Seth Lisa knew what he was getting when freshman wrestler Julian Chlebove was coming into the Northampton wrestling program.

The freshman phenom was highly touted coming out of junior high, but the roots of Chlebove’s success date way back to when Lisa was a freshman on West Virginia’s roster in college and Julian’s father, Whitey, was a graduate assistant coach.

“When Julian was born we talked about how one day he would become a state champion,” said Lisa about conversations he had with Chlebove back in college. “I’ve known Julian is whole life and to see him have the success he had this past season was just a lot of fun.”

Julian Chlebove cemented himself into another status of wrestling lore this past season when he won the PIAA AAA 113-pound championship with a 3-0 decision over Pennridge’s Matt Parker.

It capped off a 43-2 inaugural campaign in a K-Kid singlet, which saw him take home District 11 and Northeast regional crowns along the way.

It’s the reason why Julian Chlebove is the Northampton Press Male Athlete of the Year.

“People might have been surprised about what I did this past season, but I wasn’t,” said Chlebove. “I’ve been rolling around a wrestling mat ever since my dad was at West Virginia and with him in my corner, along with the resources I’ve had wrestling with guys like Sammy Sasso [Nazareth] and KJ Fenstermacher [Liberty] at my club [Dark Knights]. Then working with Dan Moran in our room during the season just helped me grow confidence.

Coming in as a freshman always presents its own set of challenges and Lisa knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park for his newest wrestler, no matter his talent or pedigree.

Whitey Chlebove was a state champion wrestler himself for Northampton in 1994, when he won the 130-pound title his senior year. It’s fair to say he influenced his son on the mat over the years, but despite whatever his father had whispered into his ears over the years, Chlebove’s rookie campaign was outstanding in hindsight.

“I was under the same impression as everyone else about his talent coming,” said Lisa, “but when you’re a freshman, there’s a lot of unknowns. He’s a confident kid and did a great job, but you look back and think his only two losses this year were at the Beast of the East in December. The season he put together was unbelievable. He surpassed my expectations.”

Winning a state championship as a freshman made Chlebove an instant celebrity on the wrestling scene that night in Hershey, but now come the eyes looking for what he can do for encore in the years to come.

Winning so early makes one dream of the possibilities of becoming a four-time state champion, a feat that is reserved for the upper echelon competitors of the sport in Pennsylvania.

Chlebove admitted that the idea of having four PIAA gold medals has crossed his mind, but that’s only natural for a high school teenager.

The only thing he’s worried about right now is what’s in front of him, because he knows just as well as anyone, that the bullseye on his back grows wider with each victory he adds.

“I’m motivated to keep winning,” he said. “I just want to wrestle the best guys and if I can win states four times, that’s great.”

Maybe it was something he was born to do.