GOOD RIDE: Princeton High wrestler Thomas Miers controls a foe in a bout this season. Senior star Miers ended his final campaign with a 33-3 record, wrapping up the season by taking part in the Region V tourney last weekend. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

As a grade schooler, Thomas Miers set his sights on becoming a basketball star.

But when it became clear that he was not destined for stardom on the hardwood, he headed to the wrestling mat.

“I started out playing basketball but I was not that good,” said Miers. “My dad wrestled at Phillipsburg and he suggested that I give wrestling a try. I started with the West Windsor Wolverines from 4th to 6th grade. I enjoyed it, a bunch of my friends were in the club.”

While Miers wrestled for the Cranbury School and the Juggernauts club in Hightstown during middle school, he became truly committed to the sport after entering high school.

“I really didn’t get into wrestling until I was a freshmen at Princeton High,” said Miers.

“I think maturity was the big thing. I was a smaller 106 pounder and I wrestled a couple of seniors who were a lot bigger. The pace of high school was quicker, everyone was a lot better than the guys I had been wrestling before, the skill level was much higher.”

Improving at a rapid pace, Miers matured into one of the top wrestlers to come through PHS in recent years. He ended up posting a 33-3 record this winter in his senior season, competing at the Region V meet last weekend to wrap up his high school career.

After freshman year, he racheted up the intensity, embarking on the path that led to his emergence as a star.

“I did a lot of lifting and offseason training with coach [Rashone] Johnson,” said Miers, who also started training outside school with the CJA wrestling club in East Brunswick.

“I got bigger, I felt more confident. I didn’t necessarily have the results I wanted as a sophomore. I was wrestling at 120 pounds.”

Utilizing that confidence, Miers enjoyed a superb junior year that saw him take fourth in the Mercer County Tournament at 132 pounds and post a record of 28-8.

“I improved by leaps and bounds from sophomore year,” said Miers. “I think my conditioning was always there. It did get better through taking up running. I was learning new techniques and wrestling better guys.”

This winter, Miers took things to a higher level, taking second in the MCT at 138 and winning the title at the District 17 tournament.

“I think I peaked at the right time,” said Miers. “Getting the district title was big. I wrestled well at counties, I came up just short. From the first tournament this year to the end, I was a much better wrestler. I would say it is my confidence. Last year I had confidence but I don’t know if I believed that I could do what I accomplished. I was really expecting myself to dominate this year. I made a list of goals and I accomplished all but two, getting to states and winning Mercer Counties and I came very close to those.”

Last weekend at the Region V tourney, Miers came close to the top-three finish needed to qualify for states, losing 3-1 to Chris Muce of Monroe in a wrestleback which would have earned him a spot in the region semis.

“There were some tough losses,” said Miers. “I was upset after the quarterfinal match (a 15-2 loss to Bound Brook’s Mekhi Lewis). I didn’t wrestle my match, there was not that much difference between us. In the wrestleback, I lost a tight one to the Monroe guy who got third. It was a tough match. I went out and gave it my all.”

Miers was proud of how the PHS team gave its all collectively this winter, winning the CVC’s Colonial Division title.

“We won the division, that was great for the program,” said Miers, whose fellow stars on the team included classmates Patrick Sockler at 132 and Victor Bell at 182 along with sophomore James Verbeyst at 126, sophomore Ethan Guerra at 195, and junior Noah Ziegler at 220. “Everyone on the team really worked hard. We had some tough losses but when we wrestled our best, we were dangerous.”

In Miers’s view, PHS head coach Johnson helped him become a much tougher competitor.

“He has been great, he pushed me so much,” said Miers. “He helped me accomplish things I didn’t believe I could do. He helped me go beyond my limits. He kept pushing me and helped me get better.”

With Miers planning to wrestle in college level, he will be bringing a hard-earned resolve to the next level.

“I just believe I can achieve anything I put my mind to,” said Miers. “Before I trained hard but I didn’t believe in what I could do. I think my confidence has really gone up.”