20 QUESTIONS WITH... Haley Augello Illinois native Haley Augello, a Cadet World champion and a
WCWA college national champion for King University, dropped down to 48 kg and made the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team. 1. How did you get involved in wrestling as a youth, and
why did you decide to stay with the sport? My family moved from Chicago to the suburbs and signed my
brother up for wrestling right away. He weighed 36 pounds and barely had anyone small enough to be his partner so he would come home and practice the moves on me. I would try to cor- rect him and give him advice based on the feel and one day I asked my dad if I could go to practice and fell in love and never looked back. My parents tried to get me into off-season sports like softball and Irish dancing but I didn’t like being off the mat and discovered freestyle and Greco in the off-season and refused to do any other sports from that point on. 2. Were there other girls wrestling in your community,
and what was it like to train and compete against boys? I was the only girl on my club team. I would run into girls here
and there at kids tournaments but none stuck around that long. Training against guys became natural for me. I actually became so used to being “one of the guys” that I would even be shocked when I saw other girl wrestlers. All my teammates from kids’ club to high school treated me with respect and as one of them. The only time I ever faced adversity is when guys from other teams would make offensive comments about me competing but my teammates on Force and at Lockport Township High School always stuck up for me and supported me. 3. When did you first start wrestling against girls, and
what was different about that? The first girls’ tournament I competed in was Fargo in 2010. I
teched my way through the tournament and told my dad I didn’t want to compete against girls anymore. He told me if I wanted to wrestle in college it would have to be against women and I would have to get my name out there in the women’s wrestling world so he convinced me to go to Body Bar in 2011. I teched my way through the tournament again but it felt more fulfilling that time because after I won I found out it qualified me for Cadet Worlds in Hungary. I had never competed international and I had never been out of the country. 4. Who were the people who really helped you the most
as you developed and why were they so important to you? My first and biggest supporter since the second I stepped on
the mat was my dad. To this day, whether I take first or fifteenth, my dad is always so openly proud of me. He thinks I’m the best wrestler in the world and it gives me confidence when I’m feel- ing down. I’m very grateful for the support throughout the years. Another supporter that really developed me as a wrestler is Sean Bormet. He was the club coach for Team Overtime. They never had a girl train there and Bormet would go out of his way to come watch my duals in high school to see if I would be a fit for Overtime. Growing up, a lot of practices are just the coaches telling you what to do and you do it. Bormet would teach me something but then ask my opinion on it and how it felt for me personally. It was my real first glimpse on how to study the sport. My college coach Jason Moorman really developed my wrestling. I can’t even begin to count how many times he stayed in after practice for HOURS helping me get a move down or how many times he had to move around his schedule to do a
20 USA Wrestler
Haley Augello controls Victoria Anthony in the finals series at 48 kg at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City. Tony Rotundo photo.
one-on-one with me. He renewed my love for wrestling. I remember one time I told him I wanted to be like a certain wrestler on the team and he said, “No, be Haley Augello.” That always stuck with me. 5. Why do you feel wrestling is so strong in Illinois? Illinois wrestling has an intensity to it that you won’t find any-
where else in the world. When you walk in any wrestling room in Illinois, the talking stops and the battling begins. You go into the room and you don’t stop working until the coach tells you to bring it in. I’ve made some really great friends through wrestling but if you watched one of the practices, you would think we hated each other. It’s a mean, intense, out-for-blood type of wrestling style that is hard to find in other states. 6. What are your memories from the 2011 Cadet Worlds in Hungary, where you won the Cadet World title? My most vivid memory from Cadet Worlds is when I won the
finals. When the last whistle blew, the girl I wrestled from Japan dropped to the mat and started crying. It took me off guard. It was the most emotional loss I experienced from the outside. I looked at my medal later that night and realized that that was what she was crying over and it was mine. I didn’t understand it at first because I expected to win, I never thought how I would have felt if I lost. It gave an overwhelming sense of respect for my opponents and wrestling as a sport. 7. Do you have a favorite wrestler and why? Right now, Jordan Burroughs is my favorite wrestler. If you
ever look at his eyes when he’s wrestling, it expresses every- thing wrestling is about. His mat timing, intelligence, and focus are what make him so great. I also look up to him because not only is he a great wrestler but he sets a good example for peo- ple. It’s hard to find a good role model for children and teens these days but he does a really great job of showing people how to be a well-rounded good person and I admire that. 8. When did you start dreaming about the Olympics? I can’t remember an exact moment I dreamt of being an Olympian. I almost believe that I was born with it. For as long as I can remember, when I want something, I become one-track minded. It becomes an obsession. I don’t think I ever dreamt of
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