On Saturday, March 1, seniors Ethan VanNostrand and teammate Dawson Bowden competed in the Class 5 Wrestling State Championship. Ethan was crowned the 132 pound Class 5 state champion and Bowden was Class 5 runner-up at 120 pounds in the competition.
The two student athletes launched PA to the 11th overall team out of 43 teams in the state tournament. Including the state championship win, Ethan was also named the 2024-25 Most Outstanding Wrestler at regionals in February.
Commenting on his experience at the state tournament, Ethan said “it was a lot of fun, and I was able to hang out with my teammates a lot.” He explained that being at the large meet, he was able to “see a lot of different wrestling styles and different techniques,” and “overall I was just able to make myself better from just viewing and wrestling.” These experiences and seeing different perspectives on wrestling, he said, eventually helped him become a champion in his weight class.
Their coach, Ray VanNostrand (Ethan’s dad) was there to help and support the two athletes during the competition. Coach VanNostrand remarked his favorite experience at states was “watching two of my guys advance and do fairly well … but ultimately with Ethan finishing up as a state champion.”
Coach VanNostrand shared that Ethan was the first state champion for Princess Anne in the last five years. “It’s kind of bittersweet because, you know, I’ve been coaching him since he was five, six years old,” he said. As both his coach and his dad, Coach VanNostrand explained that “being able to watch his hard work and dedication build up to the culmination of that ultimate finish … it was a pretty awesome thing to be able to witness and watch, knowing that he was able to pull that off.”
The father son dynamic has been a noteworthy connection as Ethan graduates from PA this year. Ethan commented on this connection saying, “Having my dad as my coach was kind of weird because he would be a coach at school and he’d be a coach at home,” adding, “He would always be there, supporting me and pushing me to do my best.” There was a variation in his approaches to coaching, “At home he would be a coach in a different way, he would be more emotionally helpful and he would help me watch film etc…”
Ethan became the first wrestling champion of the elder VanNostrand’s career. Coach VanNostrand has been coaching Ethan his entire wrestling career but this season marked the last time he will coach Ethan in the sport they have bonded many years over. Ethan expressed his feelings about this saying, “He was always the one to push me the most, so that’s probably the aspect I’m going to miss the most was that push that he always gave us.”
This wrestling gene runs in the family farther than Coach VanNostrand and Ethan. Ethan’s brother, Lucas also wrestled at PA under Coach VanNostrand and graduated last year. Lucas is currently attending Newport News Apprentice School to be a maintenance pipefitter. As Ethan plans to graduate this upcoming June, he will prepare to follow his brother’s footsteps and attend the Newport News Apprentice School. Ethan will wrestle at the apprentice school at 133 pounds and will go to college to become a maintenance pipefitter alongside his brother.
