Obtaining state qualification and eventually winning state through strength and determination from family, senior Gianna Falise not only achieves being a state champion but also maintains herself as a humble athlete. 

Through rough challenges trying to qualify for the state tournament, Falise joined the weight class of 190-pounds in her final matches of the year, only losing one of her matches since jumping to the new weight.  

“My junior year, I thought I could make it to state but obviously didn’t even place,” Falise said. “That was really hard to overcome, but I have a great set of coaches and team.” 

For Falise, following her father’s footsteps as a wrestler and being her coach adds extra significance to her triumph.

“My brother and my dad wrestled so I started wrestling because of them.” Falise said, ”My dad [helped me the most] he was my coach and always in my corner to support me.”

Her fathers inspires her through reliable tips and strategies on how to be successful and further her wrestling career.

“[My dad] worked with me some, he’s really knowledgeable within moves and worked really hard teaching me moves that might work as a certain defense for one thing or another.”

Falise increases her skills through maintaining a consistent training schedule resulting in a hard earned victory during the wrestling season. 

“I knew the only way to get better was to keep [training],” Falise said. “You can’t keep going without working with the best. I usually had 7 practices a week.”

Winning state was fun but staying humble and continuing to look towards the future and find joy in the little things are sometimes greater.

“I’m probably going to wrestle in college. I got a lot of colleges to reach out to me and I’ll get more money from winning.”  

Through her hard work and dedication Falise was able to achieve an even greater victory.  

“The ref pulled the pin really fast so I was really just a little confused,” Falise said. “It was cool winning state but it was cooler making it to finals.”