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Peripatetic Adams Making the Time To Give His Best For Tiger Wrestling

By Bill Alden

Nobody can accuse Milo Adams of not getting the most out of his Princeton University experience.

In the classroom, the senior from Mentor, Ohio has majored in Structural and Architectural Engineering and is currently laboring on a thesis exploring the idea of taking glass and making it a structural element without losing its quality of transparency.

Adams has served as the Class of 2004 social chairman since his freshman year and has recently been in and out of meetings as the class officers put together their graduation celebration.

Culturally, Adams is a member of the diSiac dance group which puts on two or three performances a year, featuring a fusion of hip-hop, modern, and jazz dancing styles.

Athletically, the wiry Adams has emerged as a solid performer for the Princeton wrestling program, which starts its Ivy League campaign on January 31 when its hosts Columbia and Cornell.

The peripatetic Adams is determined to end his wrestling career on a high note, vowing that he will make the time to go after some lofty goals.

"I think more than anything this year, I need to focus on myself and make sure I accomplish things that I want to do," said Adams in a recent interview in the Tigers wrestling room down in level E of Jadwin Gym. "I have lots of goals. I want to win Easterns. I want to go to nationals and do well there."

For Adams, this campaign marks the final chapter of a story that started for him when he was six years old. "I was in first grade when I started wrestling, it was the first organized sport a kid could get in," recalled Adams. "It was something I was naturally very good at. I did well from the start. In my first tournament, I finished second."

Adams excelled at wrestling as well as football and track in high school at St. Ignatius Prep and was encouraged to consider wrestling in the Ivy League by his coach, John Vaughn. While Princeton wasn't originally at the top of his list, Adams quickly revised his thinking.

"I came out here for a recruiting weekend put on by the wrestling team," said Adams. "Princeton wasn't my first choice but when I came here I just really fell in love with the program. Coach [Michael] New was a guy I really wanted to wrestle for. I felt like I was in a very safe environment."

Adams, though, found it took an effort to adjust to wrestling at a higher level. "College wrestling is much different than wrestling in high school," said Adams, who points to a win in a match with powerful Iowa during his sophomore year as a turning point in his career. "When you're coming in as a freshman, the juniors and seniors you face are practically men and you're just a kid."

The battles on the mat, however, did help Adams adjust to Princeton's competitive academic atmosphere. "Princeton is a very tough place academically, it's as competitive in that sense as it is on the mat," asserted Adams. "You're battling your classmates for grades and spots."

Despite those stresses, Adams relishes his involvement in dancing and class politics, even though it means that his days typically start at 8 a.m. and end somewhere between 2 ‹ 3 a.m.

"We have some extremely talented dancers, it's a different outlet," explained Adams, who recently choreographed the troupe's routines this year. "Being a class officer is a really time consuming job but in a way that I really like. My role is to help in the planning of every event. We have been an active class."

Tiger wrestling coach New marvels at Adams' versatility. "It's amazing, Milo is one of those guys who has gotten what Princeton really wants you to do," said New. "He's a phenomenal, dynamic individual. He's experienced so many things on so many different levels here. He's really grown and developed with those opportunities."

While conceding that Adams' varied commitments have taken time from his wrestling, New believes the 141-pounder has the potential to end his career with a flourish. "He's got quickness, agility, and balance," explained New, an All-Ivy wrestler in his college career at Cornell in the early 1990s. "He's had a steady improvement. It's a confidence thing of not being over-anxious out there. He's definitely capable of going to the NCAAs."

No matter how Adams wrestling career ends up, he feels that he has gained some lessons from the experience that will serve him well after he leaves Princeton.

"You are in the spotlight on the mat and you have to rely on yourself, there's no one else to blame," said Adams, who is looking to work for an engineering firm in the Southern California area after graduation. "You learn a great deal about how much you want respect for your work when it's you on the line. Your signature goes on the work, that's a direct translation to other things."