Princeton’s Rose, Ewing’s Collins give CVC 2 state champs
ATLANTIC CITY >> It was an historic showing for Mercer County wrestling on Saturday in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, as for the first time it had two state champions in the same year.
Competing in the girls state finals in front of an announced crowd of 10,000 fans, Princeton High senior Ava Rose (114 pounds) and Ewing High sophomore Shellitha Collins (235) both came home with gold medals.
What better way for Mercer to celebrate a state title than by having two?
Rose won her second straight state title by pinning Bound Brook’s Lennix Horsburgh (23-2) in a time of 4:40. Taking on Lakeland’s Caroline Biegel, Collins also pinned in the final when she flattened her opponent in a time of 2:15 after a scoreless first period.
“I was able to get up and get my under hooks in,” explained Collins. “I then bear hugged her and slammed her to the mat.
The fact Collins was able to win it all after finishing fifth a year ago did not surprise coach Darren Basich.
“Shellitha is not just strong, she’s more athletic than these other girls,” said Basich. “She comes from a wrestling family and it shows. It’s great Ewing now has a state champion. Hopefully, we can get more.”
After her impressive showing Saturday it would be no surprise if Collins won two more.
In her final, Rose took it to Horsburgh right away and built up a big early lead on back points with an arm bar and hazard tilt.
She nearly ended the bout after two periods when the ref slapped the mat, but it was ruled Rose pinned after
the buzzer. No matter as Rose then pinned in the third period to win her second straight title at 114 and wrap up a stellar high school career that was truly of legendary stuff.
One of only two girls to win four region titles, Rose made the state final as a freshman and finished second.
She was not herself at the state tournament as a sophomore because but she rolled to the state title as a junior to become her school’s second state champion. The first was Chloe Ayres. who actually won three state crowns.
This year Rose went undefeated against girls with a record of 7-0. Even more impressive was the fact she was 13-2 as a member of the Tigers’ boys lineup for dual matches. Her career record in high school was 70-4
“I had fun out there,” said Rose. “I had to work my way through positions but it was good. It was nice to finish with a pin.”
Her obvious wrestling talents have landed her a scholarship to wrestle next year for the University of Iowa and Rose made it very clear her career has just begun.
“First I want to win Fargo,””
said rose in reference to this summer’s Junior Nationals. “Then I want to win the Olympics and win the Olympics five times. I want to go down as the greatest women’s wrestler. All I want to do is win.”
She sure did a very good job of that in her high school career.
Collins, meanwhile, also made lots of history in her sophomore season at Ewing. Although she didn’t see a lot of action for much of the regular season, she came out strong three weeks ago to win her school’s first region title since Josh Garzio in 2011.
The fourth region champ in the history of Ewing wrestling, Collins also became the first Blue Devil to reach a state final. This means she now has the highest finish for her school at states.
The previous best finish was turned in by John Neville, who was third in 1967. Her brother Levinski Collins in 2018 and Jason Reeves in 1997 both finished fourth for the Blue Devils.
“I’m not surprised I won,” said Collins. “I’m just proud of myself. I was a little nervous out there in front of all these people and I’m very happy with the way it turned out.”