The gym falls silent as Blase Mele ’25 squares off with his opponent on the mat, eyes locked. He shifts his stance, a subtle bounce in his step, tension building in the audience with every move. He goes for a single leg takedown, causing his opponent to go down, and the crowd roars. He just won against a top-ten nationally-ranked wrestler, and his victory is a moment that has encapsulated the years of perseverance and sacrifice that Mele has offered to wrestling.

Introduced to the sport at a young age by his father, Mele found his calling early. He attributed his success to his parents, recalling that they encouraged him to do the right things and had a great support system throughout his whole career.

“All [my family] talks about is wrestling, so I’m in an environment where it’s easy to stay focused,” said Mele.

Jess Monzo, the PHS boy’s wrestling team coach, was immediately impressed when he saw Mele’s skillset as an incoming freshman. “I was excited. I knew he could do really, really good things by what he brought to the program and to the team,” said Monzo.

Despite his success at both the state and national level, where Mele placed sixth at the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedic State Wrestling Championships, making him the third PHS student to ever place, Mele constantly strives for improvement.

“My club coaches are starting to implement a lot of techniques from foreign wrestlers and stuff that was used at the Olympics,” said Mele. “I am just trying to focus on getting bigger, getting stronger, getting better.”

Blase is not only able to train hard, but he works hard at school as well. Blase credits his parents and family for raising him in an environment that worked for him.

“I think being a good student makes me a better wrestler, and I think being a good wrestler makes me a better student,” said Blase.

However, his success did not come without adversity. He had faced multiple injuries over his career that caused him to take time off of practice.

“I dealt with some knee problems. I had to have two knee surgeries. It was fine in the long term, but at the time, it was really frustrating,” said Mele.

Despite a rough setback, Mele believes part of overcoming challenges is to have faith and recover as diligently as possible, while also taking time off as needed.

“When you sign up to go play sports, you’re not signing up to automatically win. You’re signing up to test yourself,” said Mele. “You have to be prepared for things to go wrong, and you have to be ready to put yourself back on track.”

This tenacious mentality has allowed him to rank in the top 20 nationwide while placing at the state level. Monzo saw Mele grow as both an athlete and person, especially during his Junior year after Mele won one of his biggest matches.

“He always believed in himself, that he could be that guy ... from that day forward ... he saw it was true. He believed it into fruition, and he knew he belonged at that level,” said Monzo.

During the season, practices are demanding and many students quit the team before the end of the season. Mele affirms that even though it’s difficult to stay motivated because of the long season, by the end, those who stuck around are good friends and work even harder together.

“Blase is always on everyone about working hard and putting forth your best,” said Mele’s fellow teammate Chase Hammerschlag ’25. “He is both assertive and supportive ... I admire his work ethic.”

After his strong junior season, Mele committed to Princeton University to pursue a degree in economics while fulfilling his dream of competing at the Division I level. His successful career is the result of long years of consistent hard work and dedication.

“[Consistency] allowed me to accomplish a lot of my goals. I do not think I would have done that without wrestling,” said Mele. “I’ve encountered a lot of failure in my career — both failure and success in my career. And through it all, I’ve been able to remain consistent and just pursue my goals.

Mele is able to find this consistency for practice because of his love for the journey.

“The process of achieving a goal is just as fun and just as rewarding as achieving the goal itself,” said Mele. “When you start to find enjoyment in the [process], then your performance will increase, and you’ll just feel better about where you are as an athlete.”

Before going to college, Mele has been able to refelect on what wrestling has given him.

“Wrestling taught me the importance of consistency. [Consistency] allowed me to accomplish my goals,” said Mele. “I don’t think I would have done that without wrestling."