Team Miracle

Team: Miracle
Coach: Tricia Saunders, four-time World Champion and distinguished member of the NWHOF
Pool A: Team Miracle wrestles Saturday vs Team Burkert at 3pm CT and Team Winchester at 4pm CT.

Team Captain Kayla Miracle has withdrawn from competition due to an injury sustained in her gold medal performance at the Henri Deglane Grand Prix in France. About a year ago, in March, Miracle qualified the U.S. 62 kg weight class for the Olympic Games. Miracle will be coaching alongside Tricia Saunders, and her drafted team is solid.

Originally from Illinois and South Dakota, Erin Golston (50 kg) and Ronna Heaton (53 kg) are now teammates at the Wisconsin RTC. They had their first experience as WRTC teammates during the Adeline vs Tamyra card: Erin defeated Emily Shilson and Ronna defeated Desiree Zavala. Golston wrestled on Underground 3 (win over Pauline Granados, McKendree), Underground 2 (win over Maria Vidales, Emmanuel) and at the Hawkeye WC Showdown Open (win over Devyn Gomez, Life). Heaton is a five-time age-group world medalist. She won U23s at 53 kg this past fall and placed second at Senior Nationals to Katherine Shai—what will be her second match this weekend vs Team Burkert.

Koral Sugiyama (57 kg) and Miracle were teammates at Campbellsville University for three seasons, including in 2018 when Campbellsville outscored Simon Fraser to win the WCWA Championships as a team—also the same season Miracle won her fourth individual WCWA title. Sugiyama—a four-time WCWA All-American and NAIA National runner up—moved to Wisconsin after graduating in 2019 and trains at Victory School of Wrestling in River Falls. She had a second-place performance at U23 Nationals, which was her first competition back since Senior Nationals in 2019. She hit some major throws to help for wins over Alisha Narvaez in the quarters and then again in a big semifinal match win by fall over Gracie Figueroa. She wrestled a highly competitive six-minutes with with Heaton at the WRTC Underground 2 and started 2021 with a match versus World Champion Jacarra Winchester at Battle on the Banks in New Jersey. 

Hannah Gladden (76 kg) was also teammates with both Miracle and Sugiyama at Campbellsville before transferring schools. She placed second at the U.S. Open in 2019 and wrestled at the UWW Test Tournament in Japan. Julia Salata (62 kg) and Ashlynn Ortega (68 kg) are joining the Team Miracle roster as replacements: Salata is stepping in for Miracle and Ortega for Kennedy Blades due to a Covid-protocol. Ortega, a junior at King, is a 2020 U23 champion and two-time college All-American. Salata is the assistant coach at King University and has multiple roles in driving the growth and development of women’s wrestling. 

Individual Bios

50 kg Erin Golston 

• Ranked No. 6 domestically (Flowrestling)
• Two-time National Team member
• Silver at 2019 Pan American Championships 
• Second at 2019 U.S. Open
• Third at 2017 and 2018 U.S. Open
• Three-time Junior World medalist

53 kg Ronna Heaton

• Ranked No. 5 domestically (Flowrestling)
• 2020 U23 Nationals champion
• Second at 2020 Senior Nationals
• Five-time age-group World Team member
• Silver at 2016 Cadet World Championships
• 2015 Cadet World champion

57 kg Koral Sugiyama

• Second at 2020 U23 Nationals
• Sixth at 2019 U.S. Open
• Second at 2019 NAIA Invitational
• Fourth at 2019 WCWA Nationals
• Silver at 2017 Dave Schultz Memorial International

62 kg Julia Salata

• Ranked No. 7 domestically (Flowrestling)
• 2019 Senior Pan American champion
• Bronze at 2019 Grand Prix of Germany
• Fourth at 2019 Senior Nationals
• Bronze at 2014 University World Championships
• Two-time Senior Pan Am bronze medalist (2013, 2014)

68 kg: Ashlynn Ortega
Junior, King University; NCAA No. 2

• Ranked No. 3 domestically (Flowrestling)
• 2020 U23s National champion
• Two-time College All-American (WCWA and WCWC)

76 kg Hannah Gladden

• Ranked No. 8 domestically (Flowrestling)
• Current National Team member
• Second at 2019 U.S. Open
• Fourth at 2019 WCWA Nationals
• Bronze at 2018 Pan American Championships
• Third at 2018 U.S. Open

The Captains’ Cup will be wrestled on Saturday and Sunday, February 13-14 and streamed on Flowrestling. Visit our Captains’ Cup hub for all related headlines.