2 N.J. state champions met in NCAA Wrestling’s blood round. Only 1 could become All-American.

CLEVELAND - Middletown North’s Tyler Klinsky was the 2020 NJSIAA 113-pound wrestling state champion. St. John Vianney’s Dean Peterson won the 120-pound championship the same year.

On Friday night, the college seniors and former Shore Conference wrestlers and training partners met in the blood round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships at 125 pounds. Only one could end their career with an All-American finish. In the third scramble of the match, Rider’s Klinsky scored a takedown with eight seconds left in the third period to secure a 4-1 victory over Iowa’s Peterson and earn a top-eight finish at the national tournament for the first time.

“It means everything,” said Klinsky. “A lot of time put in, many, many years, a lot of sweat, a lot of blood and happy to get it done. It’s worth it.

I just kept fighting, kept looking to score, it took me three times I picked his leg up and he kept rolling, scrambling and just able to get it done with a couple seconds left. ” After a loss to Stanford’s Nico Provo later in the night, Klinsky will finish his career on Saturday in the seventh-place match against Minnesota’s Jore Volk in a rematch of their second-round meeting Thursday which Volk won, 2-0. It was Peterson’s third loss in the blood round in his four appearances at the national tournament.