Following her passion
Girls state champ Hattala driven to improve, with support from male teammates
Caroline Hattala was a swimmer for much of her young life, but it took only one season as a middle-school wrestling manager to realize her future passion lied elsewhere.
“[Swimming] just wasn’t rewarding anymore,” the Quakertown sophomore said. “Being the wrestling manager was the most painful thing I’ve ever done. I wanted to be out there [on the mat]. I quit.”
Hattala was still on the program’s TeamSnap app, which sent out a message the following year looking for girls wrestlers. “So here we are,” Hattala said. Hattala is one of the state’s top female wrestlers. She is a returning state champion at 190 pounds. She is unbeaten at 8-0 this season, the first in which the sport is sanctioned by the PIAA, the state’s governing body for high school athletics.
Wrestling is a big part of Hattala’s future.
“I want to be the best I can be,” she said. “I want to win Fargo. I have a lot of goals right now. Last year was just the beginning.”
Quakertown has its own girls program with five members.
Hattala has family history with the sport. Her uncles, Tom and Dave Petko, wrestled at Quakertown, then Rutgers and Navy, respectively. Tom Petko was a 1997 PIAA runner-up at heavyweight.
Hattala’s boys teammates have been there for guidance, support and a roadmap to success on the mat.
Seniors Mason Ziegler and Calvin Lachman, a pair of Lehigh commits, and junior Collin Gaj, a Virginia Tech commit, have shown Hattala and their male teammates the right way to approach the sport in and out of the room.
They are solid students and display 100% commitment to whatever they do in life.
“This is not your traditional sport,” Gaj said. “This is not volleyball or softball. This is a crazy sport. It takes a lot of guts to come out and do this.
“Caroline’s a great person. We all want to be good wrestlers. This is more than a sport for a lot of us. This team is a family. I’ve been friends with many of these guys for 10 years and now Caroline for the last year-and-a-half. It didn’t take long to her to fit right in with us.”
Like many other boys and girls new to the sport, Hattala was given a rude awakening during her first month of wrestling workouts last season.
A cardio drill, 5s and 40s, often is the final convincer for newcomers to walk away from the sport.
“I was pretty sure my lungs were going to explode,” Hattala said. “It felt like I was dying. After a month, your body adapts, and I have great teammates around me. It was worth it.”
Hattala pinned her way to a 190-pound state title last March, then kept the momentum going with a sixth-place finish at 200 pounds at the 2023 U.S. Marine Corps tournament at the Fargodome at North Dakota State University.
It was further proof that wrestling was her right sport choice.
Hattala further committed herself to offseason workouts and extra training during the season. It has continued her upward trajectory.
“One of the best things about Caroline that stands out is the comparison leading up to states last March to the [live wrestling] I had with her [in early December],” Lachman said, “it’s incredible. She did so much in the summertime and continues to do.
“That’s what is really impressive.”
Hattala has no plans for backing off her commitment to the sport.
She has impressive results in the first month of her second season of competition. Her eight wins this
season include seven pins. She won North Penn, Beast of the East and Mrs. Claus’ Bedlam for the Belt tournament titles.
Quakertown has three more tournaments starting with Souderton’s Big Red tournament on Saturday before the first sanctioned PIAA postseason.
Girls wrestling in Pennsylvania, like Hattala, has come a long way in a short time. She wants to continue to ride that wave of success.
“Fargo was awesome,” she said. “It was a little intimidating, but it was great having all my coaches there and a lot of my teammates. It gave me more motivation.
“I’ve got goals to catch. I’m not prepared to quit.”
“She picked this thing up two years ago,” Gaj added. “She’s one of us already. She’s laser focused, a leader on the team. I’m super proud of her.”