Ashton Kapla, left, and Cole Motiff will coach the Pulaski High School girls’ wrestling team this season.
Ashton Kapla and Cole Motiff will coach the Pulaski High School girls’ wrestling team this season.
Kapla replaces longtime PHS boys and girls wrestling coach Terry Manning, who started the girls’ program two years ago, as head coach. Motiff will continue his role as assistant coach. Both are graduates of Pulaski High School and have been involved in Pulaski wrestling as athletes and coaches for many years. They both have served as assistant coaches for the girls program the past two years.
“We are excited to have Ashton Kapla and Cole Motiff back guiding our girls’ wrestling program at Pulaski High,” said PHS athletic/activities coordinator Janel Batten. “Their Pulaski wrestling backgrounds will be helpful moving forward, and we are thankful that they are back with us.”
Kapla graduated from PHS in 2022. He is on pace to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in May 2025 with a degree in accounting. He is a credit analyst at Premier Community Bank.
Kapla, who began wrestling in first grade and in high school wrestled on varsity all four years and was a team captain, is excited about the opportunity. “It allows me to give back to the sport that gave so much to me,” he said.
Motiff, assistant girls’ wrestling coach, is a 2012 PHS graduate. He earned a degree in forest administration and utilization from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 2016. He is an arborist for the city of Green Bay Forestry Department. He wrestled in the Pulaski wrestling program from kindergarten through his senior year of high school. He has been a volunteer youth wrestling coach since 2017, mainly working with third- through fifth-grade wrestlers.
“Coach Manning was also my head coach in high school. Over the last two seasons, I was very fortunate in being able to coach with him as the Red Raider girls wrestling team took shape,” Motiff said. “I can’t thank him enough for all he has done for Pulaski wrestling and for all he has done for me as an individual as well. Coach Kapla and I are both very excited for another season and for another opportunity to grow as a program.”
Kapla urges PHS students to join in. “Girls’ wrestling is the fastest-growing sport in the country, and I encourage anyone to come out and try it!”