Bridge enjoying life at Division III Stevens

There are many different ways that schools choose to honor its wrestling All-Americans. Some use plaques, some utilize trophy cases, still others display retired singlets.

Stevens Institute of Technology has its "Fatheads." Yes, those life-sized wall stickers first made popular by National Football League stars.

At the moment, the walls that comprise the Ducks' Wrestling Complex are very white and almost completely barren. It's only Coach Mike Clayton's third year at the helm, so former Duck Brandon MacWhinnie is the only image currently showing. But Clayton has a talented newcomer this season, a crazy-strong, battle-tested veteran who plans on doing some redecorating before he's done.

Ryan Bridge

Once upon a time, Ryan Bridge and Jerry Rinaldi were teammates at Cornell, the early foundation of the Big Red's rise to consistent national prominence.

Flash-forward about seven years, when Bridge is a sophomore 141-pounder and Rinaldi is his volunteer assistant coach at Division III Stevens Institute of Technology. Their paths to Hoboken, NJ, couldn't have been more different. Rinaldi was a two-time All-American and four-time All-Ivy League wrestler, and led the Big Red to two top five finishes at the NCAAs. Bridge left school after his sophomore season, joined the Marine Corps, and headed to Iraq.

At the time, school was kicking Bridge's butt, and he felt restless. His nation was at war and he felt a calling to serve. Was there any better branch to join than the Marines Corps? His family was understandably anxious at first, but gradually came around once they realized his dedication to his decision. He spent four years in the Marines, including two tours of duty in Iraq.

Ryan Bridge

"[My time in the service] helped me mature into a man," Bridge says. "It taught me [the proper] ways to act, it gave me a real drive in life. It was tough in the beginning, more mental than physical in boot camp. [Being a wrestler] definitely made boot camp 10 times easier."

He served in the infantry, and grew so much that he was a team leader on his second seven-month tour. Once he came back to the U.S., Bridge spent his final year of enlistment on the Marine Corps Greco-Roman wrestling team. It was his job, so he threw himself into the twice-daily practices and training.

It took him about two months to feel comfortable on the mat again, but once he did, Bridge managed to improve enough to win the Northeast Regional title and finish in the top eight (60kg/132 pounds) at the 2009 U.S. World Team Trials. He won the 2009 Armed Forces Championship, and wrestled in everything from the Dave Schultz International at Colorado Springs to the 2009 North Carolina Beach Wrestling Championships.

As his time of service wound down, Bridge thought about his next move. He knew he wanted to utilize the GI Bill to go back to school and ideally, wrestle there. He attends Stevens under the Yellow Ribbon Program, which is designed to help pay for school for former military veterans or children of former vets who served tours of duty in post-9/11 in Iraq or Afganistan for at least 36 months. Maj. Dan Hicks, Bridge's coach on the Marine Corps team, was also Clayton's best friend at the Naval Academy. Maj. Hicks told Clayton that he had a kid who was a two-time New Jersey state champion, and smart enough to get into Stevens.

Ryan Bridge

Bridge, for his part, liked that Stevens was a well-regarded academic institution in New Jersey. It's a union that has worked out quite well in all aspects. A business major, he earned a 3.6 GPA in his first semester and was on track to make the dean's list. There's a good chance he could finish the year as both an athletic and academic All-American.

"With Division III, I can have a little more fun," Bridge says. "Coming to wrestling every day is not a chore, as it sometimes can be in D-I. It can seem more like a job ... you're still training year-round, but I have more time to focus on grades here."

As a wrestler, Bridge's greatest strength could be, well, his strength. He began the season wrestling at 149 pounds while he nursed his way back from a knee injury, but was certified at 141 and dropped to that weight after the Virginia Duals.

A stocky, explosive 5'5" ball of muscle who benches 315 pounds and squats 450, Bridge nearly always steps on the mat with the strength advantage. He has very heavy hips and explosive quickness to sweep single, preferring to get the first takedown almost right off the whistle. Yet while you might picture a screaming, testosterone-fueled madman from that description, the reality couldn't be more different.

"He carries a very relaxed and mature demeanor on the mat," Clayton says. "Everything can be very intense, but also very methodical. He has a tremendous balance for being able to temper emotion with passion with aggressiveness."

Mike Clayton

To visit with Bridge or watch him interact with his teammates, one would never be able to tell that he is a 25-year-old ex-Marine, or was a two-time New Jersey state champion and former D-I wrestler.

"He's not jumping into a leadership role over the captains, or out here to compete with anybody for recognition," Clayton says. "He's a sophomore and a part of our team, he understands his role. It would be very easy for him to try to come in and feel like he was better than other people. But he hasn't done that."

"He's a real down to earth guy, just one of us," teammate and 165-pound sophomore Joey Favia says. "He's not a crazy ex-military guy who's always telling war stories. He's an average guy who's happy to be home and is enjoying his time back in college."

Bridge got off to a slow start this season as he wrestled up at 149 pounds while slowly regaining his rhythm and recovering from a knee injury. He began the season 3-0 before losing twice at the Virginia Duals in early January, including a narrow 7-4 decision to eighth-ranked Emanual Ajagbe of Delaware Valley College. He has not lost since.

Now 15-2 on the season, Bridge is currently on a 12-match winning streak, and has been particularly dominant since he dropped back down to 141, his natural weight. He rolled through the Centennial Conference in 2010, posting a 10-0 mark with nine bonus point victories. In front of a hometown crowd at the conference championships, Bridge booked his trip to the NCAA Division III Championships in Omaha with two major decisions and a 17-2 technical fall in the finals, a performance that led to co-Outstanding Wrestler honors.

"My main goals coming into the season were just to have fun with it, and see what I could do," Bridge says. "I don't like losing, but the most important part is just enjoying it. After being in the military for four years, getting to go to school and wrestle for free? It's great."

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Bridge enjoying life at Division III Stevens

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