Erie Times-News names Northwestern wrestler Sierra Chiesa its 2023 Sportswoman of the Year
The Dec. 8 practice session for the Jamestown (New York) Kickoff Classic looked like any random varsity wrestling tournament.
Some of the 100-plus wrestlers tumbled and sparred.
Some ran around or through the chaotic mass of bodies.
Some bantered with teammates or opponents.
Also common was something uncommon not long ago: Girls entered in a boys meet. Among them was Sierra Chiesa, a Northwestern junior who warmed up in a routine manner.
Routine is one word that didn’t define Chiesa throughout 2023. Her eighth-place medal performance in the Classic’s 124-pound weight class was a low rumble compared to her seismic impact on PIAA wrestling.
It was this past March when Chiesa became the first female wrestler who competed in what had been an all-boys state tournament since 1938.
She proved her unprecedented appearance at Hershey’s Giant Center was no fluke with a 2-2 record in the Class 2A 107 division.
Although Chiesa was eliminated one victory shy of a medal, she became a two-time winner in the MyHouse Pennsylvania Girls State Championships that same weekend.
Four months later, she won the 117 girls final at the U.S. Marine Corps 16-Under Junior Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota.
It’s also what Chiesa didn’t control, yet still influenced, that resonated throughout this year. Her on-mat accomplishments were concurrent to the PIAA’s vote to formally sanction girls wrestling.
Each were factors for Chiesa being named the Erie Times-News Sportswoman of the Year.
“This is an honor,” she said. “There’s a lot of good athletes, so to be (chosen) is pretty high caliber.”
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On-mat influences
No spectator for any of Chiesa’s bouts is more attentive than her father.
Richard Chiesa said he was just as emotional about his daughter’s unprecedented appearances at Hershey as when she wrestled Commodore Perry’s Hunter Geibel in the first of her 100-plus varsity matches.
“As a parent, it’s really no different from being a wrestler,” Richard Chiesa said. “The sport gives us the highest highs and the lowest lows, everywhere and always. I rarely get good film or photos (of Sierra’s matches) because I’m so nervous for her. The higher she goes, the more nervous I am.”
Northwestern wrestling coach Jeremy Little and assistant Ben Tirpak were mat side throughout Chiesa’s historic run to states.
Little said he was too involved in how Chiesa fared to appreciate what she did this past spring.
“But once you take a step back and realize we — and I say we even though I didn’t accomplish anything — we accomplished something no one else has ever done,” Little said. “If I stopped coaching tomorrow, I’ll always know I helped her accomplish that.”
Wrestlers to Watch: Meet the Erie Times-News' Top 25 District 10 Wrestlers to Watch this winter
On-mat admirers
Hickory senior Avry Ryhal is one of Chiesa’s contemporaries. She wrestled as a coed for the Hornets before the Hermitage school added an all-girls program.
Ryhal, herself a MyHouse state champ, has sparred with Chiesa at the club level. She has zero doubt Chiesa’s PIAA appearance fast-tracked the push for girls wrestling to be PIAA-sanctioned.
“To nearly place in the boys state tournament, some girls had to be thinking, ‘I can do that,’” Ryhal said. “The girls look up to her, but I think some of the guys do, as well.”
One distinction Chiesa can’t claim is being District 10’s first coed wrestler.
Grove City graduate Erin Tomeo Vandiver was the first D-10 female to compete as a member of the Eagle boys from 1998 to 2001, followed by the Lock Haven University men’s wrestling program and Team USA.
Vandiver also founded the girls wrestling team for Wyoming Seminary. That connection ended this fall when Gannon University hired her to coach its women’s program.
“It was neat to see Sierra sort of take the baton from me and continue with her accomplishments,” she said. “It’ll be interesting to see what she can do with these two (varsity seasons) left.”
‘Respected and remembered forever’
Ironically, competing in March’s inaugural state girls wrestling tournament isn’t one of Chiesa’s goals.
PIAA rules permit her to continue competing with Northwestern’s boys because the school doesn’t field an all-girls team. However, unlike the past two seasons, she’s prohibited from entering both the boys and girls tournaments, which will simultaneously run March 7-9 at the Giant Center.
Chiesa plans to compete in the boys postseason and become that tournament’s first female medalist.
Brooke Zumas had zero issues with Chiesa’s decision. Without her influence, the chairperson for sanctionpa.com might still be trying to get the sport under the PIAA’s umbrella.
PIAA executive director Robert Lombardi stated in 2019 that if 100 schools formally agreed to back girls wrestling team, its board of directors would vote to do the same.
Zumas, a former coed wrestling coach for Parkland High School, took up Lombardi’s challenge and created her website in a public bid to recruit that total as a minimum.
SanctionPA reached 100 schools in February. The state began this season at 187.
“Sierra is truly a role model for all athletes, all students and all people who dare to set a goal that was thought to be impossible,” Zumas said. “Her successes aren’t just admirable, but truly history-making.”
“She’s someone who’s going to be respected and remembered forever.”
Such sentiment was too much for Chiesa to comprehend.
“I never thought I’d be at that point where people are looking up to me,” she said. “It is stressful, but it is cool.”
More: What to know about the inaugural season of PIAA girls wrestling for District 10 teams
Erie Times-News Sportswoman of the Year
2023: Sierra Chiesa, Northwestern wrestling
2022: Lisa Goddard McGuirk, Gannon University athletic director
2021: Emily Biddle, Erie Sports Commission marketing and communications director
2020: Kathy Lynch, NCAA basketball official and Mercyhurst Prep girls golf coach
2019: Sarah DeMarco and Tara Thomas, Villa Maria tennis
2018: Desiree Terella, national champion triathlete
2017: Deanna Richard, Mercyhurst University women’s basketball coach
2016: Nancy Herbst, Highmark Quad Games champion
2015: Janine Calabrese, Special Olympics gold medalist
2014: Kayla McBride, WNBA and international basketball player
2013: Pamela McCormick, Highmark Quad Games champion and triathlete
2012: Kelly Maslar, Mercyhurst Prep girls tennis coach
2011: Tori Hansen, General McLane graduate and West Liberty State basketball player
2010: Kayla McBride, Villa Maria basketball player
2009: Villa Maria basketball team
2008: Megan Collins, Erie athlete and cancer survivor
2007: Amy Palmeiro-Winters, Meadville native and disabled athlete
2006: Award hiatus
2005: Erin Kerner, Mashea Williams and Chelsea Gordon, Mercyhurst Prep basketball
2004: (Sportspeople) Kahkwa Club staff and volunteers for USGA Women’s Amateur
2003: Sarah Grab, Villa Maria basketball
Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNcopper.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie PA Times-News Sportswoman of Year: Sierra Chiesa, Northwestern
