Not quite Spiderman, but Sheaffer still quick

Despite the red Spiderman shirt that he’s worn before every match since his high school days,… Despite the red Spiderman shirt that he’s worn before every match since his high school days, at first glance, Zach Sheaffer wouldn’t remind you one bit of the legendary superhero.

Though Spiderman is most known for his spider sense, which enables him to sense any danger remotely near him, it’s his speed and strength that allows him to defeat all enemies that dare come his way.

The strength is what you’d expect in Pitt’s heavyweight wrestler, but possessing the speed, quickness and agility that Spiderman would — now, that should be out of the question.

In fact, to most people, a 260-pound wrestler and the likes of the little, skinny kid behind the costume of Spiderman shouldn’t have any business being mentioned in the same sentence.

But if you thought that of Sheaffer on your first impression, don’t feel bad. Join the club even, because he’s proven everyone wrong before, and continues to do so as a freshman on Pitt’s wrestling team.

“He’s quick,” Pitt head coach Rande Stottlemyer said. “Whether you see it in him or not, he’s definitely quick and has what I call crazy strength.”

It was this “crazy strength” that Sheaffer used to dominate other less-gifted wrestlers in high school, compiling a career record of 135-29 — which placed him third all-time on Cumberland Valley High School’s career wins list — including a 48-1 mark his senior season.

To keep his success alive at the collegiate level, however, Sheaffer had to improve all the other areas of his wrestling repertoire to defeat older, stronger wrestlers.

“To be a good college wrestler, you have to be pretty well-rounded,” Sheaffer said. “In high school I could just bully kids around on the mat, but now I’m up against 25-year-old men at times. It’s a lot tougher.”

This became evident in his first match of the season, when he found himself up against Iowa State’s Scott Coleman.

“I looked across the mat and said, ‘Whoa, this kid is huge. What am I supposed to do?'” Sheaffer said.

Sheaffer held his own in that first match, suffering just a 4-2 loss, and never looked back. He went on to win eight of his next 10 matches and finished the season with a 25-11 record.

His early success surprised a few people in the Eastern Wrestling League, but a man back home knew Sheaffer had it in him all along: his former wrestling coach at Cumberland Valley High School, Roger Barrick.

“When I think of the name Zach Sheaffer, I just get a big smile on my face,” Barrick said. “This is a part of coaching that you really enjoy looking forward to, seeing your kids go on to college and still have success. It means a lot to me to see what he is doing now. It really makes me proud.”

The individual success of Sheaffer hasn’t strayed his views from his ultimate goal to be a part of the team that wins Pitt’s first ever EWL team title.

A couple of weeks ago, Sheaffer found himself in a battle with Edinboro’s Joe Hennis. The last match of the regular season and a match that, had Sheaffer won, would have brought home that team title for Pitt.

He lost the match 10-7, though, ending the regular season on a sour note that would have brought any of the best athletes down, but he used it as motivation for success in the EWL individual tournament.

Sheaffer came back to defeat Hennis in the semifinals en route to winning the EWL heavyweight title in his freshman season.

“He could have easily gotten way down,” Stottlemyer said. “I was really impressed with how he turned it around like he did. You can’t help but root for the kid.”

Upon winning the EWL title and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, Sheaffer now sets his sights on finishing in the top eight nationally and earning the coveted All-American status.

“My goal now is to place at the nationals and become an All-American,” Sheaffer said. “That’s my goal and I know people will tell me that I’m a freshman and can’t do that, but I don’t care. It’s what I want to do.”

Whether or not Sheaffer will achieve his goal this year will be determined later this week, but both his current and former coaches believe that is something he will accomplish before it’s all said and done.

“Half of the battle is thinking you can do it,” Stottlemyer said. “If you think you can, then you probably will.”

Barrick agrees with Stottlemyer, saying “he sure knows how to set his goals high, but I wouldn’t put it past him. He goes out there and works hard at trying to get everything and accomplish every goal he ever sets.”

Nearing the final matches of his freshman season, nothing has gotten in Sheaffer’s way just yet, as he has overcome all obstacles in his way. Spiderman he may not be, but to this Pitt wrestling team, he’s pretty close to it.