Born in Jacksonville, North Carolina, Koenig grew up in Chapel Hill, attended Chapel Hill High School, graduating in 1990. While her mother Kaye was working for the Rams Club at UNC Chapel Hill, at the age of seven, Sara saw her first Tar Heel wrestling match. After high school, Koenig attended UNC Chapel Hill, earning a degree in Peace, War, and Defense in 1994. In the mid 1990’s Kaye Koenig began working for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. Accompanying her mother to the NCHSAA state wrestling tournament in 1995, Sara volunteered to help with data entry during the tournament. This began almost three decades of service to the North Carolina wrestling community. Koenig was both contributor (1995-1999) and editor (1999-2010) for NCMat.com, at the time one of the most comprehensive and viewed wrestling websites in the country. Koenig served as a member of the Board of Directors (1996-2003) and as National Teams Director (1998-2003) for NC USA Wrestling. In 1999, Koenig was named USA Wrestling Person-of-the-Year for North Carolina and in 2003 was named Wrestling USA's Person of the Year for North Carolina. For 25 years (1995-2019), Koenig was a member of the NCHSAA state tournament staff, serving as the official scorer of the state wrestling championships. In 1999, Koenig along with Dave Barker, launched a pre-season tournament at Morehead High School. In 2000, this tournament was renamed the “Super 32 Challenge”. Over the past 23 years, the Super 32 has evolved into the largest and most prestigious preseason high school and youth event in the country. In 2022, the Super 32 included over 2800 of the top high school, middle school, elementary, and girl wrestlers in the country with over one hundred colleges and universities in attendance for recruiting. Since 2010, Koenig has worked for UNC-Chapel Hill’s athletic department, serving as administrative assistant for the Tar Heel field hockey, volleyball, wrestling, gymnastics, and men's lacrosse programs. In addition to her passion for wrestling, Koenig is a huge fan of sports and Broadway musicals, taking several trips per year to New York to see all the newest shows.