Talia Robles of North Bellmore is now a regional wrestling champion. After years of wrestling in Mepham High School, the athlete claimed the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference title as a member of Elmira College’s women’s wrestling team.
Talia earned the title Wrestler of the Week on Dec. 1 for her 5-0 record, leading the Soaring Eagles team to an undefeated first place finish, according to the AMCC.
Claiming the AMCC Dual Champions title means she and her teammates reigned supreme over almost 10 other colleges. Next, Talia and her teammates will face off against some of the best wrestlers in the country in the NCAA’s 2026 Women’s Wrestling Championships..
AMCC is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, an organization with over 500,000 participating student athletes.
Her father, Andy Robles, is one of her first and greatest supporters, cheering for her through every match.
“Pride is the only way to really describe it,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that you know can step on that bet, and they don’t, and she’s one of the special ones.”
At the end of 6th grade, Talia approached her parents and shared her intent to wrestle. Wrestling runs in the family. Her brother, Nicholas, was an athlete in Mepham.
“I had always been in the bleachers watching my brother wrestle, and I wanted to try to give it a shot,” she explained.
Talia was a freshman while her brother was a senior.
“It was a great moment… they got to wrestle together for that one year,” Andy said “It’s support, making sure that she feels like we’re always behind her and that we support the decision she made.”
Entering the wrestling scene came with its own challenges; Talia was one of a small handful of female wrestlers in the school. Until her junior year, she spent her entire career wrestling boys.
“At first, I was 84 pounds and just getting tossed around by all these boys, which really was awful,” she said, “but I stuck with it — and I’m really glad I did, because now I’m wrestling in college.”
As she progressed through school, her wrestling skills and achievements grew.
“Moving into high school, I was lucky enough to have great coaches,” Talia said. “They went to the girls’ tournaments with me. They got me matches with girls, and they made sure that boys in the room respected me. I was really appreciative of that.”
She was one of only two young women to wrestle at Mempham all four years that they attended, one of only two girls to be on their Wall of Champions, according to her father. Even so, Talia flourished: she was an all-state wrestler for Mempham in her senior year, and a two time Long Island girls champion during her junior and senior years.
Talia’s hard work paid off. Today, she is a sophomore at Elmira studying biology and plans to become a veterinarian. Joining an all-girls team at Elmira was “something like I had never felt before,” she said. “They were just so comforting… Having those support systems around me is what it really helps.”
The future is looking bright for fellow wrestlers entering the women’s leagues, Talia said.
“I’m extremely, extremely proud of how far Long Island has come with girls and the sport,” she said. “It has grown tremendously from when I first started going to girls tournaments. There would have been two or three people in a bracket, and now it’s growing; there’s teams, there’s dual meets. It’s just incredible to watch.”
