When he was a kid, Garrett Bilgrav attended Robbinsville High wrestling matches as a starry-eyed fan.
“Whenever I went, I always thought those guys were huge,” Bilgrav said. “I always looked up to those guys. I always wanted to be just like them.”
And now he is.
Just a sophomore, Bilgrav has already made an impact on Raven wrestling. Last year, he went 27-12 overall and qualified for regionals, and this season he won 14 of his first 15 matches with six pins and two major decisions at 145 pounds. Despite forfeiting several weight classes, the Ravens were 8-0 as of Jan. 16, with bonus points from Bilgrav helping offset the lineup vacancies.
And while he has graduated from being a fan to being teammates with Logan Fox, one of the top wrestlers in school history, Bilgrav still looks up to athletes like senior Fox and others.
“He’s a good wrestler, everybody knows that,” Bilgrav said on Jan. 4, the night Fox won his 100th match. “He’s always someone to look up to. He’s a person you try and act like, and be like.”
Bilgrav will be glad to know that Fox has the same impression of him.
“Garrett’s got insane potential,” Fox said. “I can’t say enough good things about him. That kid’s going to be insanely talented this year, next year and senior year. Look out.”
Bilgrav comes from an athletic family. His dad, Paul, wrestled for John F. Kennedy of Iselin and went on to play football at Upsala College. He followed his older brother Zach, now a senior at Robbinsville, into the sport.
“My dad introduced me to it when I was 5, so I’ve always been around it,” he said. “I always liked it and just never stopped. I immediately loved it. I was always an active kid, I always ran around a lot. I could never sit still, so this was just the right fit.”
Bilgrav started with Robbinsville Recreation, and then wrestled for the Wrecking Crew club program before moving on to Elite. He decided to give up club last year in order to concentrate on high school wrestling.
“I just didn’t have time for club,” he said. “I felt like if I could focus on weight lifting and just high school competition, I could get better.”
Bilgrav spent most of the year wrestling up at 132. He gained weight for this season and feels right at home at 145.
“I knew I was wrestling a heavier weight as a freshman and expectations weren’t as high,” he said. “I just wanted to go out there and show them that I can improve, and show them what I could become.”
Bilgrav took third place in the Mercer County Tournament last year, winning by injury default over West Windsor-Plainsboro South’s Griffin Valentine. In the districts, he suffered a 15-2 loss to Northern Burlington’s Vincent Foggia that could have left him feeling down heading into the third-place match. But Bilgrav rallied himself and pinned Allentown’s Drew Romein in just 1:27 to punch his regional ticket.
‘He’s not flashy, he doesn’t say a lot. He just goes about his business and does his work. He’s just a team guy.’
He was one-and-done in regions, taking it all in as a learning process. One of the things that immediately struck him was his own home arena at Robbinsville High is always packed for tournament wrestling.
“I couldn’t believe how many people could fit in that gym,” he said. “It was just amazing with all those eyes on the mat. It was great.”
Bilgrav put wrestling on hold to play baseball last spring, but in the summer came back and took part in the Ravens’ open gym matches. Although coach Sean Flynn is in his first year as head wrestling coach, he has been at the school for 10 years and is familiar with the athletic landscape. Flynn has coached baseball and football at RHS and was aware of what he was inheriting with Bilgrav.
“Garrett’s a great kid,” Flynn said. “He has wrestled year-round in the past. He’s a kid who, as a sophomore, is really setting the bar and pushing himself to challenge himself. He does all the right things.”
In assessing himself, Bilgrav says he is comfortable wrestling in any position, but feels he is strongest at neutral. His coach feels Bilgrav may be underestimating himself.
“He’s good all over the place,” Flynn said. “He’s dangerous. His body positioning is fantastic. He’ll look like he’s in danger, but as coaches we’re never worried. We always feel he’ll end up on top in those scrambling situations. His body awareness is just fantastic.”
Bilgrav has made all of Mercer County aware of him this season. His only loss came in the Middletown South holiday tournament semifinals. He fell to Monroe’s Nick Lombard, a state qualifier who was undefeated through mid-January.
“I feel a lot stronger than last year, I’ve come out a lot better,” Bilgrav said. “I’ve made more improvements and I think I’m going to do a lot better. I’m going to go at 145 for the year, I might wrestle at 152, but I know 145 is where I’ll be at the end.”
He hopes “the end” is in Atlantic City, as the state tournament is Bilgrav’s ultimate goal.
“If he keeps doing the same things he has been doing in the practice room for us, and keeps working the way he’s been working, the sky’s the limit for him,” Flynn said. “He can achieve whatever he wants to achieve. He’s that good of a wrestler.”
Whatever Bilgrav accomplishes, it will be without much fanfare.
“He’s pretty low key,” Flynn said. “He’s not flashy, he doesn’t say a lot. He just goes about his business and does his work. He’s just a team guy. He’s fantastic.”
And he has a fan in Fox, whose goal this year is to make states and also break the school record of 121 wins. When it was suggested to Logan that Bilgrav could end up passing him, the senior said, “I’ll be looking forward to him breaking it. I want him to.”
“I like that,” Flynn said. “That kind of competitiveness helps both of them.”
It has helped make them both the kind of guys that Bilgrav once looked up to as a kid.
Robbinsville High sophomore Garrett Bilgrav flips a Steinert opponent during a match Jan. 4 2017. RHS won, 50-24. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.),
