Chase is no longer "just" a soccer player

It has taken Chase Ullmann much of his high school years, but the 12th-ranked 144-pound Eastern Tech senior's finally transforming past calamity into serenity. Last night, Chase earned his 100th career victory with a a 59-second fall against Loch Raven's Christopher Lopez-Lemus.

As a freshman, Ullmann navigated a mentally chaotic decision of whether or not to trade in his soccer cleats for wrestling. Not long after stepping onto the mats as a ninth-grader, Ullmann suffered a season-ending thumb injury.

Ullmann returned for a successful sophomore season which ended with his placing third, second and sixth in the Baltimore County, regional and Class 2A-1A state tournaments.

But then came Ullmann's junior year, when a wrist injury forced him out of the first third of the season. Ullmann was able to return in mid-January, however, ending that season by winning his first-ever county and regional titles before finishing third at states.

Armed with a record of 17-0 with eight pins and five technical falls, Ullmann has 100 career victories and an eye toward becoming only the Mavericks' fifth wrestler to earn at state title following Joey Gast (1987), Brian Gifford (1987), James Davis (2002) and two-time champion Trent Dixon (2000, 2002).

Gast and Gifford were members of the Mavericks' AA-A state tournament title-winning team, which overwhelmed runner-up Old Mill, 99-59.5 points.

"Chase as a freshman was still thinking like a soccer player," said Mavericks' coach Rob Sullivan, a 2001 Eastern Tech graduate and former county champion. "Chase had wrestled in junior league, but he hadn't fully dedicated himself to wrestling yet."

"Chase had a great foundation in wrestling coming from the Middle River Rhinos, but he was still playing soccer," Sullivan said. "He just wasn't mentally focused on being the best wrestler that he could be until he made the decision to do that later in the season and to go all in."

But as the man who experienced it, Ullmann is perhaps the best source to chronicle his cerebral and physical path to redemption on the mats.

"I had played soccer my entire life up until my freshman year, which was the time that I decided to fully dedicate myself to wrestling. Besides, I have been wrestling since I was a 5-year-old," Ullmann said. "I had always hated the pressure put on you if you made a mistake in soccer because of the team aspect of the sport. But what attracted me to wrestling and not soccer is that while you are still a part of a team, you are the only one out there, so you dictate how the match will go."

But Ullmann's ninth-grade wrestling experience was short-lived, due to an injury he suffered in practice.

"That same year, I broke my thumb in a practice, which would exclude me from regionals and states. I was definitely upset," Ullmann said. "But if anything, I was also motivated. I knew that my goal was to see visible improvement, both in how I wrestled and how I placed at tournaments."

Ullmann won 29 bouts as a 10th-grader, finishing third at counties, second at regions and sixth at states.

"My sophomore year, I fully dedicated myself to being a wrestler. I was wrestling all year round, and I was finding opportunities to get better at the sport. I found that rededicating myself to something else was easy, because I knew that the sport made me happy," Ullmann said.

"This sport has always been something I want to do and want to get better at without the pressure from another sport. I was able to focus on wrestling and on my effort to get better, and I wanted that to show in my results. Since I missed out on regionals and states the year before, I wanted to not only go to those tournaments that year, but to also place. "

But UIllmann's 11th-grade motivation was nearly aborted, being quelled by yet another early-season injury. This time, it occurred during season-opening Knightmare Invitation Tournament at Parkville on December 7, 2024.

"My junior year was affected early on by a broken wrist. I broke it at the first tournament of the year at the Knightmare Invitational. The match started, and I had made a bad shot, and I had gotten taken down. I went to stand up, but when he returned me to the mat, I landed on my wrist. I knew something was wrong almost immediately, and I was pretty devastated. It was really hard being told you can’t do something you love to do," Ullmann said.

"For weeks, I would watch my teammates go to dual meets and tournaments, wishing that I could also wrestle. I would find ways to work out without using my arm. I would do that whether that was running, working out with my other arm, or doing stances and motion. I was itching to get back and wrestle as quickly as possible. I was officially cleared around January 14, and my first event back was the Falcon Invitational. I was very excited to compete in this tournament, and my goal was to just have fun."

Ullmann returned from that wrist injury to go 6-0 with two pins and four technical falls at the Falcon Invitational at Winters Mill.

Ullmann's momentum continued in the county tournament, where his title-winning effort was a 17-2 technical fall over then-sophomore Ryan Whisner of Sparrows Point.

At regions, Ullmann used a 16-1 technical fall and a 27-second pin to reach the finals, where his 20-4 technical fall dominated C. Milton Wright's 20th-ranked senior Mitchell Nguyen.

Ullmann's 27-second fall was a rematch with Whisner, and his victory over Nguyen had come against a third-place finisher in the Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference (UCBAC).

At states, Ullmann went 5-1, with three pins and an 18-0 technical fall. Ullmann's lone setback was a state quarterfinal fall to Northern-Garrett senior Devon Opel, the eventual state runner-up. Ullman also registered pins in 4:29, 2:03 and 1:54, the latter against Nguyen in their third-place match.

There was also Ullmann's 9-2 victory at states over Hammond senior Sam Vissers, whose accomplishments included being third, fourth and fifth at last year's Howard County, region and state tournaments.

After finishing with a record of 29-2 last season, Ullmann returned to his dominance at last weekend's Falcons Invitational at Winters Mill. At that tournament, Ullman was named the event's Outstanding Lightweight Wrestler after going 7-0 with six pins and a technical fall.

Ullmann's repeat-title-winning effort at the Falcon Invitational culminated with a fall in 3:14 over Severna Park's 12th-ranked senior Aidan Holly, who was fifth and fourth in last year's Anne Arundel County and regional tournaments.

"I am very motivated for the rest of the season after winning the Falcon Invitational again. I know that I still have a lot to improve, especially if I want to reach my goals," said Ullmann, who also earned pins in 25 and 38 seconds at the Winters Mill event.

"I am proud that I was able to win this tournament once again. I need to carry this momentum into the post-season counties, regionals and states. My goal for states is to just wrestle to the best of my abilities and to show everyone the hard work I’ve put in. Of course, being a state champ would be great."