By: Bob Nuse
Running one extra lap during gym class turned out to be a pretty good decision for Levi Guerrero.
"I had gym class with Coach (Rashone) Johnson and we were running a mile on the track," recalled Guerrero, now a senior at Princeton High School. "I decided to run an extra lap and after class he told me I should come out for wrestling because they needed people like me who were willing to do something extra."
That extra lap came early in his sophomore year at Princeton. And now, three years later, he’s finishing up a solid wrestling career with the Little Tigers.
"My first two years it was disappointing to lose so many of my matches," Guerrero said. "Now I feel like I’m better prepared when I go into my matches."
When Guerrero started wrestling as a sophomore he did so with no previous experience. And that showed in his results as he went 5-11 as a sophomore and 1-11 as a junior a year ago. This year he’s been hindered by some illness, but has managed to win his last two matches, including one via pin Saturday as Princeton topped West Windsor-Plainsboro North, 47-27.
"Levi has been getting better and better," said Johnson, whose team improved to 2-5 with its second straight win. "He’s actually been sick and even on some of the days he has wrestled, he’s missed the day before school because he was sick. The last couple of matches he’s been getting healthier and he’s done better."
The pin Saturday was the second straight for Guerrero, who improved to 3-3 on the season. And Guerrero realized that as a senior he’s now one of the more experienced wrestlers and that has made a difference.
"I definitely feel like I’ve gotten better," Guerrero said. "My skills and conditioning are better than they’ve been before this year. This year started tough because I’ve been sick. But now I’m feeling better. We got a win on Wednesday against Trenton and now we feel like we’re starting to come together as a team.
"We’ve had a lot of injuries and people getting sick. But now we’re close to 100 percent healthy."
In addition to the win from Guerrero, the Little Tigers picked up pins from Cranbury’s Ross Zebhur, Will Borchert and Emre Guzelsu, as well as a technical fall win from Paul LaPlaca. Princeton picked up decision wins from Alex Schwerin and Andrew Mahar, as well as a pair of forfeit wins.
"I’m very pleased with the way my team wrestled today," Johnson said. "I thought they all wrestled well. Even the guys who did not win wrestled well."
Guerrero is looking forward to this weekend, when he and his teammates will participate in the Mercer County Tournament at Trenton.
"I’m hoping I can do well," he said. "It will be a chance for me to see if I can beat some of the people who have beaten me in the past."
The loss dropped WW-P North to the same 2-5 record as Princeton. The Knights picked up pins from George Goldsmith, Steve Smagula, Steve Wolf and Omar Hatab, as well as a decision win from Alex Ragucci.
"I thought it was a pretty close match with some good matchups," WW-P North coach Bill Mealy said. "We’ve been working on being more aggressive and smarter in the matches. Today I thought we were more aggressive and this match was an improvement over our last time out."
The Knights face a big test on Wednesday night when they host WW-P South. They’ll then head to the MCT this weekend.

