Q: What was your “welcome to college” moment?
A: My “welcome to college” moment was in the Southern Scuffle when I went out against this kid who looked like an absolute nobody. He had me twisted up into a pretzel in about a minute and 30 seconds. I realized it was going to be just like starting over in high school as a freshman.
Q: What’s the funniest thing about your coaches?
A: As they warm up, instead of warming up around the mat, they play with a hacky sack. They think that they’re good, but they only get about 10 hits back and forth each time. They joke that they’re going to be professionals by the end of the year.
Q: If you didn’t wrestle, what sport would you play?
A: Definitely football. I was recruited by a lot of Division III schools for football. Wesleyan and Williams wanted me to play both sports.
Q: It’s rumored that you appeared on the MTV show “Jersey Shore.” Is it true?
A: That wasn’t me. He happened to look just like me, but that wasn’t me.
Q: What has been your favorite class at Princeton?
A: The sociology class on Bruce Springsteen [SOC 205: Sociology From E Street: Bruce Springsteen’s America]. It’s an interesting class, and I also really like Bruce Springsteen.
Q: Do you have any pre-match rituals?
A: I try not to eat too much because it tends to slow me down. I drink a protein and carbohydrate drink that I make myself, too. I also try to think about what I’m going to do before I step on the mat.
Q: What is your favorite wrestling move?
A: In high school, it was the three-quarter. My father used to hate it and said it would never work against a good guy, but I always used to try to prove him wrong. It’s easy to defend if you know it’s coming, but once you get it, your opponent is pinned and has no way out. My favorite move in college is the front headlock.
Q: Who is your strangest teammate?
A: Senior Justin Spain. If you go on the website, it says he’s still on the team roster, and he gets all the team e-mails, yet he hasn’t wrestled since his freshman year due to a concussion. We joke around and say he’s permanently concussed. He’s a really good friend, one of my favorite guys.
Q: What is the heaviest object you could lift?
A: I bet I could flip over a Mini Cooper.
Q: What is the best thing about being an athlete at Princeton?
A: Getting to say that you’re an athlete at Princeton. It keeps you in shape, as well, which can never hurt.
Q: What is the worst thing about being an athlete at Princeton?
A: Some people have stereotypes about athletes and think they only got in because of athletics. I feel like around here, people think the better the athlete you are, the less smart you are. That’s definitely a negative. The way I see it, we have to go to lifts, we have to go to practice and we have to go on runs, so we have less time than everybody else to study. In that aspect, being an athlete at Princeton is definitely hard.
Q: What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod?
A: I have something by the Spice Girls. Must be “Spice Up Your Life” or something like that.
Q: What is your favorite thing to do when not practicing?
A: I’m a big Facebook guy. It keeps me connected to all my friends back home. My whole social network is still going on when I’m away and everybody is back at home.
Q: Anything else?
A: Just one last comment: I did not hook up with Angelina on “Jersey Shore.” That wasn’t me.
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