Senior Daniel Karast looks around nervously, slightly flustered because he sees the

humongous crowd watching him and one person in particular catches his eye. Someone
who looks very different to him: the person is tall, has curly hair, wide brown eyes and a
unique smile. Maybe a love interest or just a friendly face. Daniel looks up again and is
shocked to see the mirror image of himself looking back at him.
The senior has never known his biological family since the car accident his
parents died in. But as the years passed, he got used to living with his adoptive parents
only to realize he had been proven wrong at a track meet. Daniel just found and
reconnected with his long lost brother who was only a couple months younger than him.
The two brothers will now get to know each other as they compete in various sports
they both enjoy starting from Friday.
“My parents had no idea that I had a brother,” Karast said. “ Apparently, there was
a mix-up at the hospital, and the doctors failed to tell child services that I had a brother.”
Doctors confirmed Daniel and Donald are brothers, both teens have spent a
considerable amount of time together getting to know each other over the past month.
“I was already adopted by the time child services realized what had happened,” Karast
said. “Meeting Donald was kind of surreal.”
They are similar in more than just looks; both boys excel in track, math, art and
baseball.
“I always knew one day I would find my brother, but I had no idea he was only 30 miles
away this whole time,” junior Donald Stephens said. “We've basically become one big
family.”
Both brothers hope to become engineers and attend Texas A&M University. They have
grown closer and are soon looking to see each other in the stans as supporting family.
“When Daniel called us from the track meet and started babbling over the phone that he
had a brother, we didn’t know what to think,” Daniel’s mother, Jana Karast said. “My
husband and I had no idea that Daniel’s birth mother was pregnant at the time of the
accident; if we had known we would have adopted both babies.”
Winning the baseball games and track meets may be important to both boys, but they
said if they win or lose they'll still be happy because they will continue to support each
other.
“It's been such a fascinating month, almost like a dream,” Jana said “ We will all sit
together at the playoffs and we are going to cheer for both teams, both boys. We will
support whoever advances to state.”