Cavs' Shatley chases title in 4a

By: Allen Haynes | Hickory Daily Record
Published: February 20, 2009

Icard --

When most high school students reach their senior year, they experience the most exciting year of school.

For heavyweight wrestler Tyler Shatley, who still has three months left at East Burke High, that's a huge understatement.

Shatley, who has signed to play football next season at Clemson, is 31-0 as he heads into today's state 4A wrestling championships at Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem.

The state's two-day championships -1A, 2A, 3A and 4A -begin at 9 a.m. this morning. The consolation championships and championships come Saturday night at 6 p.m.

When action starts this morning, Shatley will be one of 44 Unifour-area wrestlers vying to win a state championship.

"I knew this year would be fun," said Shatley. "But I could have never imagined what it has been like."
The start to Shatley's wrestling season was delayed while he was playing in the Shrine Bowl, then he got right into it.

"It didn't take very long to get used to wrestling again," he said.

In today's opening round, Shatley faces North Mecklenburg's Jonathan Hart (15-8).

Shatley, 124-21 in prep wrestling, has won three Northwestern 4A titles, three West Regional crowns and was third among state 4A heavyweights as a sophomore and second last year.

"At this level, you have to take one match at a time," Shatley said. "If you start worrying about who your opponent will be if you win, then the guy you're facing can sneak up on you."

While trying not to look ahead, Shatley said he knows who he'll have to beat if he wants to close as a state champion.

The last loss for Shatley, 66-1 in his last 67 matches, was in last year's state title match against Cary's Eloheim Palma.

Palma has won back-to-back titles and is 58-0 this season. He is ranked No. 1 in the nation among heavyweights by USA Wrestling.

Palma beat Shatley 8-3 in last year's title match.

"Last year, I let him take the match to me," said Shatley. "He was a little quicker than me, but I know I have improved on that this year and feel I am bigger and stronger than I was then."

East Burke head coach Junior Lail expects a battle if it's Shatley versus Palma again.

"They are two very big, very athletic kids," Lail said. "I've watched some video of Palma and we've worked on some things that he did last year that he (Shatley) doesn't want to repeat.

"I believe the match will go the full six minutes, but the important thing will be to keep it close and have a chance to win it.

"But more important than that, he (Shatley) has to beat the other opponents to get there."

When Shatley is done, his wrestling career will likely be done as well because Clemson does not have a wrestling team.