Martsteller takes a Chance on OTC

By Mike Finn

Chance Marsteller has done little to surprise his mother Suzanne when it comes to wrestling, whether it was winning a Pennsylvania state high school championship as a freshman last winter or collecting a pair of Cadet national championships in Greco-Roman and freestyle in Fargo, N.D., in July.

“Wrestling is his life,” she said. “It’s that simple.”

But after seeing her 16-year-old son in Fargo for the first time in over a month — after Chance spent much of his time training for the Cadet Nationals at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs since finishing his freshman year at Kennard-Dale High School near his home in  New Park, Pa., — the mother of this 152-pound wrestling star was surprised by the “growth” of her son, sporting plenty of red hairs on his face.

“This is the first time I’ve seen his beard,” Suzanne said. “He grew it while he was at the OTC. I guess this is what happens when you train with international guys. I asked him if it’s the altitude out there or something.”

Such “live-for-the-moment” actions by Chance has been a way of life while growing up in this Pennsylvania community that sits about fives miles north of the Maryland border.

“He’s Chance and a good boy,” said Suzanne, who actually named her youngest of two sons Chandler Shane but knows him more by his Chance nickname. “He’s very true to himself, confident and always marched to the beat of his own drum.”

And it was at the FargoDome where his drum made the most noise, whether it was by winning a total of 18 matches — without giving up a point — in the two different styles or what he announced following the championship matches.

Following his 6-0, 7-0 Greco-Roman championship against Oklahoma’s Kelian Torres, Marsteller was asked about a future college wrestling career.

“I don’t think I’m going to sign anywhere because I want to live at the Olympic Training Center for two years for the 2016 Olympics,” said Marsteller, who is slated to graduate in June 2014. “Ever since I was little, I’ve had one dream: to win the Olympics. The other stuff is just stuff along the way.”

But after Marsteller captured his second straight Cadet freestyle title — a 1-0, 7-0 victory over Nevada’s Ryder Newman — he announced that he did not want to wait that long for a first shot at his Olympic goal.

“This is the last time I will wrestle in Fargo because next year I want to try out for the Olympic Trials at 145.5 pounds,” he said. “If I want to make the team in 2016, I have to have a good experience now.”

(To view the rest of this story, you can find it in the August 11, 2011, Vol. 17, No. 11, issue of WIN magazine. Click “Subscribe to WIN” to place your subscription to WIN.)