Ryne Bird can’t help but get the itch this time of the year.

The former Princeton standout and Bloomington High School assistant coach has been around wrestling long enough on the mats and in the coaching box to know that state-qualifying matches are being contested around the state this weekend.

Bird, 40, was a two-time medalist for the Tigers, placing second at 125 pounds as a senior in 2003 and third the year before. He knows what it takes to get there.

“I’m getting old now, I can’t get out there and roll around with these kids like I used to” Bird said with a laugh. “But I love this time of year. It’s my favorite time of year. This is why we do it for. Usually about this time I start getting ready for the end of the year because it’s a long season. But then postseason hits. That’s when you get excited.”

Bird said the Purple Raiders have a “pretty good squad.” They won their regional team title and then lost in the dual team sectional. They have 13 sectional qualifiers this weekend.

“Hopefully we can get a handful of those guys to state. Think we’ve got a good chance to bring home some medals from Champaign,” he said.

After graduating from PHS in 2003, Bird really.didn’t have anything to do with the sport. He was later approached by a coworker from LeRoy about helping him with their youth program and while he resisted for awhile he gave in.

“That kind reignited the itch,” said Bird, a father of two high school daughters.

After three or four seasons with the LeRoy youth club, Bird was wanting to work with the high school kids and connected with the Bloomington coach.

“I told him I’d be interested in helping and he said we’d love to have you. That was about 10 years ago,” Bird said.

Bird grew up in a wrestling household, one of legions of boys born in the 1980s named Ryne after their dad’s favorite Cubs player. His dad, Jason, was the longtime right-hand man for the late and great Randy Swinford at Princeton, and a standout wrestler himself at Plano.

“They were a crazy pair. Just a fun pair to be around, that’s for sure,” Ryne said.

Bird had a stellar wrestling career at PHS.

He wrestled in the finals of the prestigious Princeton Invitational (PIT) four times, winning three times.

He was a two-time NCIC champion.

He left as all-time winningest Tiger with 160 wins, now ranked third, and holds the career records for takedowns with 687.

As a senior, he teamed up with Brandon Nink to give the Tigers a strong 1-2 punch with Nink winning the state title at 140 pounds and Bird taking second at 125.

They shared BCR Wrestler of the Year honors.

But those are not his favorite memories.

“Of course I loved all that. The success was great. Winning is fun. That’s what makes it fun,“ he said. ”I think the best part was being around the guys and the hard work you put in. That was the good stuff. Of course I remember some of the accolades and stuff like that. I think what wrestling does for anybody that does the sport for a long time is the best part."

Bird was undefeated before losing in the sectional semifinals. He bounced back to punch his ticket back to state by winning the third-place match, taking a 41-1 record to Champaign.

He dominated Garrett Blake of Riverdale, 20-8 in the semifinals. He was leading Michael Olson of Sandwich in the finals before being thrown and pinned at 3:09.

The championship match still strikes a cord.

“I was winning 2-1 and ended up making a stupid move and got put to my back and pinned,” he said. “It was not a good ending. I would have rather had a close match I think. I was confident I was better than the guy that I would have won.

“I think if you asked me at the time I would have wanted more or expected more. You look back it at, yeah it was successful. I know I was certainly not happy not winning at the end. i certainly was upset about it. (But) I walked away with it OK.”

Kevin Hieronymus has been the BCR Sports Editor since 1986. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com