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McCready eyes national title

Hollidaysburg Area High School senior wrestling standout Mason McCready has his eye on a PIAA Class 3A state championship this upcoming season.

Down the road, he’s hoping to become an NCAA Division I collegiate wrestling champion.

McCready figures that Bucknell University is the best place to accomplish the latter goal, and on Wednesday morning in the Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School’s gymnasium lobby, he signed an NCAA Letter of Intent to attend Bucknell.

“The school’s great, I love it down there,” McCready said of Bucknell, which competes in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association with, among other schools, Army, Navy, Cornell, Lehigh, Penn and Harvard. “All the people there are really down-to-earth and awesome, and they support their athletes 100 percent. For me, it was just a great fit.

“My goal is to be a national champion — that has always been my goal and will always be my goal — and I feel that Bucknell is the best place and best environment for me to go after that goal,” McCready said.

McCready, who won a District 6 Class 3A championship last season at 182 pounds, placed third in the Northwest 3A Regional and qualified for the PIAA 3A tournament, where he earned an eighth-place medal. He won 30 matches last season, 15 by fall, and boasts a career record of 72-38.

Hollidaysburg coach Christian Harr is happy that McCready — an honor student who is also a standout on Hollidaysburg’s football and rugby teams — has accepted the opportunity to compete for a top-notch Division I wrestling program like Bucknell.

“I think it’s a tremendous opportunity for him to go to a competitive Division I program with a great education base,” Harr said. “I expect him to transition well to the college level because of the athlete that he is. He’s motivated and driven in athletics and in the classroom, and I know that he is going to succeed and do well at the next level. The Hollidaysburg wrestling program is very proud of him as he takes this next venture.”

McCready put together a solid season last year, and he is hoping that it can serve as a stepping stone to bigger and better things this season.

“I had a lot of learning experiences, and I saw where I need to be and what I need to work on,” McCready said. “I’m hoping to win districts, regionals and states this year. Now that I’ve been there, I know that I’m good enough to compete. I just need to really start to fine-tune things and work on the small details.”

Harr believes that McCready has the tools to become a state champion in his senior year.

“He finished eighth last year as a junior in a senior-loaded tournament at states,” Harr said. “He wants to be a state champion this year, and he definitely can achieve that. As long as he stays focused and true to his goals, I think the sky is the limit for him.”

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