Garrett Frey two people strong after death of brother

BETHLEHEM, PA -- For most wrestlers, a pair of socks is chosen for comfort, color coordination, or with no thought whatsoever.

Garrett Frey

But Garrett Frey's distinctive pair -- the mid-length orange ones with a ribbon and the words "Team Frey" stitched in light blue -- those carry special meaning.

The Princeton true freshman has been wrestling with a heavy heart all season. On December 26, 2009, his brother Adam, a former Cornell wrestler, passed away after a nearly two-year bout with germ cell testicular cancer. He was 23.

The entire Princeton team bought a pair at full price for the season. Proceeds from the sale of those socks and other gear that can be purchased on www.adamfrey.us go towards the Adam Frey Foundation. At Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Adam shared a room with a guy whose family visited with him daily, but could only afford to eat one piece of pizza a day. Adam began the foundation to help struggling families allay the soaring costs of battling cancer.

"[Adam] was such a big-hearted person," Garrett says. "He wanted to raise money for the people, not just for finding the cure. So he started the Adam Frey Foundation, which represents my brother and what he believed in."

The loss was an understandably difficult one for Garrett, who, despite the four-year age difference, was very close to his older brother.

Garrett and Adam with parents Jerry and Cynthia

"It was really difficult and I missed the Southern Scuffle (for the funeral and wake)," Garrett says. "But he wouldn't want me to stop [wrestling]. All he's ever wanted me to do is to be better than him. He didn't want me to be known as 'Adam Frey's little brother,' he wanted me to be Garrett Frey. He got more disappointed in me than I did in myself when I lost a wrestling match."

"Garrett is just very intelligent and very calm," said his mother, Cindy Frey. "He takes everything in stride, and he's dealt with everything in the past 21 months head on."

Despite his emotional burden, the Blair Academy grad has grown quickly as wrestler in his first year with the Tigers. Frey says he didn't want to become a sympathy case for his team, or to be treated any differently because of his circumstances. He appreciated all of their support, but he just wanted to be one of the guys.

"[Garrett] is one of the most resilient guys I've ever met," Princeton coach Chris Ayres said. "To face such adversity and be so successful is a tribute to him. He's so tough."

At 26-7, Frey leads the Tigers in wins this season. He entered the EIWA tournament on a two-match losing streak however, so he was saddled with the seventh seed at 125 pounds and after being granted a first-round bye, had a date in the quarterfinals with No. 2 seed (then-19th-ranked by InterMat) Joseph Langel (Rutgers).

Garrett Frey (Photo/Beverly Schaefer)

In that match, Frey finished off an early shot to lead 2-0. After an escape cut his lead to one, Frey again emerged from a scramble with the funky Langel and locked up a chest-to-chest cradle to earn the fall in 2:12 and notch the first upset of the quarterfinal round.

In the semis, Frey locked horns with No. 3-seeded Jason Borschoff (American), looking to avenge a narrow 5-3 loss earlier this season. In that particular match, his coaches said he was tentative and didn't open up his offense enough.

"Last time, he was able to control the ties very well, I wasn't able to get many shots off and didn't move my feet much," Frey says. "This time, my approach was to try and avoid the ties and stay out of his front headlock."

After a scoreless first period, Frey was being dominated on bottom for the first half of the second. But he managed to escape and get a critical takedown out of a scramble as time expired. Add to that an illegal hold call on Borschoff, and Frey had a 4-0 lead entering the third. In that period, Borschoff got an escape, but Frey executed a beautiful fireman's carry off of a counter with a minute left for another takedown, the final one in a 6-1 semifinal win.

Chris Ayres

"He's starting to open up, really letting it rip," Ayres says. "He was wrestling before like he'd won something, like he had to protect something. He has a lot to prove, but when he opens up, he's hard to beat."

The win sent Frey on to the finals against No. 1 seed and second-ranked Troy Nickerson (Cornell). The match was particularly intriguing given the close relationship and recent history between the Frey family and the Cornell wrestling program.

If the defending national champion intimidated Garrett, he didn't show it. Frey wrestled hard to fend off a first period fall and took his shots throughout. Trailing 6-1 in the third, Frey went for a throw-by, and after Nickerson countered by grabbing a leg, Frey tried to roll through. That move was a true freshman mistake, as Nickerson caught and pinned him early in the third period in 5:44 for his third EIWA championship.

"It was definitely different, interesting going out and having to wrestle [Garrett]," Troy said. "It's funny wrestling him because I wrestled [Adam] a million times and they have very similar styles. But when you step out on to the mat, that's your opponent and you've got to take care of business. I think he proved a lot to people here how tough he is ... Garrett has got a lot of potential and I'm glad he's having success out here."

Garrett Frey (Photo/Beverly Schaefer)

Nevertheless, his second-place finish guaranteed the true freshman a trip to Omaha for the NCAAs, the first Tiger to do so since 2005. To have a guy wrestle in the EIWA finals and advance on to the NCAAs is just one more step that Coach Ayres and the Tigers want to take in their efforts to resurrect the Princeton wrestling back to respectability.

"He's the best kid on our team, and he's really becoming a leader for us," says Ayres, whose program improved from 2-18 last season to 9-10 and third in the Ivy League this year. "It's the natural progression of a program to get EIWA finalists, so it's an important step for us right now."

As if wrestling Nickerson wasn't enough, Frey's next match will be against another defending NCAA champion: current No. 1 seed and top-ranked Angel Escobedo (Indiana) in the first round of the NCAAs. No matter the end result, however, rest assured that Frey will be fearless and relentless in his approach.

"That's what I think about whenever I go on the mat," Frey says. "There's no way I could ever give up because I'm two people strong and [Adam] will always be with me."

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Garrett Frey two people strong after death of brother

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