Chase Singletary (top) wrestles Seth Janney during the Who’s 1 Duals (Photo: Bill Streicher, USA TODAY Sports)
As a defending national prep wrestling champion, Chase Singletary says he has a “target on his back.” His back is also where he has something even more important to him – the five letters of his school, “B-L-A-I-R.”
“It’s huge,” the senior said of wrestling for top-ranked Blair Academy (Blairstown, N.J.). “NCAA All-Americans have come through here and NCAA champions. Olympians and Olympic champions have come through here. Every time I put this singlet on, I’m carrying on that tradition. It forces you to wrestle to a higher level.”
Singletary, who won the 195-pound title at the national championship last spring, is undefeated this year and has won invitational titles at 220 pounds, including the prestigious Walsh Jesuit Ironman in Ohio, the Geary Invitational in Oklahoma, the Beast of the East in Delaware and Mount Mat Madness in Maryland.
Singletary was an American Family Insurance ALL-USA selection last year, was named to the ALL-USA Preseason team for the 2016-17 team and was among the five midseason candidates for the ALL-USA Wrestler of the Year.
“People are coming after you,” Singletary said of being a defending national champion. “It makes me sharp and ready to go at all times. If someone is out there who wants to beat me, it makes me wrestle better.
“I want to keep the tradition going of winning and wrestling tough at the same time. I don’t let things get into my head. I just stay level-headed.”
As a senior, Singletary says it’s his role to help the Bucs keep pushing forward. Blair is the defending champion in the USA TODAY Sports/National High School Coaches Association Super 25 and has been ranked No. 1 all season.
“Our team is really young; most of them are sophomores,” he said. “It’s hard to keep them focused on the next match, next match. We’re No. 1 in the country and everyone looking to beat us. We need to stay ready to go week in and week out.”
The National Prep Championships are scheduled for Feb. 24-25 in Easton, Pa., and Blair will be looking to defend its team title.
With only a few weeks to go, Singeltary said he’s not getting nostalgic that his high school career is coming to end.
“Not really,” he said. “National preps is a big one for us. We have to keep pushing to win that one. After that, the season is pretty much over and then we can really start to wind down.”
But not for long. Singletary will attempt to qualify for the Junior World Championship team after losing in the Challenge Tournament finals last year.
“I was always look forward to higher levels (when I’m competing),” he said. “We have Junior Worlds coming up and my mind is focused on that. Those are the guys I need to be beating in. I’m not focused on people below me, but people above me.”
Singletary is an Ohio State signee and plans to redshirt as a freshman in order to gain weight and then wrestle at heavyweight. He is 6-3 and walks around at about 215, so he usually needs to gain a few pounds before weigh-ins in order to stay on more equal footing with other 220-pounders. Singletary said he could have made 195 this season, but “I thought it was probably better to stay up and get used to the bigger guys.”
Keeping with his mindset of always looking forward, Singletary is keeping his eyes on the WrestleBucks at Ohio State, who are among the top-ranked teams in the nation.
“I try to watch the matches when they are on the Big Ten Network or FloWrestling,” he said. “ I’ve definitely been looking at them. It’s hard not to look into the future with it being so close. I’m really excited to get there.”