by Ken Weingartner, Special Writer
ROBBINSVILLE — If anyone was unaware of Robbinsville High School prior to last weekend’s NJSIAA Wrestling Tournament, player performances changed all that.
The Ravens sent three wrestlers to the tourney in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall and came away with its first state place-winners in history as Tyler Gildner finished second at 285 pounds and Chris Tan was third at 113.
”I think we exceeded expectations and we put Robbinsville on the map,” Tan said. “Coach has always stressed raising the bar for the next people, just improving our program. Now the bar is set just that much higher; it’s up to the next kids to reach up and exceed that.”
Gildner, the younger brother of coach Rich Gildner, marched to the finals in dominant fashion. After winning his opening bout 3-2 over Paulsboro’s Davontae Randall, Gildner pinned Steinert’s Mike Remboski, St. Peter Prep’s Armond Cox and Warren Hills’ Andrew Pacheco to reach the title match.
Cox was the No. 1 seed, but Gildner had no idea until the tourney was over.
”I didn’t look at my bracket until everything was done,” Gildner said. “I went out and just said here’s another person I have to wrestle and just wrestled my heart out.”
In the final, Gildner met Camden’s Andrew Stevens. In a rematch of the Region 7 championship, which was won by Stevens, 3-2, Stevens posted a 3-0 victory to become Camden’s first state champ.
The undefeated Stevens, who told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he felt like he was “carrying Camden on my shoulders,” had the full support of the 10,000 fans watching the bout. Gildner was disappointed with the outcome, but handled the entire situation with class.
”I understood that was going to happen; I just had to go out and wrestle my match,” Gildner said, referring to the crowd siding with Stevens. “He really deserved it. The whole city of Camden needed that, everybody around him needed that. It was a big thing. I couldn’t congratulate him enough.”
Gildner, who got a full scholarship to play football at Bethune-Cookman, finished the season 36-3 and ended his career with 101 victories.
”I learned this year that no matter what anybody says, don’t doubt myself,” Gildner said.
Tan, also a senior, finished his career with the most wins in Robbinsville history, 121, and set the school record for most victories in a season, with 43 this year. He won 6-2 over Woodbridge’s Bobby Jordan and 5-1 over Paramus’ Ryan Freeman to reach the semis at 113.
Although he dropped a 3-2 decision to Holy Spirit’s Patrick D’Arcy, Tan rebounded to win 8-2 over Freehold Township’s Nick DiPierro and 7-0 over Freeman to take third place.
”I didn’t want to end my career with a whimper,” Tan said. “I wanted to be able to say I ended my career with something that will make me proud.”
Nick Bossie, who qualified for the state tourney at 138 pounds, failed to win a match, but received a forfeit that advanced him in the consolation bracket. There, he dropped a 7-4 decision to Edison’s William Povalac.
Bossie, who was the District 25 champion, finished the season 34-11.
”If it was any other year, we might be doing a feature article on Nick,” Rich Gildner said. “Just the year Tyler and Chris had, it kind of overshadows him. It’s really unfortunate because he’s a kid that this year turned the switch.
”They’re all just great kids and they all just do the right things all the time,” the coach added. “They’re kids that you don’t get a lot as a coach. It’s going to be a sad day when we have to say goodbye to them.”

