BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Illinois Wesleyan University Head Athletic Trainer Melissa Perkins has announced the addition of three full-time assistant athletic trainers to the staff for the 2025-26 academic year Tuesday, Aug. 5. The additions bring the expanded IWU athletic training office to 10 full-time ATs for the institution's 29 varsity sports. 

Perkins, who enters her fourth full year at Illinois Wesleyan announced the hiring of Cire Tan, Marielena Castillo, and Olivia Damery as assistant athletic trainers. Additionally, Logan Hollis has been promoted to Associate Athletic Trainer. Perkins will continue to work with football and softball, and Hollis will keep women's volleyball, men's lacrosse, and men's and women's golf for the third straight year. Kayla Pisauro will serve as the athletic trainer for men's wrestling and baseball, as she enters her third year full-time with IWU, and her fifth overall. Rachel Dawson, who begins year three as a Titan, will work directly with men's and women's cross country, men's basketball, and men's tennis. Entering her second year full-time after completing a graduate assistant stint the two years prior, Olivia Tisckos will continue to serve as the athletic trainer for men's and women's swimming and diving and women's lacrosse, and adds cheer & dance to her list. Beginning her second year, Mallery Pearson keeps her slate of men's soccer, men's volleyball, and women's bowling. 

In his first year with Illinois Wesleyan, Tan will work alongside Perkins with the football team, and will be the athletic trainer for women's wrestling. Castillo, who joins IWU, will work primarily with women's soccer and men's and women's track and field. Rounding out the new hires, Damery joins the staff and will serve as the athletic trainer for women's tennis, women's basketball, and flag football. 

Tan comes to Illinois Wesleyan by way of College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin foe Carroll University, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science, Pre-Athletic Training, and his Master's of Athletic Training from. While at Carroll, Tan worked with the football team for the 2023 season as an athletic training student. The next semester saw him serve as an AT student at Whitnall High School and at the Carroll Orthopedic Sports Medicine Clinic. This past year, Tan was an athletic training student at Carroll's CURE Clinic, and the Aurora Orthopedic Clinic. Tan rounded out his master's program by serving as an athletic training student for the Northwestern University football team this past spring. He has been a member of the National Athletic Trainer's Association (NATA) and the Wisconsin Athletic Trainer's Association (WATA) since August 2023. 

A familiar face in the Bloomington-Normal Community, Castillo returns to the area after spending the last year as an ATI Outreach Athletic Trainer at Peoria High School, where she spent the summer leading up the it working as an ATC and physician extender at Hopedale Medical Complex. Castillo received her Master's in Athletic Training from Illinois State University in 2024, where she earned the Illinois State MAT Professional Development Award. During her two years in graduate school, Castillo worked with the ISU women's volleyball team, the ISU track and field team, and helped with the IWU men's lacrosse team in 2024. She received her Bachelor of Art in Biology and Psychology from CCIW foe Augustana College in 2020. 

Damery, who already knows a little about IWU after spending the last year as a student athletic trainer for the Titan men's volleyball and women's soccer teams, recently graduated from Illinois State with her Master of Science in Athletic Training. Prior to ISU, Damery obtained her Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation Science from University of Missouri in 2023. Damery spent the summer entering her final year of graduate school working as a student athletic trainer for Hopedale Medical Complex. In her first year at ISU, she began her time as a student AT for the Redbirds football team, and spent time in the spring as a student AT at University High School, while also working as a graduate teaching assistant both years. While attending Mizzou, Damery spent three seasons as the women's basketball manager, and spent her last year as a Tiger as a student intern for the wrestling team. Damery is also a member of NATA.