Due to Hank Penree’s departure from the team in late November and Ryan Goodman’s decision in January to forgo his senior season, the Wolfpack wrestling team’s starter at 197 pounds since the UNC match has been redshirt freshman cheerleader and wrestler Joe Trotto.
Trotto, who had not wrestled since high school prior to joining the team in January, was thrust into the starting position after the absences of Penree and Goodman forced the Pack to forfeit at the 197 pound weight class in ten consecutive matches to start the 2009 calendar year.
Coach Carter Jordan encouraged his wrestlers to contact anyone they knew with wrestling experience and tell them about the team’s hole in the starting lineup.
One student with a wrestling background that came to Jordan’s mind was Trotto, who finished fifth place or better in the state three times for Topsail High School. Jordan says he can remember being impressed with Trotto’s tape from his high school matches.
“I remember him, I can remember watching and thinking, yeah he has got some talent,” Jordan said.
Trotto said that several wrestlers and even a trainer for the cheerleading team informed him of Jordan’s interest and gave him the coach’s phone number. After some thought, Trotto called Jordan to set up a meeting. He liked everything he heard in the meeting, but says that he agreed to join the team only after being assured he would be able to continue cheerleading.
“One of my concerns was still being able to cheerlead because I made a commitment to them, and he was fine with me still doing everything with cheerleading,” Trotto said. “Everything he said sounded good, so I took him up on it and here I am.”
Since joining the wrestling team, Trotto’s schedule now includes wrestling practice five afternoons a week, three nights a week of cheerleading practice from 6 to 9 p.m. and the occasional morning workout for wrestling.
One of his fellow cheerleaders, senior Chase Carter, said he has been impressed with how Trotto has managed to handle life as a full-time student, a Division 1 wrestler and a cheerleader.
“It’s pretty cool that he is doing both teams, he’ll be at wrestling practice and wrestling workouts, meet the requirements for that team, and he still shows up for our practices and meets all the requirements for our team,” Carter said. “I can only imagine his time management skills are very very good, and he is also in engineering, which is pretty cool in itself.”
As far as Trotto’s long term plans for wrestling are concerned, a lot is up in the air, as he will not decide until after this season whether or not he will wrestle for the Pack next fall.
Coach Jordan said he would love for Trotto to return next season and that, because of the potential he has already shown in wrestling at the 197 pound weight class despite only weighing about 180 pounds, convincing Trotto to do so will be one of his offseason priorities.
“I really think he can help us out at his normal weight because he is giving up 20 pounds right now,” Jordan said. “He is talented, he is very athletic and he knows how to wrestle, so my biggest sales job will be trying to keep him out for next year, [because] there is no telling how good he could be.”
For now, Trotto’s goal is to give his best and see what happens at the upcoming ACC tournament, which will be held Mar. 7 in Blacksburg, Virginia.
“My goal for ACC’s is to wrestle as hard as I can and try to get something out of it,” Trotto said. “I have nothing to lose, so I will give it all I got and see what happens.”
