North Central College Cardinals

Malea Palahniuk joined the Cardinal wrestling staff as an assistant coach prior to the 2022-2023 season after a successful career on the mat. Competing for the Cards, Palahniuk was a three-time All-American, earning top 8 finishes at 155 pounds at the NCWWC championships in 2020, 2021 and 2023. She was also an NWCA Scholar All-American in 2023, helping the Cardinals to the top team GPA in the NCAA that season. In addition to her success on the collegiate mats, Palahniuk was also a two-time USA Wrestling All-American, competing for the Cardinals at the u20 and u23 World Team Trials, and earned a spot on the USA Wrestling Olympic Ladder at 68kg in 2022.

Palahniuk graduated from North Central in the spring of 2023 with a degree in Health Science and is currently pursuing an MBA with focus in Human Resource Management from North Central.