Princeton’s Kristian Wahlgren has seen the world with the Navy

Captain Kristian Wahlgren has seen the world serving the U.S. Navy.

He’s been to 47 countries and six continents (”I’ve still got to get to Antarctica”), including tours in Naples, Italy; Djibouti, Africa; and Pearl Harbor.

However, everything for Wahlgren comes back to growing up in Princeton and playing sports with neighborhood friends on Church Street and Princeton High School.

The 1994 PHS graduate became a two-time state wrestling champion, played on a Tigers playoff football team and went on to wrestle for the U.S. Naval Academy.

Sports never left him. They taught him life lessons that have carried him well through his distinguished 25-year career with the Navy, retiring in July.

I learned at an early age from sports about work ethic and discipline and time management to be able to balance your athletic and academic careers at the same time

—  Kristian Wahlgren

“It can’t (leave you). It’s been such an instrumental part of my life and taught me so many lessons that I’ve applied in my personal and professional life throughout my career,” said Wahlgren, who returned home for his 30 year class reunion during the Homestead Festival. “Every where you go, you’re never going to work by yourself. Whether it’s a sports team or a professional work team, you need to work, mesh and interact with people. The better chemistry you have, the more effective your work place or team will be supporting the mission.

“I learned at an early age from sports about work ethic and discipline and time management to be able to balance your athletic and academic careers at the same time. Especially at the Naval Academy where my commitments were much more rigorous outside of sports. Just so many life lessons I’ve learned that it was just natural to apply them in my Naval career.”

Wahlgren’s role model at PHS was the late Randy Swinford, his football and wrestling coach. He said Swinford had a way to develop young men through sports.

“He was a phenomenal coach,” Wahlgren said. “He was very demanding, but he also had a way of making us just relax a little bit and laugh at some things. You knew when to lock it up and be ready to work. I feel like he could get the most out of athletes. That’s a unique coach. That’s the goal.

“I coach now (high school wrestling). I try to get more out of them that they think they can provide. To get them to perform at a higher level and that’s where I appreciated coach Swinford and reflect back on that.”

Wahlgren said he learned about work ethic from the late PHS coach Gary Coates. Although Coates was not Wahlgren’s personal coach, he taught Wahlgren many lessons while working on his roofing crew during the summer.

“We thought we were these strong, younger guys, but we would start to get tired and he was always a tremendous leader by example,” Wahlgren said.

Wahlgren, 48, is the younger brother of four Wahlgren boys after Erick, Kai and Kipp, each with distinguished prep sports careers of their own. The brothers won four state championships, eight state medals and 32 varsity letters between them at PHS.

Playing sports with his older brothers and their friends taught Wahlgren to never give up and to always work hard.

As son of a wrestling coach, Wahlgren said winning not one but two state wrestling championships was a dream come true.

“That’s always the ultimate goal, right? And what everyone dreams to do,” he said. “I traveled to the Assembly Hall for years and years because my dad dragged me down there and I looked up to guys like Kipp, Clint Peterson and Dennis Taylor. You go down there and think, ‘Wow, how can I ever do this?’ But then you start to shift, ‘Why not me?’

“It’s a comfort and confidence thing. When I went down my sophomore year, I was just happy to qualify. Then I was put in a position to place (fourth). So after that you think, ‘I can do this.’”

Even with all his success in wrestling, Wahlgren said football is his favorite sport, while still lamenting over the Tigers’ 21-13 loss to rival Hall in the second round of the 1993 playoffs.

“Wrestling is interesting, because you’ve got to work as a team to make each other be individually better,” he said. “Where football is 100% always team. You need all 11 of you to be focusing on the same page at a high level. We had such a fun time. You think back what could have been and things like that. Definitely a privilege to be able to play over here at Princeton. Great team, great teammates and coaches throughout my career.”

Over the course of his career in the Navy, Wahlgren had 10 assignments. He said every tour was unique in its own way and a lot of fun.

“Really, it’s the people that make it,” said Wahlgren, who most recently served as deputy comptroller at Naval Information Warfare Systems Command HQ in San Diego. “Fortunately, I have a lot of great people to work with to help train me and mentor me and work for me. It was unbelievable the places I got to go. Some are a little bit more obscure than others. Djibouti, Africa, was a little tough – just basically desert. Naples, Italy was a lot of fun, just being overseas and having opportunities to travel.”

While stationed in Naples, he got to support the 2004 Olympics and found some time to go see some wrestling when he wasn’t working. He saw American Kale Sanderson win the gold medal and helped out at an American High School, DODS, the Department of Defense school.

He especially enjoyed serving on the USNS Mercy out of San Diego, supporting the COVID-19 mission during the pandemic.

“I was a little bit more senior and had a little bit more responsibilities,” he said. “We went up to Los Angeles. Basically, augmented the hospitals up there in anticipation of being overrun by patients. It was just a big endeavor. When you do something like that, you really feel the team aspect of what you’ve been preparing for, and planning for and training for. That was fun.”

Wahlgren’s personal awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal and Joint Commendation Medal along with various other personal, unit and campaign awards.

Wahlgren and his family of five – wife Clancy, daughters, Hailey, 21, and Lane, 18, and son, Caleb, 15 – have made San Diego their home since 2018 and will remain there as he explores future career opportunities. All three of Wahlgren’s children are heavy into sports, just like their father.

“It’s a great place. Longest I’ve been in one geographical location. I’ve never had back to back same located jobs before that,” Wahlgren said. “So it gave us an opportunity to be part of the community. That’s what my kids know now because they ended there.”

Wahlgren took over as coach of wrestling team at the local high school, West View, “mainly helping them build their program.” He jokes he is “Definitely looking for a younger coach to take over.”