Pitt-Johnstown's Rome Alvarez set to make history at U23 world tournament

Over the past year, Rome Alvarez has become accustomed to making history at Pitt-Johnstown.A native of Melbourne, Florida, Alvarez was a standout on the school's inaugural women's wrestling team in 2025-26, helping the Mountain Cats post their first dual-meet victory and leading the squad in decisions.The sophomore will become the first Mountain Cat – male or female – to compete in the world championships Thursday when she takes the mat at 57 kilograms in the United World Wrestling Under-23 championships in Las Vegas."It's crazy," Alvarez said Tuesday. "I'm just glad I can continue to represent the school. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the school. It's an honor. I want to make my coaches proud, my teammates proud and my school proud. I take it as a privilege to represent Pitt-Johnstown."Although she was born and raised in Florida, Alvarez will represent Puerto Rico in Las Vegas. Her parents – Hilda Aponte and Rafael Alvarez – were born in Puerto Rico, and the family returns there regularly to visit relatives."My parents, they taught us a lot about our heritage," she said. "I speak Spanish. I learned our family recipes and traditions. I'm first-generation in the states, but I don't feel like I'm missing out on much. I got there sometimes to train."Alvarez didn't start wrestling until high school. Penn Cambria graduate Jason Custer was her head coach at Viera High School, and he taught her the same hard-nosed style that his mentor – Pitt-Johnstown graduate Todd Niebauer – learned from legendary Mountain Cats coach Pat Pecora.She has attended Young Guns practices under Jody and John Strittmatter – both of whom won NCAA Division II titles for the Mountain Cats – and now wrestles for women's coach Shane Valko, who won a national title under Pecora."It's the same work ethic," Alvarez said. "Just pushing yourself every day. Shane carries that into the room. I wasn't able to meet Coach Pecora (who died in 2024), but he carries that same work ethic. We will outpace our opponent. We will control all the things that we can."Valko has seen improvement from Alvarez and the rest of the Mountain Cats, who launched the women's program in 2025-26."Rome started in high school, but she's an athlete," Valko said. "The development of her has been great. She keeps trying to get better every day. Now, she's starting to understand wrestling. She's eager to learn and be the best she can."At just 19 years old, Alvarez missed out on making the Puerto Rican Under-20 team, but she rebounded and won the Under-23 tournament the very next day. In June, she represented the island in the Pan-Am Games in Peru, where she won a match and picked up valuable experience."I think I learned a lot," she said, noting that her biggest takeaway from the Pan-Am Games was that she can compete at the international level. "These people are no different than me. I saw them warming up. I saw them cutting weight just like me. They aren't untouchable."The 57-kilogram bracket will be drawn Wednesday with wrestling beginning Thursday and concluding Friday."I try to take it one match at a time," Alvarez said. "I just want to wrestle to the best of my ability."As a freshman at Pitt-Johnstown, Alvarez went 22-13 with eight decisions, seven technical falls and seven falls. She was the runner-up at the Pennsylvania Collegiate Tournament and placed fifth at the NCAA Regional Tournament.Now, she'll become the first Mountain Cat to compete on the world stage."It's really cool," said Valko, who noted that former Mountain Cats wrestler Nick Roberts wrestled in age-level world events years before he stepped foot on the Richland Township campus. "It's great for our program. It's exciting. It shows the girls and shows the world that UPJ is going to be a powerhouse women's team. The world will now see Pitt-Johnstown."