{"id":7039,"date":"2025-01-27T19:52:14","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T19:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7039"},"modified":"2025-01-27T19:52:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T19:52:14","slug":"its-all-in-the-wrist-for-princetons-dawson-lambert-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7039","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s all in the wrist for Princeton\u2019s Dawson Lambert – Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"


PHS senior Dawson Lambert, the 2024 Illinois State arm wrestling champion, is No. 1 ranked in the teen division at 154 pounds. <\/span>(Photo provided by Dawson Lambert)
When you think of strong kids at Princeton High School<\/a>, one quickly thinks of football players like Cade Odell, Rhett Pearson and Noah LaPorte and recent grads Bennett Williams and Payne Miller.
You can add PHS senior Dawson Lambert to that list. He\u2019s sneaky strong.
The PHS senior cross country and track runner is the No. 1 ranked arm wrestling champion in the state in the teen division for 154 pounds, crowned the 2024 championship.
He\u2019s so fast that some of the kids at PHS and competitors at state that have challenged him don\u2019t even know what hit them.
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy the technique and practice that actually goes into it. Size and appearance you wouldn\u2019t think anything of it but that\u2019s not the case,\u201d said LaPorte, a 6-foot-6 senior heading to Northwestern University to play football.
After taking a challenge in the choral room, Odell said Lambert \u201cis very good and surprised me.\u201d
\u201cCouple of people have said, \u2018Wow, you\u2019re really fast.\u2019 Some have said, \u2018I want a rematch,\u2019 and usually I do and I let them go and I just hold them,\u201d Lambert said.
The first tournament Lambert entered was the Illinois state championships in 2023 \u201cjust trying to see how I\u2019d do. I wrestled four people and got first place.\u201d
\u201cBut that was just teen\u2019s division, for 18 and under,\u201d he added. \u201cThere\u2019s amateur and pros where you got to be ranked top 20 in the state. I got first place and said, \u2018Hmm, \u2018I\u2019m going to do all 3.\u2019
\u201cLast year I got first place in all divisions for 154 pounds and under. That\u2019s when they ranked me No. 1.\u201d
Lambert, 17, was taught the arm-wrestling trade by his father, Jarrod, who was an undefeated champion in his day.
\u201cHe did it up until he was like 23 years old and he never lost,\u201d Lambert said. \u201cFirst he got me into working out and then once when I got pretty strong, he said, \u2018You should start arm wrestling\u2019 and always telling me stories.
\u201cHe would always tell me, \u2018Go fast,\u2019 because that\u2019s what my dad did. He went fast. Said to just train your wrist really strong.\u201d
Father may know best but the son is too much for him these days.
\u201cHe\u2019s nowhere near as good as he was but I beat him now,\u201d Dawson said with a smile.
Lambert said it\u2019s all about technique and training your wrists.
\u201cI just know what I\u2019m doing,\u201d he said. \u201cI always tell people the best training for arm wrestling, is arm wrestling. There\u2019s so many workouts you can do. Lot of movements in arm wrestling and training your wrists. I\u2019m really good at going really fast so I train my fast-twitch muscles. That\u2019s just what I do.\u201d
Lambert, who made $600 at the state competition, has put his talents to good use, challenging workers at Los Ranchitos for free food. Needless to say, he has been since cut off that deal.
While he rests his wrist and elbow from last week\u2019s state competition, Lawson plans to compete in a team state championship and would like to try national events down the road. He said his dad cautions him not to over do it.
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t want me to wrestle too much because your elbow starts hurting and you\u2019ve got to get surgery,\u201d he said. \u201cMy elbow doesn\u2019t hurt yet. I don\u2019t want to take it that far. But until my elbow starts hurting, I want to keep going.\u201d
Lambert would like to go into the Air Force after graduation and pursue his dream job one day to become a natural resource officer.
\u201cI\u2019m always outdoors fishing and stuff,\u201d he said.
Kevin Hieronymus has been the BCR Sports Editor since 1986. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com<\/i>
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network<\/p>\n

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PHS senior Dawson Lambert, the 2024 Illinois State arm wrestling champion, is No. 1 ranked in the teen division at 154 pounds. (Photo provided by Dawson Lambert)When you think of strong kids at Princeton High School, one quickly thinks of football players like Cade Odell, Rhett Pearson and Noah LaPorte and recent grads Bennett Williams and Payne Miller. You can<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t