Barnegat Wrestler Makes History In States At St. John Vianney

St. John Vianney never had a state wrestling champion since the program began in 1973. Then Barnegat resident Dean Peterson came in.

Peterson, a sophomore, defeated Emerson/Park Ridge’s Nick Babin, 3-2, to earn the NJSIAA 113-pound state championship March 2 in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall. Peterson finished the season 35-0, according to Shore Sports Network.

Watch the video below:

Peterson reached the state title match at 106 pounds as a freshman, becoming the first SJV wrestler to reach the state finals. He also told Shore Sports Network that he wrestled the last three rounds of this season with a broken hard suffered in the quarterfinals.

“I broke it in the pre-quarters,” he told Shore Sports Network. “I went to post on his head and my finger kind of caved in and the knuckle popped out. I wasn’t worried because I broke my hand before. I broke my left hand when I was eight and I went out to Reno Worlds and won it.”

Peterson has been a talented wrestler since he was a young child. Patch wrote a feature about him when he was 9 that stated he already accomplished the following:

"Last month Dean won the Reno World Championship in Nevada and took first place in USAW-NJ State Championships for the third time in a row. Earlier, Dean came in second at the Tulsa Nationals in Oklahoma and first in Tulsa Kickoff Classic. He won third place at another national event in Wildwood, New Jersey."

Read more: A 9-Year-Old Wrestling Champ Following In His Dad's Footsteps