Princeton claims first conference wrestling championship since 2011

PRINCETON - Fourteen years is a long time in wrestling years.

Most of the Princeton wrestlers were either in diapers or just coming out of them the last time the Tigers won a conference championship in 2011.

The Tigers wrestling team put up a new marker on the Prouty Gym banner Friday, sweeping a pair of Three Rivers dual matches to claim the conference championship.

The Tigers first defeated Rockridge 40-35 and then took down Sherrard 58-21 to wrap up the Three Rivers championship.

It was Princeton’s first conference title since 2011, in an abbreviated NCIC conference field, and their first in the Three Rivers. PHS also won the NCIC championship in 2007, its only other conference title.

“It means a lot. Looking up at that board, we last won it in 2011. This is the first time in the TRAC, That’s sweet,“ said PHS senior Ace Christiansen, who was one of five Tigers to sweep two matches Friday.

“We knew they were pretty solid teams. They didn’t have anybody over the top, but we knew they were going to be pretty tough. I think we did very well.”

PHS junior Casey Etheridge, who took both of his matches moving up a weight to 175 pounds, was glad the Tigers could get what eluded them in football.

“It feels great to get a conference championship in wrestling because it’s been that long. And in football, we didn’t get it done, so it feels nice to get it in another sport,” he said.

“We didn’t wrestle our best against Rockridge, but I thought we wrestled better against Sherrard. Sherrard beat Rockridge and we wrestled real well against Sherrard.”

Tiger coach Steve Amy knew he had the makings of a champion when they hit the mats this season bringing back four state medalists.

“We knew we had a pretty special group. As long as everyone fit in the right weights, we’d be pretty good,” he said. “Hats off to these guys. They’ve worked hard all year and they deserve it and hopefully next week (at regional) they’re ready to go.”

Of the double winners on the night, Amy especially praised freshman Andrew Giaquinto for stepping in at 165 to fill in for Mike Kurth, who was ill.

He pinned Rockridge’s Isaac Bull at 0:47 and Sherrard’s Jaydon Wilson at 3:29.

“He did a great job filling. Had a guy sick, so we moved the lineup around a little bit and he came away with two wins. It was great,” Amy said.

“He did a great job,” Etheridge said. “He’s been working really hard. He stepped up tonight and got both those pins.”

Etheridge took care of business with two falls on the night, at 0:25 against Rockridge’s Levi Junis and at 0:30 against Sherrard’s Alexander Buckner.

Christiansen scored a 10-0 major decision over Rockridge’s Thomas Sowards and an 18-2 technical fall over Sherrard’s Andrew Knox.

Augustus Swanson scored two falls, at 0:27 over Rockridge’s Cooper Larson and at 0:36 over Sherrard’s Tavian Strauss.

Kane Dauber also went 2-0 with a forfeit against Rockridge and a 16-1 tech fall over Sherrard’s Jacob Fratzke.

Jacob Paull (1:08) and Eli Berlin (0:54) both contributed falls against the Rockets at 113 pounds and 190, respectively.

Other PHS winners against Sherrard were Jaydon Cooke (126) by fall at 0:26, Brennen Emmett (157) by fall at 3:29 and Brayden Bickett (106), Corbin Brown (138) and Daniel Gilbertson (285) by forfeit

Amy doesn’t want the Tigers to be satisfied as they gear up for the Class 1A St. Bede Regional next week.

“They had a good year, so far. Looking forward to adding to it at regional next week, hopefully,” Amy said.