State champion Short signs NLI with SCC
With Olympic aspirations, Cameron High School 2023 State Champion Wrestler Chase Short took the next step of his already prestigious athletic career by signing with Southeast Community College.
After signing a scholarship offer with the Beatrice, Nebraska-based program, Short attributed its focus on freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling as the primary motivator for his decision.
“It’s just what I wanted to do. Go off to college, wrestle and get my degree. While I wrestle in college, I’m going to get myself to that next step, that next level in my wrestling career,” Short said. “I went up and wrestled with them ... They have a lot of experience with freestyle and Greco [SCC Asst. Anthony Linares] was on freestyle and Greco national teams and wrestled overseas a couple of times too. Having that knowledge will help a lot.”
Short ended his CHS career with the second-most victories of any Dragon grappler. He’s a two-time state medalist, Midland Empire Conference champion and district champion. Along with competing during the winter in Folk Style, the traditional American style used by most scholastic programs, he spent his summers competing in freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling - utilized in the Olympics and other international competitions. Coach Linares, who attended Short’s signing, said Short’s plethora of knowledge, which also includes studying Japanese sumo and Hindi Kushti wrestling, give him plenty of weapons that will benefit him at the college level.
“I’m really excited to have Chase out there at SCC. He’s going to be able to proceed with his freestyle and Greco Roman career to represent Team USA at different age-level competitions outside of his college wrestling career,” Linares said. “His work ethic and accountability in the room, having seen him over the last couple of years during the summer, he’s a hard worker. He’s going to lead the group come next year.”
While attending SCC, Short plans to study nursing. He plans to continue wrestling throughout the summer to bring himself up to the college level before practice begins this fall.
“I just need to get back in the (wrestling) room and train harder. As I saw out in Las Vegas (at the US Open), I need to get more prepared for that next step. I’ll be getting ready for it. I feel like I have the skill set, but I need to work on them more until they are second-nature, and my physicality needs to be amped up a little more,” Short said.
