READY FOR BATTLE: Princeton University wrestler Brett Harner controls a foe in a bout last season at 197 pounds. Senior All-American Harner and the Tigers will be looking to come up big as they face local rival Rutgers in the “Battle at the Birthplace” at High Point Solutions Stadium on November 19. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Last November, the University of Iowa wrestling team hosted Oklahoma State at its football stadium in the “Grapple on the Gridiron,” making history as the teams drew a crowd of 42,287, the largest ever for a college dual match.

Inspired by that event, the Rutgers University wrestling program invited Princeton to grapple at its football stadium this fall and the Tigers quickly accepted, setting the stage for the “Battle at the Birthplace” on Saturday at High Point Solutions Stadium.

Princeton head coach Chris Ayres sees the event as a showcase for New Jersey wrestling.

“If you put a good product out there, people will show up regardless of what it is,” said Ayres, noting that 12,000 tickets have already been sold and that a crowd of more than 20,000 is expected.

“This is a hotbed for wrestling, some of the best wrestlers in the country come from New Jersey. It is a wrestling state, so when we were pushing this — it wasn’t about our guys, it wasn’t about Princeton, it was about showing what we can do.”

With a core of veteran stars retuning from a team that went 8-8 overall last year and finished second to Cornell in the Ivy League title race and a stellar freshman class coming in, Ayres believes Princeton can do some big things this winter.

“Up and down the lineup, we are very balanced and then behind the starters too, we have some pretty darn good guys,” said Ayres, a former Lehigh wrestling star who is in his 10th season at the helm of the Tiger program. “Our numbers aren’t huge but it is a lot of quality so I feel good about it.”

A trio of seniors, Brett Harner, (197 pounds) Jordan Laster (149), and Ray O’Donnell (285), have made a huge impact for the Tigers. “That senior class has done the most to transform the program,” said Ayres.

“From a wrestler’s standpoint, Brett Harner is probably the best leader I have ever had, Lehigh included, and then you have Jordan and Ray, who are just great leaders. Those guys came in as freshmen, they were just different. They were going to do it the way they thought it should be done. They were mature and they were great competitors. What they have done to transform the program is quite incredible. I feel so fortunate that we were lucky enough to get those guys here because it was a game changer for sure.”

Princeton boasts another game changer in junior star Jonathan Schleifer at 174.

“He is amazing, I would say he is our best workhorse,” said Ayres of Schleifer. “He just comes in and goes as hard as he can in everything he does to the highest level. He is really good; he has beaten some really good guys. He could literally win the NCAA tournament this year. He just has to put things together; he has to just keep growing throughout the year.”

The program’s freshman group is really good, headlined by Matthew Kolodzik, Ty Agaisse, and Kevin Parker.

“I look at the seniors now and how amazing they were as freshmen but I feel like this whole group is at another level,” said Ayres.

Matthew is the first top 10 overall kid we’ve ever got recruiting wise. You never know, some kids that are top 10 recruits don’t pan out. He is going to pan out big time. He deferred eligibility and he had an amazing year off from school. He made a University world team, which is pretty damn good. Ty Agaisse is one of the best kids we have had training wise; he is being pushed by Matteo DeVincenzo. Kevin Parker is really good. You just go up and down the line. I think it is overall quality and the way they are working, it is the best class we have ever had.”

The Tigers got the season off to a good start earlier this month as fourth-ranked Harner looked solid in a 7-4 loss to No. 2 Brett Pfarr of Minnesota at the NWCA All-Star Classic and had seven place-winners at the Southeast Open in Blacksburg,Va.

“The funny thing about Brett that people don’t realize is that he was in the city working this summer in an internship on Wall Street for three months so he wasn’t training at all,” said Ayres in assessing the performance of Harner, who is coming off a junior season that saw him win an EIWA crown and take eighth at the NCAA championships.

“He didn’t get to us until September. He comes back to us and in a couple of months we ask him to wrestle in the all star meet. The guy he wrestled had probably been wrestling all summer. His confidence has jumped so much since he placed last year. His mind is on being an NCAA champ. I like his training right now, I am not at all concerned about it. I think he is going to do some great things this year.”

In the event at Virginia Tech, Kolodzik won at 141 as did junior Ian Baker at 184. Schleifer took second with sophomore Mike D’Angelo (149) and O’Donnell making the semi. Laster took fifth and Agaisse came in sixth.

“How they performed was good, we had two kids win and we had a bunch of guys place,” said Ayres.

“Most people would just say Matt Kolodzik won another tournament but he had the seventh ranked guy in the country in the weight. In the four matches that he had those kids were all studs and they really never had a chance to beat him.”

Seeing Baker get his title was probably the most heartening aspect of opening weekend for Ayres.

“He was really in a tough spot, he was behind Brett last year and he was having issues with finding his motivation in wrestling,” said Ayres.

“He came back this year and he is like a born again. He is down to 184, he can make the weight, Brett is at 197. He goes out there and he pinned the 11th ranked guy in the country. He is ranked 12th now or something along those lines, that’s the highest he has been ranked. He is 4-0, he is going to be dangerous. I knew he was capable; it was just is he going to show it. It was awesome; it was a great, great win.”

Ayres is confident that his wrestlers will put on a good show this Saturday at Rutgers.

“It is a rivalry, we are just down the road,” said Ayres. “They are ranked 15th, we are 20th. I think they have six ranked guys, we have six ranked guys in the top 20. Both programs are on a pretty steep trajectory. We want to beat them bad, that is just who we are. It would be great to go up there in front to 20,000 people and beat them in their own stadium.”