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largest wrestling tournament in the world, the ASICS/Vaughan Cadet and Junior National Championships. Five days after winning her Cadet World title, Alo stormed
past the competition at the Junior Nationals, defeating 2012 Cadet World Silver medalist and 2014 Junior World bronze medalist Kayla Miracle by a 10-0 technical fall in the finals. “Kayla’s really aggressive. I knew that I had to slow down my game and not play into her game. She’s really tough and I am glad I got to wrestle her,” Alo said. Her win in Fargo marked Alo’s second Junior National Championship in addition to her two Cadet National titles won in Fargo in 2012 and 2013. She was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the Junior
Women’s Freestyle competition after her dominant performance in Fargo. Wrestling is not the only combat sport passion for the talented young star. Alo has won multiple U.S. national titles in judo to accompany her long list of wrestling achievements. Alo attributes much of her success on the wrestling mat to her experience on the judo circuit. “Judo helps with wrestling because it seems like we always end up in judo situations. That is basically how I won my world championship and definitely how I scored most of my points,” Alo said.
This summer has been one of growth and development for Alo as she made efforts to expand her wrestling arsenal by attending her first National Team camp and focusing solely on wrestling.
“I learned how the camps actually work, how to condition myself, how to eat healthier, bonding with the team and I learned a lot of different techniques. I have grown as a wrestler
in all those areas,” Alo said. Coach Tomeo has seen a more driven and mature Alo this
year, and attributes much of her success to this newfound deter- mination to be the best. “Teshya showed up at a combined World Championship camp this summer with a focus and purpose that I had not seen in her last year. She pushed herself in every workout, completed every task asked of her by the coaches without any question and real- ly improved her conditioning,” Tomeo said. At the age of six, Alo was introduced to wrestling in her living
room. Teshya and her younger sister, Teniya, would often scrap while at home, leading their parents to enroll them in wrestling classes.
Growing up in Hawaii, options were limited in terms of freestyle competitions in women’s wrestling, not to mention the long travel times and time zone adjustments required to compet- ed in national events stateside. All those challenges make Alo’s successes on the World stage that much more impressive. “Wrestling in Hawaii is really different because I only wrestle folkstyle here, and mostly, I just wrestle the boys,” Alo said. It is clear that Alo has the drive to be one of the all-time
greats in women’s wrestling and so far she on the path to pur- sue that dream.
“What motivates me to keep wrestling is to say that I can actually be the best in the world,” Alo said. “I love that it is an individual sport. “You don’t have to depend on other people, you just depend on yourself and you control the outcome.” Controlling the outcome is exactly what Alo will seek to do in the next two years.
Before the age of 18 she will attempt to hurdle America’s best, make the Olympic team and take her shot at history.
31 USA Wrestler
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