ontario Winter Games in Orillia, where they competed in kickboxing.Taylor Krueger and Kennedy Ray, both Grade 9 students at Wellington Heights Secondary School, competed in separate weight classes, with Krueger bringing home silver medals and Ray earning gold.According to a post on the high school’s website, Ray fought in the under...
Wellington Heights students Taylor Krueger and Kennedy Ray will compete at national kickboxing championships in April
Two Mount Forest teenagers brought home some hardware from the recent Ontario Winter Games in Orillia, where they competed in kickboxing.
Taylor Krueger and Kennedy Ray, both Grade 9 students at Wellington Heights Secondary School, competed in separate weight classes, with Krueger bringing home silver medals and Ray earning gold.
According to a post on the high school’s website, Ray fought in the under-50kg girls 13-15 division, completing a sweep of the division and earning a gold medal in kick light kickboxing.
Krueger competed in the under-60kg girls 13-15 division, taking part in several events. She won silver medals in both point fighting and kick fighting, and also finished fourth overall in a new weapons event that saw her doing a routine with a katana – a Japanese sword with a curved, single-edge blade.
“I like being able to showcase my skill in the ring with my opponents,” Krueger stated in the post. “And I like to see my improvement.”
Krueger, who trains out of the Golden Tiger Gym in Hanover, was a 2024 provincial gold medalist in kick light kickboxing, and won a silver medal last May at the national championships.
Ray, who trains at Rise Combat and Fitness Gym in Mount Forest, was a 2024 national bronze medalist, and a 2025 national silver medalist in kickboxing in her division.
She credits her brother, Geron Weber, with inspiring her to take up the sport.
“It gives a different kind of feeling than other sports – an exciting rush when you’re in the ring,” Ray said of the sport. “It’s a feeling that you don’t get in any other sport.”
The Ontario Winter Games took place from Feb. 19 to 22.
Both athletes now have their sights set on national championships, which take place at The International Centre in Mississauga from April 30 to May 3, and they both have the opportunity to try out for Team Canada’s kickboxing team in Burlington at the end of March.