Pleasant senior Daxton Chase ready to join brother as an Ohio State wrestler
MARION — For Daxton Chase, it's not a metaphor for how close the team is.
"It’s family there," the Pleasant senior wrestler said days after committing to Ohio State to continue his career.
Literally, it's family there. Daxton will join his older brother, Carter Chase who is a redshirt freshman for the Buckeyes' wrestling team.
"I know all the guys basically," he continued. "They’re all cool. It’s an awesome campus and awesome coaches. I just love it there."
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The recruiting process
The process started a couple years ago. Minutes after Carter won the 165-pound Division III state championship on the floor of Ohio State's Schottenstein Center in 2022, he received a call from Ohio State head coach Tom Ryan to congratulate him.
"We didn’t know Ohio State was a possibility until late in the process," said their father, Steve. "Carter was a trailblazer. We didn’t know what to expect. We’d never been down that road before."
The Chase brothers trained in the offseason many times with Ohio State legend Logan Stieber, who is now an assistant with the program.
"He was very familiar with Carter and Dax and their abilities and who they are," Steve said. "That definitely came into play with Carter. Dax has stayed in contact with Logan. They’ve been fairly close throughout the years."
Flash forward to this summer. Recruiting coordinator Anthony Ralph reached out to Daxton and the process was formalized.
Columbia and Cleveland State were in the mix, too, but the allure of the Buckeyes was too much to turn down.
"It was really Ohio State that stuck out to me," Daxton said. "I’ve had the opportunity to go down there and hang out with the guys and work out in the room a couple of times. It really gives me a good insight into how it is down there and how they work."
Beside the fact Ohio State is a national powerhouse on the mat, the Chase brothers grew up idolizing the Buckeyes.
"Ever since I was a kid going to St. John Arena and watching the Buckeyes then and realizing it’s going to be me now with kids looking up to me is an awesome feeling," Daxton said.
Looking back and ahead
For years, Steve drove his two sons all over the state to work with the best of the best, be it trips to the wrestling factory at St. Paris Graham or to the suburbs of Columbus.
"It was father-son bonding time for the most part," he said. "That’s what I really enjoyed about it throughout the years. I got to spend time with them and watch them grow and the maturation process. It was seeing them grow into great wrestlers and even better young men."
Starting next year, he'll be driving to Columbus to watch them compete on the biggest collegiate stage in Ohio.
"We’ve had talks about how it’s great that both of them are going to the same school, but I want each of them to write their own legacy," Steve said. "It’s pretty awesome to be a Buckeye, and it’s pretty awesome to have two sons, not just in D-I, but to be a Buckeye. It’s mind-blowing. If someone would have told me two or three years ago I was going to have two Buckeyes, I would have laughed."
With his future decided, Daxton is ready to start his senior year. As a three-time state placer in Division III and a preseason No. 2 at 150 pounds according to BorofanOhio.net, he has designs on winning a state championship like his older brother.
"It’s a big reliever," Daxton said. "I can focus on the big title. You know you’ve already made it, so let everything fly and do your thing."
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Pleasant's Daxton Chase signs with Ohio State wrestling
