Illinois Matmen
STATE COLLEGE, PA • When Haley Augello walked away from wrestling back in 2019, she had a great deal to unpack. She left a sport that she had given her everything to, but she did not feel that it was necessarily giving its everything back—at least not how she had hoped—and she had no ambition of ever returning. But now at age 29, after four and a half years off the competition mat, Augello has a new mindset, a different view of wrestling, and a more mature approach to her life as a whole; in this, she is ready to let go of her fears, fight for her opportunity, and make sure that the next time she retires, she retires with no regrets.
For Augello, her 2016 Olympic experience was seemingly clouded in failure. But not a failure in her effort, but a failure to truly understand the magnitude of where she was at and how she was supposed to handle everything that came with being one of six female Americans on the Olympic stage.
