Only one wrestler has ever won a state championship in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania -- Brett Ungar.
Ungar capped off his high school career as the #1 ranked 120 pounder in the country after a tremendous senior year run. The recent Notre Dame-Green Pond High graduate went 9-0 in the tough Pennsylvania postseason, with eight bonus point victories.
He racked up three pins, three tech falls and a major going into the state semis bout against Penn State recruit Gary Steen, a two-time state champ who was ranked in the top 10 in the country. Ungar broke a 1-1 deadlock with a third period takedown to beat Steen and set up a state finals showdown with another nationally-ranked star - Bishop McCort’s Mason Gibson. With a 1-0 advantage heading into the third period, Ungar showed his mat wrestling prowess, recording a pin in a tilt to capture state gold.
That wasn’t all, however. At the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic a few weeks later, Ungar registered a reversal and a late takedown in a 5-2 decision over Richie Figueroa of California, the #1 pound-for-pound wrestler in the nation, as Team PA upset Team USA. Not surprisingly, Ungar was named the event’s Outstanding Wrestler.
Ungar was a four-time state placer, earning third in Pennsylvania as a junior after an undefeated state championship campaign as a sophomore at Hunterdon Central High in New Jersey. He grabbed sixth in the Garden State during his freshman season.
In 2019, Ungar was a finalist at two of the top high school tournaments of the year - the Walsh Ironman in Ohio and the Beast of the East in Delaware.
Named the #21 recruit in the Class of 2021 by Flowrestling and #26 by Matscouts, Ungar committed to Cornell in May of 2020, after also looking at Princeton, Virginia, Lehigh, NC State, and Wisconsin.
Ungar was honored as PA’s District 11 Scholar Athlete of the Year in the spring.
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