LATROBE, Pa. (Aug. 9) – Saint Vincent College head wrestling coach Dominick Nania has announced a pair of additions to his coaching staff, with Joe Alessandro and Chad Schmeling named assistant coaches.
 
Alessandro, a native of Greensburg, had a stellar wrestling career at both the high school and collegiate levels. A 2014 graduate of Greensburg Central Catholic High School, he wrestled for Hempfield Area High School, qualifying for the 2014 PIAA State Championships and compiling more than 100 career victories.
 
From 2015-18, he wrestled for Seton Hill University, qualifying for the NCAA Division II National Championships during his freshman campaign. As a fifth-year senior, Alessandro transferred to Division II national powerhouse University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown and finished his career as a two-time All-American, earning second- and fifth-place finishes at the D-II National Championships. Alessandro also excelled academically, being named to the D-II All-Academic Team three times. He graduated from Pitt-Johnstown with a bachelor's degree in elementary education.
 
Alessandro began his coaching career at Norwin High School, before serving as the head assistant coach at Saint Andrews University in Laurinburg, North Carolina.
 
"Coach Alessandro brings a lot of experience to our coaching staff," said Nania. "He is a person of high character and will be a huge role model to our student-athletes. His addition to our staff gives us an amazing resource for our young men."
 
Schmeling joins the Bearcat staff after coaching for 15 years within the local Latrobe wrestling community. He arrives at Saint Vincent after spending the past nine seasons as assistant high school coach and head junior high coach for Greater Latrobe. Prior to that, he coached youth wrestling in Latrobe for six years.
 
As a. high school assistant at perennial power Latrobe, he coached 16 PIAA state qualifiers, 13 PIAA state place-winners and three PIAA state champions. In 2014, he helped the Wildcats finish as runner-up in both the WPIAL and PIAA team and individual championships.
 
As the head junior high coach, Schmeling grew his team's enrollment by 150 percent, as Latrobe became one of only two schools in the state of Pennsylvania to field two junior high teams. He coached three section team champions and achieved state rankings of fifth, sixth and third. He coached a total of 45 Pennsylvania state qualifiers and eight state place-winners.  
 
Schmeling joined the Greater Latrobe staff after graduating from Indiana University of Pennsylvania magna cum laude with dual certifications in elementary and special education and a reading concentration. He turned his attention to coaching the sports he enjoyed in lieu of competing after suffering a number of injuries.  
 
Schmeling graduated from Greater Latrobe and was a two-sport standout. On the football field, he was a team captain, two-year letterwinner, earned all-conference honors and was selected to play in the North/South Classic All-Star game. On the wrestling mat, he was team captain and two-year letterwinner, winning a section heavyweight title and finishing as a place-winner at both the prestigious King of the Mountain and Powerade tournaments.
 
Schmeling teaches special needs life skills at Greater Latrobe High School. He resides in Unity Township with his wife, Mandy, daughter, Berkley, son, Brogan, and dogs, Lincoln and Abe.
 
"Coach Schmeling's passion for the sports of wrestling is unmatched," Nania said. "Being a mentor for young students, both academically and athletically, is such a valuable resource for a new program. We are lucky to have someone like Chad in our community making a difference, and now on our campus doing just the same for our student-athletes! His character and standards align exactly with what we are trying to build at Saint Vincent College."
 
The Bearcat men's wrestling team will begin competition in the Presidents' Athletic Conference in the 2023-24 season.