Medina's Blaine Chrisman to continue wrestling at Edinboro

Blaine Chrisman's relationship with Matt Hill started well before he began being recruited by the Edinboro University wrestling coach. Chrisman became familiar with Hill when he attempted to recruit older brother Brady Chrisman to the Pennsylvania campus. That familiarity and Hill's personal touch in the recruitment of the youngest of three Chrisman brothers proved pivotal in Blaine Chrisman's decision to join the Fighting Scots over fellow Mid-American Conference schools Kent State and Cleveland State, as well as Adrian (Mich.) and Baldwin Wallace. "Matt Hill, their head coach, is a great guy," Chrisman said. "I loved talking to him and spending time with him on my visit. Their campus is very beautiful and a small atmosphere, which is what I wanted." When Chrisman took his official visit to Edinboro last month, he loved the picturesque campus nearly as much as the first-hand attention Hill paid to him while he was there. "I thought it was very cool that their head coach was walking me through campus and telling me all about it," Chrisman said. "On previous visits, with other colleges, they usually make their assistant do it." This season Chrisman has brought home championships from the Edison, Hudson Holiday and Medina Invitational tournaments with the Bees beginning competition at Austintown Fitch's Josh Hephner Memorial. Chrisman is looking to improve on a fifth-place finish at last season's Division I state tournament. Edinboro is 1-7 in duals this year. The Fighting Scots had an NCAA D-I qualifier in Ryan Burgos and placed three on the podium at the MAC Tournament last season. In addition to the wrestling program, Edinboro offers Chrisman everything he was looking for academically. Chrisman plans to enroll in the criminal justice program and, after receiving a partial scholarship for wrestling, looks forward to the chance to pay off more of his college cost through the ROTC program. "Their criminal justice program seemed excellent and just right for me," he said. "Their ROTC program really stood out to me. Talking about free college, it was really nice to think about my future with having free college." Becoming a police officer has always been something Chrisman has aspired to do. He is currently enrolled in criminal justice classes at the Medina County Career Center and is looking forward to taking the next step in his professional pursuits. "I've always looked up to police officers, even as a little kid," he said. "I've always wanted to be one and am taking the next steps to get there." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.