BUFFALO, NY “Others would have quit. Others would have just walked away, walked into the sunset, taken the opportunity for a chance to graduate college as enough of a challenge.
No one would stand in the shadows of an All-American for three years, then get the chance to start for a season, then lose the starting job to the All-American and not walk away. No one would get beat everyday at practice for five seasons and not get frustrated.
That, perhaps is what makes senior Harold Sherrell’s (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) story one of the most rewarding in Jim Beichner’s 11-year career as head wrestling coach at the University at Buffalo. Through it all, the walk-on has stuck, doing everything that the coaching staff has asked, starting at 184 pounds, 197 pounds and now at heavyweight.
Sherrell said he has thought about quitting. He said he thought he’d never stick with a Division I wrestling program as a walk-on. But, he tried anyway. He stuck, and now, with consecutive wins over nationally-ranked opponents, Sherrell is not only climbing up the national rankings, but he is nearing UB’s all-time career wins list.
“Coach Ed Michael (UB’s all-time winningest wrestling coach with 213 wins) has always said that quite often when you get a stud in one weight class, a stud will develop either in the weight class above or below that guy because that workout partner will turn someone else into a good wrestler, “Beichner said. “A lot of times when we recruit kids we say, you’re either going to get better or you’re going to quit. A lot of kids quit. Harold wasn’t one of them. As a result of competing with Kyle Cerminara (Lewiston, NY/Lewiston-Porter) and other people, he’s turned into a very good wrestler.”
It’s not really a surprise, then, that Sherrell’s collegiate wrestling story starts where it was supposed to stop. Wrestling at Liverpool High School, Sherrell never qualified for the New York State tournament, not even getting past the first round of his sectional tournament, where he faced the No. 1 seed as a senior.
“I thought I was done with wrestling right then, “Sherrell said.
If it weren’t for an e-mail from Liverpool’s coach, Jack Williams, to Beichner, chances are that Sherrell never would have become a college wrestler. Beichner sent an e-mail to Sherrell inviting him to work out with the team and have a chance to walk-on the team.
“Certainly, coming out of high school, he was not a blue-chip guy you’d expect to go to a Division I institution and succeed, “Beichner said.
After coming in the summer to help out at the wrestling camps, Sherrell said he enjoyed being around the team but still wasn’t sure if he wanted to try out for the team.
“It was my sister that kind of tipped the scales, “Sherrell said. “She said, ‘What’s the worst that can happen from this? If you don’t do this you’ll always wonder and honestly, there’s no reason for you not to.'”
So Sherrell walked on the team and ended up redshirting in his first year on the team, while Cerminara earned an NCAA qualifier at 197 pounds during his true freshman campaign, Sherrell’s natural weight class. During his second year, Sherrell ended up wrestling at both 197 and heavyweight and he placed fourth at the New York Collegiate Championships, while Kyle Cerminara was out with an injury.
“We liked Harold right off the bat, his attitude, how personable he is, “Beichner said. “He’s a good communicator; he’s a good student; he’s a good person and you like to have those guys around. On top of that, he has a good work ethic and will listen to what you tell him. It’s kind of a match made in heaven for our program.”
In his third year, Sherrell continued to show both his improvement and his versatility, wrestling at 184, 197 and heavyweight during the season, as he went 13-16 overall and placed fourth at the UB Open at 197 pounds.
His 24-33 career record was far from dazzling, but Beichner put a lot of trust in Sherrell during the 2004-05 season when he entrusted the 197-pound weight class to Sherrell while Cerminara, who earned All-America status in 2003-04, redshirted.
Given three years in the wrestling room with Cerminara, two-time Mid-American Conference champion John Eschenfelder, New York State champion Greg Thomas and even two-time All-American Beichner, Sherrell had plenty of experience with high-level wrestlers heading into the season. It translated into a 22-18 record, a third-place finish at 197 pounds at the MAC Championships and quite a few impressive wins. At the Mat Town USA Invitational, Sherrell beat eventual All-American Phil Davis of Penn State, 8-4, and he also beat nationally-ranked Matt Koz of Minnesota. While placing in five of the seven tournaments he wrestled in, Sherrell came close to earning a slot in the top 20 in the nation, but never cracked any rankings.
It wasn’t a spectacular year, but Sherrell had more than fulfilled his role of holding down the weight class while Cerminara redshirted. He earned the team’s Coaches’ Award at the end of the season and for Sherrell, it seemed a fitting end to his career. After all, telling Sherrell to stick around for a fifth year when Cerminara was taking back the starting job at Sherrell’s natural weight wasn’t an easy sell.
“I thought at the end of last year after MACs, I was kind of going to wind down, “Sherrell said. “Then Beichner called me into a corner and said, ‘You know Harold, you’ve made a lot of progress since your freshman year. We really want you to be around next year.'”
However, the answer to the problem was one everyone on the team embraced, as junior Jeff Parker (Foxboro, MA/Foxboro) redshirted, giving Sherrell the starting job at heavyweight. Sherrell, who had never turned down a challenge from Beichner before, was up for this one, despite routinely stepping on the mat with wrestlers upwards of 70 pounds heavier than his lanky 217-pound frame.
“Earlier this year, John Eschenfelder e-mailed me and said, ‘I know you’re going out there at heavyweight, but just remember every one of these guys in the nation, they train the same way you do,’ “Sherrell said. “‘There’s nothing special about any of these guys.'”
“I knew I was going to have to game plan, “Sherrell said. “I can’t just go out there and just roll around with these guys. If I get caught in the wrong position, I am going to be in trouble. So I worked on simplifying my offense and maximizing my defense, trying to get that much better on top to use that to my advantage.”
The results were immediate for Sherrell, as he won the Slippery Rock Open. Then he earned a fall against nationally-ranked Dave Herman of Indiana in the finals of the Mat Town USA Invitational. Despite a 2-2 mark at the Las Vegas Invitational, Sherrell hasn’t lost a match since Dec. 2, winning his last eight matches, already setting his career high for wins.
He hasn’t had it easy, either, especially in the last two weeks, when he earned a 17-2 technical fall of Northern Illinois’ Joe Sapp, who was ranked 19th in the NWCA/InterMat/NWMA rankings, on Jan. 6. On Jan. 15, he beat UNC-Greensboro’s Tyler Shovlin, ranked 12th, 5-2.
“I think he certainly can attribute some of his success to his coaches and his teammates, but the bottom line is he is the one who is going out there and competing, “Beichner said. “He has gone out there and done a great job for the program.”
In the process, the heavyweight has entered the NWCA rankings for the first time in his career, rising to 16th in the heavyweight rankings last week. Now 24-4 overall, Sherrell will look for his first New York State Collegiates Championship next week, and beyond that, Beichner says the goals are clear for the heavyweight.
“Harold’s not done yet, “Beichner said. “I think he has a lot left in him. We’re thrilled up to this point, but we want to be thrilled after March because we all think Harold has proved himself the last couple years and definitely proved that he belongs at the top in the country. We believe, with a good tournament, he can qualify for nationals and be an All-American. I think it will take a heck of an effort, but I really believe it.”
The lofty expectations, still there, despite the fact that Sherrell’s story was simply never supposed to happen.
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