Takedown Report

Pa. wrestling legend pins personal demons, defeats Olympic gold medalist to earn World Team spot

By Brian Linder | blinder@pennlive.com

The headlines haven’t always been good for Chance Marsteller which makes the headline coming out of this weekend that much more special. The Pa. native and former Kennard-Dale wrestling standout — he went 166-0 there and won four state titles — took down Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs, 2-1, to secure a spot on the 2023 World Team.

Marsteller led the first match 3-2, but after a challenge from Burroughs’ corner, he received a caution and Burroughs earned a point. Burroughs then went on to win the match. But he rebounded to win the second match 5-4, and with it all on the line, he pulled out the third match, 8-3, to get the win.

Marsteller has had his share of legal troubles, and he has spoken openly about his battle with drugs.

“I was an opioid addict,” he says on one video interview on social media. “I was addicted to fentanyl and staying away from that and making sure my wife and kids have somebody that can look up to, you know, when they say dad or whenever she calls me her husband. “That (stuff) is important to me.”
A FloWrestling video also highlights Marsteller’s journey from getting booted from Oklahoma State and his arrest while he was at Lock Haven to him tweeting that he was done with wrestling seven years ago.

Check that out, here.

In that video, Marsteller said that he woke every day, “truly believing that I was going to die.” And now he has beaten Burroughs to earn his spot on the 2023 World Team. “I want to let somebody know out there that things are obtainable and you can change your life,” he said after the win. “I don’t know many people who were addicted to the things I was, and go full-circle and turn around and be able to make the World Team after. It’s hard for me to say, hard for to tell the full story, but I don’t know many people that were addicted to Oxy and fentanyl and heroin and go make the World Team.
“I always say, I wish if somebody out there would have been able to share that story, maybe I would have been able to stop sooner,” he added. “Maybe I would have known it was obtainable sooner, change it around sooner. “That being said, I want that for somebody else. … rest of story at … Pa-wrestling-legend-pins-personal-demons-defeats-olympic-gold-medalist-to-earn-world-team-spot

June 17, 2023 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized