Recently, the Cleveland wrestling room exploded into chaos. The contentious debate over the firing of girls wrestling coach Kiera “Kiki” Gabaldon remains unresolved. According to texts sent by Gabaldon to the girls’ wrestling team, she was fired during a brief phone call with head coach Rust Marchello on March 3.
Boys and girls wrestling is technically one team, despite competing separately, as described by Vice Principal Sean Murray. Similar to a track team, there is a head coach, Rusty Marchello, in charge of the entire team. The head coach then assigns assistant coaches responsibility over different parts of the team. Coach Gabaldon has been in charge of the girls for the last two seasons. In this role, she has successfully coached Izzy Herring to back-to-back state championships.
After her firing, Gabaldon sent a long message to Cleveland’s girls’ wrestling team members on March 3 detailing the situation and her point of view. In this text, Gabaldon claims she was fired without warning.
“I would like to clarify some things,” Gabaldon said. “I had no indication I was going to be fired. This came out of nowhere and without warning. I did not break any code of conduct that would’ve resulted in me getting fired.”
Gabaldon goes on to report that Coach Marchello cited a lack of collaboration with other coaches in his decision. According to Gabaldon, this perceived lack of cooperation stems from her decision to separate the girls’ practices and refusal to attend duals where only the boys would get matches.
“Ultimately, I refused to parade the girls’ team to boys’ duals in the hope that they get matches,” Gabaldon wrote. “At the beginning of the season, I made it very clear that unless a girls’ dual was scheduled, we would not be just traveling with the boys. … If girls were not going to be showcased at these duals, I did not want them to go.”
Gabaldon opted to hold practices for the girls’ team instead of forcing them to go to boys-only duals. Despite skipping these duals, several girls almost reached the maximum match count. The girls were still getting plenty of matches without attending the boys’ duals.
Coach Gabaldon disagrees with the use of coed practices and she often took separating the girls into her own hands. She explained that she did this for the betterment of the girls’ team, refusing to let them struggle through practices not designed for them.
“As for practice, if I saw the girls struggling or getting frustrated during coed practices, I would take them into the portable mat room so they could work on what was needed,” Gabaldon said.
Coach Gabaldon claimed that Marchello told her he had a clear vision for the team’s culture and that she no longer fit into that vision.
“Equality, that is my team culture, that is the team I want to be a part of,” Gabaldon wrote. “Every choice I ever made as a coach was to put these girls first, regardless of who my choices may upset. So, at this point, it feels like I am being punished for advocating for the girls’ team.”
Coach Gabaldon closed her message by advertising her intentions to meet with the Cleveland administration and discuss the issue. As of press time, this meeting has yet to take place. A date was scheduled but was canceled, said Vice Principal Murray, who declined to give a reason why.
Since news of her firing broke, the Warriors girls’ wrestling team has been vocal in support of Coach Gabaldon, including Herring, who won her second consecutive state title on March 1.
“I owe my victory to her and not to Marchello, and the girls are not going to be back if she is not there, so there is not going to be a girls’ wrestling team next year,” said Herring, a senior.
Cleveland administrators declined to comment and indicated Coach Marchello would not be available to comment on the story until after meeting with coach Gabaldon, who herself has broken communication with the girls wrestling team on the advice of her lawyer as part of filing a Title IX complaint.
This is an ongoing story, and as more information becomes available, the Cleveland Clarion website will post updates.
