Sam’s association with the team began to take seed last year.
“Sam knew a lot of guys on the team through Tiger Inn, and they had been telling me about him,” head coach Chris Ayres said. “So I spent last year ‘recruiting’ him while he was on campus. He ended up going to Africa for the second semester, so he wasn’t able to wrestle, but at the end of the school year he contacted me and said he’d like to join the team.”
Ritter has wasted no time in making a name for himself. After posting a 1-1 record at the East Stroudsburg Open in November, Ritter won two matches at the talent-laden Nittany Lion Open. The dual meet season started immediately thereafter, and Ritter ripped off four consecutive wins. One of Ritter’s three losses came against Harvard in a match during which he tore cartilage between two of his ribs but managed to continue wrestling.
To say the least, the transition back to the sport has gone well for Ritter.
“I didn’t know what to expect at first, and wrestling isn’t an easy sport to drop and pick up again. I didn’t have any big expectations,” Ayres said. “I just hoped he’d come out and stay on the team. But he really fit in and enjoyed the training. He’s become a leader for our team, and I honestly don’t think his transition could’ve gone any better.”
Ritter credits his quick success to a special kind of teaching he never had in high school, where he was the biggest wrestler on his team by ninth grade and never had teammates who could challenge him.
“I’ve been able to train with Coach [Andy] Lausier, which has given me an edge because he’s my size and much better than me,” Ritter said. “You only get better by wrestling people better than you, and while I may have come in with some athleticism and know-how, I finally had someone who was much better than me to wrestle.”
Ayres points to Ritter’s competitiveness — a trait that has allowed him to succeed in many different sports — as the key reason for his success.
“He’s in great shape for a heavyweight and works hard, but most of all he’s super competitive,” Ayres said. “He always goes hard.”
Ritter grew up in a family of wrestlers. His dad was a wrestling coach, and his two older brothers also wrestled. He remembers first competing in the sport around age 6. Ritter first used wrestling as a means of exercise and a way to connect with his family, but he soon knew that he wanted to get serious about the sport.
Ritter attended Episcopal High School in Jacksonville, Fla. Episcopal taught grades six through 12, and Florida rules allowed sixth graders to wrestle varsity. Ritter took full advantage of this rule, making his high school debut as a preteen.
“Once I started having a little bit of success, I felt excited about the sport and knew I wanted to get serious,” Ritter said. “And with parents that were so invested in it, I took extra pride in how I did.”
Ritter’s high school career was marked by five state finals appearances starting in eighth grade. He placed in 10th, 11th and 12th grade but was never able to win a state championship.
“I was always a little disappointed because there weren’t any guys on the team that could push me and make me as good as I could be,” Ritter said. “It was difficult not having anyone to train with.”
Though Ritter struggled to convince college coaches of his abilities as a wrestler coming out of Florida without any state championships, he was able to turn heads as a football player. An offensive and defensive lineman in high school, Ritter was recruited by Princeton to play center.
But after a year of football, Ritter was bored. Disenchanted with varsity sports, he quit the team and spent his sophomore year playing club rugby. By his junior year, he was thinking about wrestling and officially joined the team this season.
Ritter’s favorite part of his wrestling experience has been the relationships he’s formed.
“Competition and winning is fun, but with wrestling being such a trying sport you really have to bond in order to make it through the long season,” Ritter said. “Goofing around and hanging out has been fun.”
Ritter is an ecology and evolutionary biology major planning to pursue a career in medicine after graduation. He spent the second semester of last year studying animal behavior and ecology in Kenya, where he took classes and conducted field research in a remote location eight hours north of Nairobi.
As a Jacksonville native, Ritter is one of the few Jacksonville Jaguars fans on campus. He is also a big Ohio State fan, as both his parents are OSU alums.
Having wrestled, played football and also competed in crew, Ritter believes that wrestling is without a doubt the most physically demanding sport.
Ritter has one remaining goal for his Princeton athletic career.
“My goal right now is to be at my peak in three weeks for Easterns so I can place and qualify for NCAAs,” Ritter said.
Fulfilling his goal would be the icing on the cake of a long, winding athletic career that has finally found a happy ending.
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