Aug 18, 2024 By Jonathan Guth 4 min read

It has been one heck of a summer for Elijah Brown.

The Belle Vernon junior won the championship in the 190-pound weight class in the U.S. Marine Corps Junior & 16U Nationals on July 17 at the Fargodome in Fargo, N.D. Brown won seven matches over three days for the national championship in freestyle wrestling in the 16U age division.

About a month later, Brown had more good news, as he announced on Instagram Aug. 15 that he will be continuing his academic and wrestling careers at the University of Pittsburgh.

“I grew up going to all the Pitt matches, and it has always been my No. 1 school,” Brown said. “I am excited to get to wrestle with a lot of people that I know. I am just super excited about being able to wrestle for a Division I program. It is a dream come true.”

I went on an unofficial visit to their engineering building at the school because academics are very important to me. I am going to be studying engineering.

Brown is no stranger to success on the mat, as he won the WPIAL Southwestern Regional championships last season at 172 pounds. Brown qualified for the state tournament, but he had to wrestle with a high fever and finished one victory shy of placing.

“It was rough because we still don’t know what happened,” Brown said. “I had a temperature of 103 or 104 and had to get a vitamin IV to help bring my fever down. I lost about 15 pounds that week. It was rough but the thought of not competing never crossed my mind. I was determined to go.”

Brown didn’t rest long after the high school season, as he went back to work after two weeks to get ready for freestyle season.

Brown is eager to see what he can do this high school season, and believes the new rule changes (three points for takedowns and four points for pinning predicaments) will benefit his style.

“I am excited for the rule changes because I have always been one to open things up and look to score a lot of points,” Brown said. “I think the three-point takedowns will help, but I really like the rule regarding four-point turns because I can use tilts and moves like that to put up a lot of points in a short amount of time.”

Brown isn’t sure what weight class he will wrestle at this upcoming season and during his senior campaign, but he is focused on getting bigger, as the tentative plans at Pitt will have him wrestling at heavyweight, which has a limit of 285 pounds, but many lighter wrestlers that are taller weigh-in well below the limit.

“I am hoping to grow into a heavyweight,” Brown said. “I am about 6-3, and my doctor believes I will probably be about 6-5, so that will help me, but I still need to add some size. I wrestled 190 at Fargo, so I think I should be close by the time I start in college.”

While he is excited for the next journey in his life, Brown still has some unfinished business to attend to, as he hopes to become Belle Vernon’s first individual state champion in wrestling, but it won’t be easy, as the Leopards have moved up to Class 3A.

“The goal in high school is to win a state title,” Brown said. “I know it is going to be really tough because of the depth in Class 3A. There are some solid guys in Class 2A, but it seems like everyone is good in Class 3A. However, I am excited about that because it will help prepare me for collegiate wrestling.”