After earning a spot on the podium at the CIF State Wrestling Championships in March, Turlock High School senior Aliah Bertalotto has set her sights on competing at the collegiate level. And it will be at a place that has become somewhat of a second home for her family.
Last Wednesday, Bertalotto was joined by family, friends, teammates and coaches at the THS campus as she signed her National Letter of Intent to wrestle and pursue a higher education at Minot State University in North Dakota.
Bertalotto will be the fourth of her siblings to wrestle at Minot State, joining eldest brother and current Beavers women’s wrestling assistant coach Isaac and most recently twins Jeremiah and Isaiah.
At Minot, Bertalotto will join a women’s program that has continued to grow at a rapid pace since its inception in 2022.
“I’m excited to join that team and contribute to their success,” Bertalotto said of a Lady Beavers squad that has qualified six to the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships over the last four years. “I’ve met so many of the people there and they are all so great. I can’t wait to be over there.”
Bertalotto did not know if competing at the next level was in her future until later in her career as a Bulldog, when her successes on the mat began mounting and her passion became clear in the classroom.
Bertalotto qualified for the CIF State Championships in 2024 and 2025. Her senior season this past winter, she won a CCAL Individual title and capped her prep career with an eighth-place finish in the state 100-pound bracket this season, a run that included an improbable upset of No. 2-seeded Kayliegh Fernandez of Golden West in the Round of 32.
Outside of wrestling, Bertalotto joined Turlock High’s HOSA - Future Health Professionals chapter in hopes of eventually becoming an athletic trainer.
“I knew I wanted to go to college, I just didn’t know what I’d do,” Bertalotto explained. “With HOSA, I got on the healthcare path. HOSA, wrestling and having the opportunity to continue competing helped make it possible.”
“She did excellent in high school,” said Turlock High wrestling head coach Ricky Gonzalez. “She wrestled all the way through, took a state medal, and now she gets to start a new chapter of her life in college. We're very excited about that. As she signs the Letter of Intent, we just want to say from the wrestling community and the rest of Turlock, we're very proud of her and everything she's done so far, and wish the best for her.”
