The final buzzer sounded, Princeton senior Augustus Swanson stood up and raised his arms, turning around to face his teammates on the corner of the mat and the home crowd.

After placing the last two years in the Tigers’ own Lyle King Princeton Invitational Tournament – one of the premier small school tournaments in the state – Swanson beat Newman’s Landon Near 7-5 to claim the 113-pound title.

“It was just pure joy,” Swanson said. “The adrenaline gets going. It was awesome.”

Swanson placed second in the PIT as a sophomore and sixth last season.

“I’ve been working hard in the wrestling room,” Swanson said. “I’ve been wrestling with my brother [Allister] who’s been pushing me and guys who are bigger than me. My coaches have helped me improve over the years.”

Swanson is the first Tiger to win a title at the PIT since Chase Tatum won in 2019.

“That’s been one of his goals since he was little, so I’m very happy for him,” Princeton coach Steve Amy said. “He’s worked hard and he deserves it. He wrestled well all tournament. We have some things to work on from the title match, but overall he controlled the match and wrestled really well.”

Swanson got an early takedown in the first period, but Near responded with an escape and reversal to go ahead 4-3. Swanson scored a reversal to take a 5-4 lead into the second period.

“Just scoring and getting on my attack, not letting him control ties and keeping him down,” Swanson said about the keys to the match.

Near scored the only point of the second to go into the third tied at 5.

With about a minute left in the match, Swanson scored a reversal then kept Near on the mat the rest of the match to claim the title.

“I did a switch and then I got behind him. It was weird. It was a different one,” Swanson said about his third-period reversal. “[After the reversal] I had to keep my weight forward and get a tight waist to make sure that I had it.”

Swanson, the No. 1 seed, won by pin in 1:15 in his first match, then won by 18-3 technical fall in the quarterfinal before winning by 14-3 major decision in the semifinal.

Princeton finished 14th among the 34 teams with 88.5 points. Senior Casey Etheridge also placed for the Tigers, finishing second at 165.

“It was really fun seeing Augustus get first place,” Etheridge said. “We’ve wrestled together since first grade, so it’s really amazing getting to succeed with him and see how much each other has improved in all our years of wrestling. We’ve done it the majority of our lives, so it’s really fun to see someone grow in that aspect. If I’m being honest, I think I’m more excited for him to get first than if I had myself.”

Etheridge, the No. 4 seed, lost 12-8 to No. 2 seed Justin Zimmerman of Porta in the title match.

“Once you reach the finals, you’re pretty excited,” Etheridge said. “The previous two years I’ve gotten fourth, so I was excited to improve on my place, but it’s not exactly where I wanted to end it in second place. But you can always live and learn from those matches because in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t truly matter until you get to the state series.”

Etheridge fell behind 10-1 but made a late surge, recording an escape and two takedowns in the final minute to pull within 11-8.

“I kind of mustered up a little gas,” Etheridge said. “It was a good late rally, but not enough to get the win. But it shows me if I can do that earlier in the match and keep getting in better shape then I could pull that out earlier.”

While he didn’t win the title, Etheridge had a big win in the semifinals, edging Rockridge’s Ryan Lower, the No. 1 seed, 10-8 in the semifinals after losing 19-5 to Lower on Tuesday.

“I wrestled him Tuesday and he almost teched me, and today I was able to get the win over him and that was a good feeling,” Etheridge said. “I’ll meet him again. I’ll have to give him another good match if I want to make it far.”

Coal City won the team title with 272 points after finishing second last year behind Vandalia, which finished second this year with 250 points. Dixon (172), Olympia (159.5) and Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (156) rounded out the top five.

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Princeton's Augustus Swanson was the champion of the 113 weight class as Newman's Landon Near (left) takes runner up and Reed Custers Colton Drinkwine (right) takes third during the 62nd annual Lyle King Princeton Invitational boys tournament on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026 at Princeton High School. (Scott Anderson)