New York's Sofia Macaluso Wins it all in Fargo

2019 Fargo 122-pound Cadet Champion, Sofia Macaluso.

New York’s 122-pound Cadet Sofia Macaluso took charge of the mats in the Fargodome and walked away with her first USMC Fargo national title. After placing 7th last year, the second-year Cadet hit two 4-point throws in the finals on her way to a 10-0 fall over Kelly Escamilla from Team California, winning her first-ever national freestyle title. Macaluso has been hot this year, becoming a double national champion at Oklahoma Folkstyle Nationals last March, coming away with titles in both the 16U and Junior divisions.

After placing 5th at Body Bar in May, she wouldn’t be deterred from the top of the podium at Fargo. Macaluso received a first round bye and then the Venom Girls’ Wrestling Club member began her dominant march to the big stage of Fargo with a tech, tech, pin & pin to make the finals. Her semi wasn’t easy though, as she had to come back from a 5-0 deficit to defeat Cayden Condit of Team Colorado.

After only 1:04 on the mat in the finals, she was a national champion. “When I got off the stage,” she said, “I couldn’t even help myself not to cry because I’ve lived my whole life for that.”

The feeling took a while to sink in. “When I got back [to my dorm],” said Macaluso, “I was looking in the mirror like, ‘Damn, I actually won!’ The next morning, it was kind of out of my mind until my sister called and said, ‘You’re a national champion!’”

Macaluso’s older sister Mia won Fargo in 2018 and wrestled for the national team at the Pan Am Games this year in both the Cadet and Junior divisions, winning a gold and bronze, respectively. They both compete for their varsity high school boys’ team at Minisink Valley.