Kiski Area girls wrestling puts focus on learning, development

By: Ted Sarneso
Monday, December 30, 2024 | 10:08 AM

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In just the first year of Kiski Area girls wrestling in 2023-24, the program had the numbers with 10 girls on the team but not a lot of experience.

Last year’s coaches, Karli Thomas and Gina Tallarico, came more from MMA backgrounds than true wrestling.

“With our coaches having that MMA background, I had to help a lot in terms of coaching and training the girls, which I really enjoyed,” junior Ava Golding said.

Last year’s team wrestled well, finishing the season with a 2-2 record and placing high in many of the tournaments and invitationals.

Now, the Cavaliers have a coaching duo with plenty of wrestling experience to steer the program in the right direction.

Justin Tresco, who had run the school’s youth wrestling program for nine years, stepped in as the head coach and brought Doug Joseph, who has been a youth coach for many years.

“Coach Joseph runs the practice room and is more the technique guy,” Tresco said. “I handle more of the administrative duties that come with coaching.”

Both of their expertise is a welcome sight to Golding and the rest of the wrestlers.

“Coach Joseph has been my coach since I starting wrestling in fourth grade, and I love that he’s my coach again,” Golding said. “He’s really good with new kids, and coaching these new girls is perfect for him. Coach Tresco has run our youth program for a long time, so he knows what he’s doing.”

Golding, who wrestles at 136 pounds, now can focus more on wrestling and improving her résumé, which saw her accumulate a 31-5 record with a WPIAL title, first-place finish at regionals and a third-place finish at the state tournament.

“I think I could have wrestled a bit better in my big matches against Jordyn Fouse of Bishop McCourt because four of my losses were to Jordyn,” Golding said. “I’ve been working, trying to improve my technique, and I think I’m more prepared for this season. I have the same goals to win WPIALs and regionals while wanting to place higher at states.”

She will still help out in bringing along the newer wrestlers.

“A lot of these girls are brand new to this sport, and they do a great job of coming to practice every day and listening,” Golding said. “I think they’re doing really well. I still try and help everyone as much as I can in practice and help push everyone to be their best.”

The team returns the same number of wrestlers as last season, and the roster is made up of seven juniors, two sophomores and a freshman. But there was still a lot of turnover, as only four girls from last season have returned.

“Ava does a good job of recruiting girls to join the team, but it’s tough,” Tresco said. “It’s even harder for us coaches. A lot of people look at wrestling as almost barbaric, and we get a lot of looks from girls who are like, ‘Excuse me but I’m a cheerleader’ or ‘I’m a basketball player.’ ”

The next-best wrestler besides Golding last year was Alyssa Tresco, coach Tresco’s daughter, who was 17-10 wrestling in the 142 and 148 weight classes. She will wrestle mainly at 148 this year, her sophomore season.

The other two returners are juniors Kara Dilts and Alyssa Perona. Dilts went 10-10 at 130, and Perona was 14-14.

What is surprising is even though the team has brought in six new girls, five of them have combined for a 7-3 record so far in 2024.

Leading the pack are a couple of first-year wrestlers.

Junior Lillie Moorhead is 3-0 wrestling at 170, and fellow junior Kate Croyle is 2-1 at 190.

“In the beginning of the year, we had a lot more girls than we do now,” Golding said. “Wrestling is more about the hard work you put in the room than what you do in the match, and a lot of the girls aren’t ready for that. We want girls who want to be in the room, not girls who aren’t going to work hard and push themselves.”

Golding is off to a strong start, compiling a 3-0 record, and Tresco and Perona are 2-1.

“For me and Alyssa, our goals are to place high in those bigger tournaments and get our names out there for colleges,” Golding said. “For the new girls, it’s about developing their skills, try and get winning records and to place in a couple tournaments.”

With so much inexperience on the roster, coach Tresco is looking at 2024-25 as a learning year for the majority of his team and has his sights set on next year, when the program could really see the fruits of the hard work come to bear.

“I feel we’ll do very well this season, but next year will be our bigger year,” Tresco said. “For many of the girls, it’s only their second year, and they’re learning how to be more aggressive. My expectations are for them to be more aggressive and develop their skills. This will be more of a building year for us.”

If the team can retain the same group heading into next season, there are reinforcements coming from the youth program that Tresco’s wife now runs.

“We have four girls that are going to come up from eighth grade next year and could have us at a full team. Currently, we don’t have wrestlers for the 106, 112 and 118 weight classes, which means we forfeit those in a lot of matches. I’m hoping to get those slots filled next year and round out the team to where we have as many girls as we need for good practice partners.”

Although coach Tresco is looking at this season as a stepping stone, the wrestlers are focused on coming together as a team and trying to make this a successful year upon which to build.

“It’s really exciting. At the matches, everyone is high energy throughout, and I’m glad that we’re all there for each other,” Golding said. “We really do have a good group of girls this season, and we can go really far.”

Tags: Kiski Area