Captain Kirkenir a leader for PHS

Wrestler has experience for Little Tigers

By Rich Fisher, The Packet Group
   It’s one thing to learn a lesson.
   It’s quite another to put it to use.
   David Kirkenir learned his lesson on the opening Saturday of wrestling season in losing both his matches at the Garden State Wrestling Classic. He wasted little time in utilizing that knowledge last Wednesday night during Trenton High’s 42-33 win over Princeton.
   After the Tornadoes pinned in the first two matches, the senior from Cranbury won a hard-fought, 11-7 decision over Aaron Ingram in the 145-pound bout. Ingram appeared quicker and stronger at the outset, but Kirkenir managed to battle from a 5-4 deficit to an 8-5 lead.
   In the third period, Ingram scored a takedown to make it 8-7, then surrendered an escape point in letting Kirkenir up so he could go for a tying takedown. There were roughly 30 seconds left and most wrestlers would just try to avoid the takedown.
   Kirkenir took the other route as he went after the Tornado and took him down to seal the victory.
   ”That’s something I learned from Saturday,” Kirkenir said. “I got the lead late in the match Saturday and I just wrestled defensively and got taken down with a couple seconds left and lost the match. I try to learn from my mistakes.”
   Unfortunately for Kirkenir, much of wrestling is still a learning experience. Because the Cranbury School did not feature the sport until this year, he did not become active in it until his freshman year at PHS.
   ”I didn’t really know about wrestling at all before my brother (John) did it when he got to high school,” Kirkenir said. “That’s when I first noticed it. I went to a couple matches at Princeton.
   ”It looked like a lot of fun to come out and wrestle against some people. I found out how much work it was after, but I stayed with it.”
   Staying with it is not an easy thing to do in wrestling. First off, it’s a tremendous amount of work and conditioning just to be able to wrestle a match.
   Secondly, lack of success coupled with the grueling workouts, isn’t really a combination that makes a guy say “Man this is neat, let’s do it again!”
   As a freshman and sophomore, Kirkenir suffered his growing pains and took his lumps. A lesser kid might quit, but he hung in there.
   Last year, he became a regular in the lineup but in mid-season suffered a shoulder injury.
   A lesser kid might have quit, but, well, you see the pattern here.
   He finished 11-13 despite wrestling in pain the last two months.
   ”I feel it definitely affected the way I wrestled,” Kirkenir said. “This year I feel in better condition to make it through the entire season healthy. I think I can have a better year.”
   During the summer, Kirkenir worked with the Princeton coaches lifting and drilling, and also attended camps at The College of New Jersey and Princeton University. The TCNJ camp was basically a chance to wrestle other competition, while at PU they worked on technique and moves.
   ”I did a lot of work in the off-season and hopefully it pays off,” Kirkenir said.
   He is not only looking to improve on the mat, but looking to lead. Kirkenir and fellow Cranbury resident Corey Marsh are the Little Tigers captains this year. With PHS having fallen on hard times recently, it is their job to keep the team grinding.
   ”Me and Corey just try to set the example of how we want everybody to commit themselves to the program,” Kirkenir said. “We want them to work as hard as we do and we want to be the model for everyone else to feed off it. We want them to realize what it takes.”
   Understanding what it takes is one of the greatest challenges in wrestling. That’s why the great ones whose hands are being raised after the championship bout in Atlantic City each March, usually started competing well before middle school.
   Kirkenir says he does not feel like he’s trying to play catch-up, but adds that “I wonder what it would feel like if I had the opportunity to start in middle school wrestling and see how far I could go.”
   And while he never had that opportunity, the youth in town have gotten it this year. And, Kirkenir and his teammates even have the chance to help out both the Cranbury School and the Witherspoon School, which is Princeton’s feeder system.
   ”I’m really glad they actually got a team started at Cranbury,” Kirkenir said. “I think it’s going to help the Princeton team a lot.
   ”We all have to share a gym because of the way things are at the high school with all the winter sports going on. So we get in when the middle school teams are ending. We get to see them and help them out a little bit. It’s pretty interesting.”
   It will be equally interesting to watch Kirkenir develop this year, especially if he keeps putting those lessons to use.