ROSE IN BLOOM: Princeton High wrestler Ava Rose displays the bracket showing her path to the 114-pound title at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Girls Wrestling State Championships on February 20. Junior Rose pinned Dayana Hoyos of North Brunswick in the quarterfinals and then topped Valerie Maldonado of Somerville 7-2 in the semis. In the final, Rose pinned Cedar Creek’s Riley Lerner in the first period.

By Justin Feil

Ava Rose won a state wrestling title in less than two minutes on the mat, but the Princeton High junior’s journey to the top took time, hard work, and overcoming obstacles.

“It felt really nice,” said Rose. “I had put a lot of work in to get there. Achieving my goal is a big relief and I was really proud of myself for getting there.”

Rose had only one match go the entire distance to claim the 114-pound title at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Girls Wrestling State Championships on February 20. The top seed in her weight class, Rose pinned Dayana Hoyos of North Brunswick in the first period, stopped Valerie Maldonado of Somerville, 7-2, in the semifinal, and then pinned Riley Lerner of Cedar Creek School in 1:52 for her first state gold medal.

“The only person who felt more confident than myself was Ava,” said PHS head coach Jess Monzo.  “Getting that win against the girls was good for her. We didn’t get a chance to wrestle girls all year just because snow and COVID canceled a couple of our outings. We had three girls’ tournaments on our schedule this year for that reason alone — so she could get acclimated to the girls. It just didn’t happen for us.”

Rose, the only girl who competed all year in the PHS varsity wrestling lineup, finally got to display her ability against girls in the South Region tournament. She was even more dominant in her title run there to qualify for states. She rolled through a trio of opponents in 40, 39, and 109 seconds before pinning Lerner in 18 seconds for that championship.

“It gave me a view of the competition because I hadn’t really wrestled any girls earlier in the season,” said Rose.

“It let me see what I was going against. It gave me confidence, but obviously everybody is going to work harder to do better in states. You can’t just think you’re going to win if you win regions.”

Rose wasn’t taking anything for granted, not after the challenges that she faced in her first two seasons of high school wrestling. Rose had a few varsity matches as a freshman, but spent most of her first high school year gaining experience on the PHS junior varsity. But the year ended with her placing second at 100 pounds in the girls state championships.

Last year, she moved up to 107 pounds. She competed in more varsity matches and went on to capture the South Region girls crown with only one of her three matches lasting longer than 38 seconds. Rose fell in both of her state matches and placed fourth, and wrestled one more match independently after states but lost it as well.

“It was so bad,” said Rose. “Everyone could tell something was wrong. We went and got my blood taken.”

Rose was diagnosed with anemia, an iron deficiency that can sap a person’s energy. It explained much of what she felt through her second year of high school wrestling. Her treatment aided her recovery and got her back on the mat by the summer, building up toward an eventual title.

“It was pretty gradual actually,” said Rose. “After two months of taking medicine, I didn’t feel the same, but there was a little bit of a mental block because I’d done so bad in that season.”

Rose worked through the summer and fall to prepare for this season. There was a noticeable difference in this year’s practices and matches from the year before, and being healthy enabled her to focus on her training and wrestling.

“Last year, all my practices, it seemed like the whole time during practice, I was thinking, ‘you just have to get through this one practice,’” recalled Rose. “I was dizzy and always tired and light-headed. I took so many naps, I was so tired. This year, I felt so much more in control. If I try harder in practice during conditioning, then I’m going to have more energy during a match. Last year, it didn’t matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t change it because it was a physical thing that I needed medicine for. This year it was a lot better, and I could train so much harder. It’s so much nicer. I enjoy it so much more.”

Winning a lot more and competing well at the varsity level certainly helped her enjoy it. Rose ended up placing fourth at 113 pounds in the Mercer County Tournament. Those matches proved important in her development even when she missed out on some scheduled early season chances against girls.

“Sometimes it’s a blessing in disguise because wrestling those guys all year long, it really gave her the strength and confidence to say there’s not a girl that’s going to beat me,” Monzo said.

“It’s kind of bad to say that, but wrestling guys at 113 all year – the strength of a 113-pound guy to a girl is a little different. I think her being able to battle and win a lot of matches and score points, and some matches that she lost close, they gave her all the confidence in the world to come in and know what she’s got to get done against girls.”

Monzo could see a change in Rose this season. No longer burdened by anemia, she was able to compete in practices and on the mat, and she could focus on improving her technique and not just getting through practices.

“Her mental game and her focus has been laser-focused, on point, knowing what she has to do, how she has to do it, game planning, knowing in her head and always dictating her match to her opponent, never wrestling into her opponent’s strengths,” said Monzo. “The way she’s able to break it down and get focused, that’s been her biggest asset and the biggest area she improved on.”

Utilizing the regular season to develop, Rose took on a full schedule of opponents that enabled her to prepare for facing anyone in the postseason.

“I did have one match with a girl but she was wrestling for boys varsity so it counted as boys varsity,” said Rose.
“It actually was pretty cool to just be completely on the varsity team and me wrestling my best and contributing to the team. It was a lot of hard matches definitely. It really helped me improve getting so many good boys’ matches where I was against really high level kids.”

Rose was pleased to welcome her brother, Cole, on to the team. Cole won the 106-pound title at the MCT and the siblings competed back-to-back throughout the year.

“It was kind of cool how if we were ending a match, he wins his match, I win my match,” said Rose. “It was like we were a 1-2 punch. It was kind of cool how we were right next to each other in the lineup and how if it was a close match and you’re ending with the lower weights, you could trust in us. It’s nice seeing my brother being friends with the rest of the team. That’s really nice. I think it’s good for him to experience a high school team. I think he enjoyed it a lot. And he definitely has a lot of goals that he needs to work on himself. He wrestled super good this season. I’m super proud of him. I like how I could watch my brother wrestle a bunch without going anywhere.”

Her brother could support her in the state finals, where Ava Rose lived up to the top seeding. The high expectations could have added pressure, but Rose only felt the pressure from herself to perform.

“The way I think about it, if I wrestle my best, I can beat anybody,” said Rose. “I just knew it was more pressure on me to wrestle my best than to lose. I knew if I thought about losing or thought about the pressure to win, then I would wrestle bad. If you think about that, then you wrestle scared and you don’t want to risk anything and it’s bad for you. I just tried to have confidence in all my practice and my moves and I just trusted myself.”

In winning her crown, Rose became the second girls’ state champion from PHS as current Princeton University freshman Chloe Ayres won three state titles.

“It shows that we’re a strong team even though we don’t have a ton of girls,” said Rose. “It shows for other girls at the school who want to consider wrestling that it is achievable if you try hard and our team puts out these girls state champions so it’s an incentive to join the team. It’s something for the younger girls to look up to. It’s really a good thing.”

This year Rose was joined by a pair of freshmen girls on the PHS team. Florica Eleches-Lipsitz competed at 107 pounds and Annabella Weidmann wrestled at 126 in the South Region tournament to finish their first seasons.

“They really fell in love with the sport,” said Monzo. “I think Ava helped them so much getting acclimated. They look up to her. They both came to the region tournament. They didn’t win but they wrestled well and they stayed the whole day and watched her and cheered her on. You saw the switches flip in both of them. So I’m looking forward to them next year. They’re talking about other training they can do for the sport outside of training they do for their other sports. She’s definitely been a good role model for them.”

Rose is hoping that they will return stronger and better, and that more girls will join the PHS team to build its legacy.

“I just try to tell them to wrestle offseason and try hard and to put in the extra work,” said Rose. “That’s really important if you want to do good. And if they have questions about moves, of course I’ll help them out. I treat them like I treat the rest of my team. I make sure I’m a good guide for them. I expect them to work just as hard as everybody else. I think that’s what’s important to become really good.”

Being able to employ a consistent work ethic put Rose on the path to a championship. Once healthy, she was able to push herself in workouts and training, and dedicated herself to developing her skills over the last year. Rose will continue to test herself in the months ahead against national competition before she shifts attention to her senior season, when she will try to win the county crown as well as defend her state title.

“This year, I really practiced a lot over the summer and I practiced my sophomore year a lot too,” said Rose. “It all came together and I was able to really excel a lot. There’s a ton I need to work on. I really had a good season. I really wrestled good, and it’s because I put a lot of hard work into it.”