Feb 25, 2026 4 min read

Name: Ella Trahan

Grade: Senior

Sport: Fort Cherry

School: Fort Cherry

Trahan’s week: Entering Saturday’s WPIAL girls wrestling tournament as a defending champion gave Trahan confidence, but she knew it wouldn’t be easy to repeat.

But after a grueling day at Mt. Lebanon the 106-pound senior stood atop the podium again.

Trahan defeated Shaler’s Blythe Letters by a 6-3 decision in the championship match to become a two-time WPIAL champion.

“I put in a lot of training and practice a lot, so I’m confident in my abilities to wrestle,” Trahan said. “I know that I put in the work, but everyone else does too, so you can’t take anything too lightly. It’s always a battle.”

Trahan is a student at South Fayette who wrestles in a co-op at Fort Cherry.

Another source of motivation was a bet that Trahan made with one of her coaches, Nicholas Candelore. One that she’s excited to see paid off.

“I made a bet that if I won the WPIAL tournament, he had to put my earrings in his ears, because he had his ears pierced whenever he was younger,” Trahan said. “I’m really looking forward to that. It was some good motivation.”

Journey to wrestling: Trahan moved to the area when she was in third grade from Louisiana. Her dad had a friend whose kids wrestled, so Trahan’s younger brother Owen wanted to join them.

It didn’t take long for her to want to join her younger brother on the mat.

“I sat through one tournament and decided I just couldn’t sit around and watch anymore, so I went to a practice and quickly learned that it was the sport for me,” Trahan said.

As a freshman, she became the first girl to wrestle for South Fayette. Then once girls wrestling was introduced, she decided she wanted to join the Fort Cherry girls team.

“I had to go to the administration myself and fight for the co-op with Fort Cherry with the help of my coaches,” Trahan said. “I never really had an opportunity to compete against girls, so it was really exciting.”

Trahan said she has support from family back home in Louisiana and they watch her matches. She visits Louisiana in the summer, and outside of the harsher winters, is happy to have moved to Pennsylvania to be in the “best wrestling state in the country.”

Aiming for states: It’ll be a quick turnaround as the West Regional is this Saturday at Mt. Lebanon with sports in the state tournament up for grabs. Trahan made it to states the last two years and finished eighth last season.

“I feel like I’m set up in a good spot in the bracket, but I know the matches are going to be tough,” Trahan said. “Every match is a battle and every weekend is different. You can’t expect the same thing, because you never know what’s going to happen. Even if I have beaten a few of the girls in matches in the past, they’ll be coming out for blood, because everyone wants to qualify for states. Being a senior it’s my last opportunity, so I’m going to leave everything on the mat.”

Future teacher: Trahan is still finalizing her college plans and whether she’ll wrestle college, but she knows for sure she wants a career focused in education. She’s part of the early childhood education club at South Fayette.

“I’m hoping to be a kindergarten teacher in the future,” Trahan said. “I want to work in the community and work with younger kids.”

Compiled by Jerin Steele