BUTLER TWP — The timing might be right for Ana Malovich.

The incoming Butler eighth-grader was 21-8 last season for the Golden Tornado's junior high wrestling team. Only 12 years old, she already has seven years of mat experience.

“I watched my older brother (Donovan) wrestle when I was 4,” Ana said. “I asked my mom if I could try it.

“When I was 5, I had my first match. I just fell in love with the sport.”

She's taken off with it as well.

Wrestling for a Pennsylvania team at the NUWAY Summer Nationals recently, Ana achieved All-America status by winning all seven of her matches and helping her team win the championship.

“She's such a sweet little girl,” Butler High School wrestling coach Scott Stoner said of Malovich. “But once she's on that mat? She's a beast.”

That description played out at the NUWAY tournament. Ana won three of her matches by pin-fall, one occurring after 22 seconds. She won by decisions of 9-1 and 6-0 as well.

She wrestles against boys during the high school season, then wrestles girls during the spring and summer campaign.

“Wrestling guys gives me a big advantage for when I wrestle girls,” Ana said. “The guys are stronger, so I'm forced to use more technique. That makes me a better wrestler overall.”

Ana proved she can win the close matches as well, decisioning Rebecca Brennan of the NYWAY Alpha Girls 3-1 and 1-0 in the NUWAY tourney.

“I'm excited for what the future may hold for her,” Stoner said. “A number of colleges that have wrestling are adding women's programs. Some colleges are starting men's wrestling programs and women's right along with it.

“By the time Ana graduates, there may be ample opportunities for her to wrestle in college.”

Stoner believes she'll get there.

“She has the heart of a person who loves the sport,” he said. “Ana is very serious about wrestling. She's constantly picking up technique. That passion isn't going away.”

Ana's mother, Jess Malovich, said her daughter “is also looking forward to throwing the javelin in ninth grade. But, no doubt, wrestling is her thing.

“She wants to make a name for herself. She already has.”

Ana has won two national titles in wrestling along with a fifth-place finish at a national event in Texas. She wrestles for the Pa. Storm during the summer and has worked with Erin Tomeo VanDiver, a Grove City High School graduate who coaches the Wyoming Seminary women's wrestling team.

Tomeo VanDiver wrestled on the Grove City boys team and became the first female high school wrestler in state history to place in a district tournament and win a match in a regional boys tournament.

Wyoming Seminary, located in Kingston (near Wilkes Barre), is the only high school in Pennsylvania that has a girls wrestling team. Girls from six states are on its roster and the team wrestles an international schedule.

Ana has talked about going to school there.

“It's too early to determine that,” her mother said. “Ana's talked about going to Butler and wrestling there, too. She's had extensive work with the coaches (at Wyoming Seminary) already.”

Ana wrestled at the 80-pound weight class in seventh grade. She wrestled at 84 pounds during the summer.

She anticipates competing in the 85-pound division in eighth grade.

The smallest weight class in high school this year will be 110 pounds.

“That doesn't bother me,” Ana said of giving up weight. “Wrestling is about mind-set and technique. My club coach, Tom Tomeo, and the Butler coaches have helped me that way.

“I do cross-fit training two days a week and that's making me stronger. I do push-ups, sit-ups, barbell snatching, running, a lot of physical stuff.”

Ana isn't worried about her opponents — only her own development.

“I'm pretty solid on the bottom,” she said of her wrestling ability. “My biggest weakness right now is not taking my shots quickly enough. I hesitate.

“I'm hoping to someday wrestle in college and the Olympics. I don't want to stop.”

Stoner rules nothing out with Ana Malovich.

“That girl isn't intimidated by anybody or anything,” he said.