Conversation with The Champ

In this episode, Greenwood High School's State Champion Girls Wrestler Aislynn Castillo, GHS Wrestling Head Coach Nick Mountz, and GHS Wrestling Strength and Conditioning Coach Skylar Elliott discuss all of their recent success during the 2026 season. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:02

Welcome back to the leading listening and learning podcast in Greenwood School Discord. Prior to the intercession and spring break, I had an opportunity to visit Greenwood High School to sit down with three very special guests from the Greenwood High School Wrestling Program. Our state champion, Agelin Castillo, head coach Nick Mouse, and then strength and conditioning coach Skylar Elliott to share with me their experiences from the season, and then also what it's like to have a state champion wrestler in our school district. Hope you enjoyed the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Just talk to me a little bit about your season here with wrestling, um, some of the challenges you went through, and then kind of what led to you uh you know win the state title in Florence.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Well, at the beginning of the season, well before it started, I was already over by a lot, like I always am, and I was making it down like to my weight, and by the the day before our first match or duel, I had gotten injured, and I was I was gonna wrestle, but it hurt too bad. I can even lie. And I was out for a month and a half, I think. And I was getting back in the routine uh practiced for two days, and then I went back to my first tournament where I lost to the girl I lost to at State last year, and pretty disappointed. Kind of wanted to win. Well, at the beginning of the season, well before it started, I was already over by a lot, like I always am, and I was making it down like to my weight, and by the the day before our first match, our duel, I had gotten injured, and I was I was gonna wrestle, but it hurt too bad. I can even walk back. And I was out for a month and a half, I think. And I was getting back in the routine, uh practiced for two days, and then I went back to my first tournament where I lost to the girl I lost to at State last year, and pretty disappointed. Kind of wanted to win.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

How many years have you been wrestling with the team before in high school? Two years. Okay. So, I mean, as far as you know, comparing those two years, how would you compare the two years, you know, you've been wrestling?

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Oh, the first year, I don't know how I got this final. I wasn't really that good. All I used was one move.

SPEAKER_03 2:38

What was that one move you used?

SPEAKER_00 2:40

The Fat Man Roll.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Okay, explain to the viewers, and explain to me, because I'm not a big wrestler. I know I talked about it at the board meeting on Monday night, but my wrestling career ended uh pretty quickly. Yeah, you know, once my mom saw that I was only gonna be about 140 pounds in high school, so I I couldn't wrestle. But uh talk to me about that move. What is that move?

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Um, I mean it's a move I do when I'm on bottom to get a reversal or yeah. And I most of the time get it, sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

I'm assuming one of these coaches taught you that move.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Yeah, it was Coach Crowder.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

Coach Crowder actually is the one that taught her. Okay, cool. Yeah. Alright.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

So the fact that rolls next to you you're on bottom and you hook their elbow and you use your thighs and strength, and you roll the boat. Okay, being one of the strongest girls in the state, she's really able to utilize that move and make it to its full effectiveness.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

Gotcha. Talk to me as coaches, it could be either of you to answer this question, the preparation that goes into a wrestling season as far as you know, obviously you gotta recruit the kids, but then once you recruit the kids, there's a lot of training that goes into it before they even get to a match.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yeah, um, Coach Elliott runs our strength and conditioning uh program in the offseason, and that has been um really good the past three seasons. We've kind of kicked it up and uh been able to add some things in that specifically deal with wrestling, which has been really good. And then from there, we have a lot of kids that um travel around the state to get in some off-seasons, off-season work at like PC and just different different clubs around the state, which has been really good as well. And then once our seasons start, we kind of have a um philosophy and and certain things that we go by coaching-wise and and move-wise and practice-wise, that we start implementing at in November. Um, and then from there, that just progresses through the season. So trying to get them to get into the really buy into the weightlifting program, they've done that, which has been really good, and then getting them to buy into some of the off-season stuff because we don't have anywhere off-season really to wrestle around Greenwood, which is which is a downfall of Greenwood because a lot of the schools, especially 5A and 4A, um in the green upstate and the lower state, they have tons of places they can go to and get better in wrestling. Right. Um, and so that's been that's been just a thorn in our side for the past few years. But when PC opened up, it helped out a ton for our kids to travel up there. And so our boys' team is really taking advantage of it, and our girls' team is beginning to as well. Um, but the the biggest preparation, I think, for wrestling is the mental side of it. I think there's a lot of of the old like you hear all the sayings of things and like 90% this and 10% that, and and with wrestling, it being a a sport where you're dealing with weight and you're dealing with so much going into it as an individual and trying to be there for your team, it really, really weighs down on you as an individual. And so building that part up is where we try to get a lot of our kids to um try to focus on is that mental mental part because when it comes down to it and they and they walk out on that map, they've done all the training they needed to do. If they walk out there not confident, then it's more likely gonna end up in a loss. Right. And I think Coach Hugg did add anything to that.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

From well, from the strength and conditioning side for a wrestler, I mean, what are some of the things you're focusing in on as they're training, you know, getting prepared in the off-season? Just talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Uh so we we train not because you you don't want to burn them, bump them up three-weight classes. Right. So it's about it's always a balancing act between strength and your diet, and make sure that you are eating to fuel your body and strengthen your body without blowing up the lineup by taking a 130-pound wrestler and making them 170 pounds. Right. So there's a delicate balance there between making them stronger without necessarily making them bigger, which is you know is tantamount to some other sports philosophies, and it's necessary for the development of a road wrestler's body. So we look at things and we do a lot more bodyweight things, a lot more high-intensity things, do some some schoolyard strength, junkyard strength, such as sledgehammers on a tire. We climb ropes, we climb pegboards, we do uh we use hand holes in our mountains, we do pull-ups with towels to work with grips. So there's a lot of things that little small accessory muscles and lifts that don't necessarily get used in a typical weight room setting, but really play an important factor in a successful wrestling match.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

How do you mentally prepare for a match?

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Well, I try to.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

Is there any type of music you'd like to listen to or anything you read before a match, or kind of what gets you going?

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Well, um, this season I didn't really listen to music last season. I just I don't know why I didn't understand it. But there was like a few songs that remind me of the season last year. Right. Um and it was like uh like three, and like I always give flashbacks of like stay last year. Right like it. I got it like it motivated me a bit.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

Can you share any of the three songs? Would they help me if I listen to them? Can I get out out there on the mat and do something?

SPEAKER_00 7:54

I mean what is this like? It's called The Days, and another one is actually I don't know the other ones.

SPEAKER_03 8:01

Okay. Well, at least you got one, so the days is one. Okay, so I gotta put that on my playlist. Yeah, maybe it can help me do something. So, Coach Mouse, talk to me a little bit about I talked about recruiting in one of those first questions. So, you know, what does the recruiting look like for wrestling? Uh how early do you start?

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Um, we last year, so we normally in the past we went to the middle schools and tried to get our middle school program built up because we want these kids to start young and and develop them in middle school. Because, like like Aislin said at the very beginning, one thing she had to focus on was her weight. Um, when you're focusing on your weight and you're trying to get your weight down, you're less likely to focus on your wrestling. Right. And the reason why she says they can be aggravating is because we have to focus on her as a whole, and that means we have to stay on top of her, even when she doesn't want to work out, or she doesn't want to eat right, or she doesn't want to do the things that that may get her to the weight that she needs to be, we know what she needs to do. And so once she gets there, the the most irritating thing this year was she got hurt when she got there. Um and then when she and then when she finally got back to the mat, she um had to work on her weight again. Right. And then once she got her weight down, she got to her first tournament, she had her first loss. Right. And so as coaches, we're always trying to keep them in the right mindset, but keeping them in the right mindset, but also trying to push them to be a better um wrestler as well. And so if we can get them starting young in that process of, hey, we don't want you cutting any weight, we don't want you doing anything weight-wise in middle school. We just want you focusing on wrestling, right? And they become a better wrestler, and then when they get to high school, they learn how to manage their weight and and are already good at wrestling, so they don't have to focus on the two at the same time. Um, so our we try to start with those middle school kids, but we also did a uh lunch recruitment fair type thing last year that we're gonna do again this year. And we had um maybe five or six girls come out from recruiting at lunch, uh just asking to come wrestle, and and one of those girls ended up being a huge uh part of our lineup. She brought her sister out, and her sister ended up being a huge part of the lineup. And so the younger we can get these kids out, the better. We've actually started a youth program at Greenwood High School, which again just goes into focus. Like we want them to have as much fun as they possibly can so that they want to come wrestle for us in middle school. Um, if they continue to build that wrestling, then when they get to high school, if managing weight and things like that is something they have to focus on, they already know how to do the wrestling part and they can and we can do that and make it a lot easier because it does get hard on Ageland. And what she didn't say was um when she got to the end of our dual season, she wanted to stop wrestling, um, which is it happens a lot in wrestling because again, like mentally, you're broken down, you've done everything you could do to to get to weight and to win these matches and to do certain things, and it's not going your way. And um, so she had kind of mentally made the decision to quit, but I don't think her heart was in quitting. Right. Um, and so she uh she went home that night and she ended up texting me the day before the upper state tournament, um, which was all messed up this year because of the ice, and uh it was on a Wednesday, and so it was like she was over on Monday, just made the decision on Tuesday, texted me Tuesday night, now she had to get back down to wait on Wednesday. And she texted me Tuesday night and said, Coach, don't scratch me from the tournament, I want to wrestle. Um, which as a coach, it's always what you want to hear. Because it again, it whether she would have quit or not, we still would have loved her. Um, but hearing that as a coach, we knew that she could overcome some things that she was battling, and so that was really good to hear.

SPEAKER_03 11:39

Okay. I guess throwing it back to Coach Elliott, so when you're looking at you've already talked a little bit about the nutrition, some of the moves you guys do as far as strength and conditioning. Um, but you know, when a player or wrestler does get injured, uh, that rehab process, talk to me a little bit about what that that process can look like for any wrestler.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

With with this year, and we had the luxury of having um Coach Carly Seaborn as our new trainer, and Carly did a phenomenal job of working with the doctors and physical therapists here in town and sports medicine doctors to be able to take our athletes that were battling injuries and rehab them throughout the year. And she was able to accelerate things, whereas an actual PT facility would have testing her twice a week, once a week. Acelin was able to do something almost every day to start rebuilding some strength. And it took some dedication, some hard work on Acelin's bar to battle through the stiffness and the soreness and the pain after the to get it back to where it needed to be. And unfortunately, when in wrestling, because there are deadlines, these qualifiers, it's not like, hey, you just gotta make it to this one date. No, you've got to make it here, and then you're gonna have to get it right back into strength again to be here. So it it advanced and pushed her timeline up just a little bit because those to her wear that tournament, a little that qualifying tournament lay. If it was simply one tournament, she would have had another month. But she had to really push herself to get back. And through her hard work and Coach Steve Warren's, once we got her back into our weightlifting and things, we she takes it easy, starts trying to get back into some wrestling-related movements, things that really put stress on that joint and ligaments in wrestling positions. Right. So a lot more, a lot of body weight stuff, body weight, body weight squats and some lunges and some jumps, and she doesn't jump straight back into weights immediately, but doing her bandwork with therapy with our trainer, as well as starting to move back into those wrestling sports-specific movements at a slower pace. And then hopefully that week of competition, we sped her back up and she was ready to go. And it still took a lot of toughness. I can't with nothing, nothing that we did was foolproof, and nothing was but through through her toughness and her grit, she was able to fight through a little bit of pain she had and make it worth it. We said it from the beginning, from from the time she got hurt, decided she was gonna come back to make it worth it.

SPEAKER_03 14:09

Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

And she did.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

I know there's a lot of different things that go into y'all's success. I mean, y'all had success on the boys' side, y'all had success, obviously success on the girl side, uh, all state wrestler, state champion. Um, what do you think is the the I know it's not one thing, but what would you say is the secret to this all the success y'all have had this season?

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Uh the kids buying in to what we're doing is is number one, but then the kids themselves are just the the uh the the golden ticket to what they're they're able to do. They are um they we start uh we'll start up in in May again this season, and they'll go from May until until the end of February. Um and if if uh if they don't do the things that they're supposed to do, then we wouldn't have the success that we've had. And so I would say that that's the the most important thing is is what they're able to do and how they're able to do it. And A's' the prime example. If she would, she could have she could have said, nope, I'm injured, I'm gonna go ahead and set this season out, but she didn't. She did exactly what she needed to do to get to get back on the mat. Um, and then when she got there, she she knew she had some things to overcome and she was able to. Um and then going into the state tournament, same thing. She was mentally prepared to go in, and and that was her ultimate goal was to win. And and so they uh it's a it's a mind battle. Um, and next year, the hardest match she'll have next year is that finals match if she's able to make it back. Right. Um Casey Case and Howe, our four-time state champion, said he had a hard match his freshman year, the hardest match was his was his the next year because it was everything was on him, and right and we as coaches just try to tell them like don't don't don't let that pressure be there. Just go out and and have fun and wrestle. Because in the end, it's high school wrestling. That's right. We want them to have as much fun as they can to learn and and to come and become good citizens. And I think that's that's our our main goal and that's what we focus on as as coaches.

SPEAKER_03 15:58

Alright, so Aizan, this final question for you. Um, when when they do announce you as a state champion, I mean, what what's that feeling like? I mean, a lot of us I'll say a lot of us will never get the experience, but you know, as a state champion wrestler, what is that feeling? What does it feel like? Can you describe it?

SPEAKER_00 16:15

It feels like I won the lottery. I was so happy and I kinda I was doubting myself a bit. Like when I was I was giving my pass like for the finals, and when I saw her, I kinda doubted myself. I was like, no, like I cannot lose. I gotta win this time. And then, you know. Yeah, um, it felt like I won't lottery, and after I got my hand raised, I was already crying. I was so happy.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

She was crying before she pinned. Oh my gosh. It's on video. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

And um I was crying for like 30 minutes right now. Um I had to call my mom to tell her, and I couldn't even say it, 'cause she couldn't even understand me because I was crying so much. And she just wished she was there, but yeah, I was really happy.

SPEAKER_03 17:06

What would you say, and this will be the final quote, what would you say to a younger wrestler this, you know, we we talked about a little bit about you know going into the middle schools, talking to those kids, uh, trying to, you know, get them interested in wrestling. Um, there could be, you know, a younger kid that listens to this podcast, but what would you say to them, you know, about wrestling in general if they're thinking about doing it, but they hadn't really made that decision yet if they want to try it out or not? Um, what would you do to or say to encourage them to maybe try it out?

SPEAKER_00 17:38

I say go for it, I guess. Nah, you should go for it because um you can make new friends, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 17:49

Yeah, you can make new friends when you get stronger and possibly be a state champion at some point if you work real hard. Yeah. So I think your story is kind of what I think it embodies what a wrestler is all about. I'm I'm just talking, you know, from what I've seen and what I've heard about you and then some of the other wrestlers in your program, it sounds like perseverance is what your season really entailed. Because I mean, there was plenty of times where you could have given up, you could have quit, but you stuck with it and you know it led you all the way to the state title. Uh am I wrong there, coaches?

SPEAKER_02 18:21

You hit the nail on the head, but I say perseverance. The thing about the beautiful thing, the one of the most wonderful things about wrestling that you see to do in young people's lives and athletes' lives is in other sports you you build on team, you learn some family things, and that's the beautiful thing of athletics is what it teaches every sport teaches the participants and the people that grow up in it. But what's unique about wrestling is the fact that it is all on you. And you heard us talk a little bit about the emotions and the hard work, the dedication that really buys into it. And to win a state championship, and I I've seen it in Acelin's face throughout the throughout these tournaments at the end of the year, it's a moment of I can. Like, wow, I can do this. And when everything else, when other things in your life are telling you that you're you're not good enough here, you're not good enough there, this isn't going to work out, this isn't gonna work out, it's all on you, and no matter what, when you set your mind to sue it, you can make it happen. And you can make that journey worth it. And the perseverance, the wrestling side of things. So for these kids that want to come out and wrestle, there's nothing that builds toughness, character toughness, inner toughness, outer toughness, like wrestling. And if you can get it through a wrestling season, then everything else you do in your life is easy.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

The only thing I would add to that is, and this would be more towards the parents, is Aislin, how old are you?

unknown 19:39

15.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

How old? 15. 15. Is a 15-year-old is having to learn how to manage her time. She's having to learn how to do everything that her parents wanted to do at her house. She's having to have to stay on top of her schoolwork, she's having to manage her weight, she's having to get enough rest to do everything that she needs to do in school and on the mat. Um, and as a 15-year-old, she will not see everything that she has put in this season until she probably gets to 23, 24, 25, and she begins a job and she's like, you know what? This is easy. I've done this before. I did this when I was 15 years old, and as a matter of fact, I did it in one a state championship. Um and I think that's when a lot of our kids, when they get in these moments in life, they start to realize, I've done this. This is this is way easier than anything I'm used to because I've been I've been through a wrestling season and I know what all it takes as a as an individual to be successful. And so as as coaches, when we see those kids come back and they they pour into the younger kids like Aislin, um, that's that's the cool stuff that we get to see that they don't necessarily understand right now.