Dec 31, 2024 By Jonathan Guth 3 min read

Ryan Celaschi comes from a small school and town, but he has big-city dreams.

The Frazier senior always had a dream to wrestle for a Division I program, and he will get that next year when he competes for Bloomsburg University.

Celaschi announced his decision that he will continue his academic and wrestling careers on Sept. 29. Several factors played into Celaschi’s decision to compete for the Huskies.

“The head coach (John Stutzman) is incredible,” Celaschi said. “He just came back in August after coaching at Buffalo. When he was the coach at Bloomsburg the first time, they were a top 25 team in the country.”

Celaschi, who plans on studying accounting with the goal of becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), likes the intimate classroom settings at Bloomsburg.

“I never wanted to go to a school where I had to sit in an auditorium with 300 people,” Celaschi said. “The class sizes are around 20 people. I want to be able to know my professors. I expect it to be challenging, but that is what makes it special.”

The town of Bloomsburg is roughly the size of Uniontown, and the campus is far enough from home that Celaschi can be on his own but be able to come back home if need be.

The incoming freshmen at Bloomsburg will spend a month-and-a-half on campus from mid-June to the end of July to get acclimated to the school and the surroundings.

Although he won’t know officially until the season starts next year, Celaschi anticipates he will be at 165 pounds in college.

“When they (Bloomsburg) posted on their website about the recruits, they had me at 165,” Celaschi said. “My dream was always to be a D-1 wrestler. Once I placed at states in sixth grade, it really pushed me to be a D-1 wrestler.”

The Commodore wrestling program gained notoriety in a short time since its first season in the 2014-15 school year. The first several years were tough, as the team struggled with numbers, but brothers Thayne and Rune Lawrence put the school on the map with multiple state titles.

Celaschi qualified for the state tournament two years ago, as Frazier qualified for the state dual meet championships in Class 2A.

Celaschi had an early Christmas present on Dec. 19 when he won his 100th-career match with a technical fall in the Commodores’ home dual meet against Norwin.

“It was great to get that win in front of a home crowd,” Celaschi said. “I just want to keep working and striving to get better each time out.”

Frazier has a new head coach this year in Tyler Kenney, but Celaschi and the rest of the team have opened the former Connellsville wrestler with open arms.

“He (Kenney) is a phenomenal head coach,” Celaschi said. “He is very passionate, and we love that about him. He loses his voice every match because he gets into it so much.”