Q&A with Wrestling's 113-Pounder Chase Brown

The wrestling team as a whole in 2011-12 is off to an undefeated start. With a strong senior class and a great opportunity to wrestle at the Abington Duals this past weekend, the team is 6-0 in the regular season.

A part of the core group of major winners this season has been senior Chase Brown, who wrestles at 113. Brown is 11-0 and looks to add another victory in tomorrow's match against .

Brown took some time to talk with Editor Kevin Haslam about life, his wrestling career and the future in this week's Q&A.

LRSC Patch: Tell us about your wrestling career - how you got started, when you fell in love with the sport and realized you were good.

Chase Brown: I started when I was in fifth grade. My grandfather got me into it, because he used to wrestle in high school. He wanted me to go out for a long time, so in fifth grade, I decided I'd give it a try. My first match, I actually pinned a kid. That felt really good. That was probably the first time I really fell in love with the sport.

I wrestled up until now, of course. Middle school, the first tournament, I dislocated my elbow the first match. So, I was pretty much out the rest of that season. I came back and wrestled a couple of matches and did alright. Up through my middle school career, I'm not sure what my record was, but I did pretty good.

I came up as a freshman in high school and I didn't have that great of a year, because I was 88 pounds wrestling 103. It was fun, but I was getting squashed. Then, sophomore year, I came back and went on to regionals. I learned so much in high school, because we have tough practices and you learn a lot from them, and watching other people wrestle, you learn a lot.

Last year, I went back to regionals again and we went to states as a team. It was a big accomplishment for us. Senior year, I'm just trying to do the same thing, but make it further.

Patch: How long have you been wrestling at 113?

Brown: This is my first year. Last year, I wrestled 112 for a couple of matches, but then I dropped down.

Patch: This year you've had a lot of success, being undefeated. Tell us about your mentality coming in and what's changed.

Brown: Confidence. My teammates help me out by cheering me on and helping me out in the room. Sean Hennessey is my partner in practice. He gets me a lot better in the room. Confidence boost has helped me out and believing I can do it.

Patch: What would you say was the best match you wrestled this year?

Brown: This year was definitley this past weekend: Mike Pritchard [Bensalem]. It was a big win for me because he actually beat my teammate Sean Hennessey last year at regionals. He ended up placing at regionals. That was a big win for me this year.

Patch: What about a match in your career where you can pinpoint and say your realized something about your game?

Brown: Last year at regionals when I lost the mentality. I realized I had to start running more and getting in better shape for it and believing I can win these big matches and stuff. Pretty much the mental part that I had to focus on, really, and my neutral position, because neutral got me stuck a lot last year. So, I've been focusing on working on that and the mental part of wrestling.

Patch: So, you're a senior now. What about your future?

Brown: I think I'm going to go into a business career - get a business degree and right now I'm not really sure what college I'm going to go to. I've applied to many, and a couple of wrestling actually - some Division III schools for wrestling. I'm really interested in Lycoming College to wrestle. It's a DIII school around Bloomsburg.

Patch: Looking back at your time at Spring-Ford, what are some of your favorite memories?

Brown: Well, last year making it to states as a team was really exciting. The first time I made it to regionals was an important part of my life. During life, just hanging out with friends. I love doing that and enjoying that. Last year, I went to the Taylor Swift concert and took my ex-girlfriend. That was really fun, believe it or not. I don't know, enjoying life is pretty much what it's all about, hanging out with my family. It's all been great.

Patch: Tell me about the transition of bumping up weight classes.

Brown: Freshman year when I wrestled 88 pounds, it was a big struggle, because everyone was a lot bigger and stronger than me. So, for my freshman year, I thought I should probably start lifting more. As I got bigger and fit in at the 103 weight class my sophomore year, I did a lot better. From my sophomore year to junior year, I started cutting weight. I was bigger than kids and that helped a lot more. The same this year. I didn't really grow that much. It's helping a lot, because I'm bigger. I lifted all throughout the summer, so that helps because I feel a lot stronger than most of the kids.

Patch: Tell us about yourself off the mat.

Brown: I'm really quiet. I get A's and B's in school and I'm a really calm person off the mat. I just like to hang out with friends and go out to eat and stuff.

Patch: Major goals by the end of the year in high school.

Brown: Definitely to make it and place in states, as a team go back to states and reach 100 wins.

Patch: Last question - if you could go back to freshman year and talk to yourself and give yourself some pointers about how to become a better wrestler, what would they be?

Brown: Definitely focus and the mental part and believe that I could do it. Believe that you can do it and in the future it will pay off.