UTC Mocs' Shawn Greevy on the rise

Shawn Greevy didn't just step on the bus Thursday afternoon.

He bounded.

Since enduring a winless two months before Christmas, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga sophomore wrestler has put together a five-match win streak. He'll be at 141 pounds when the Mocs visit Campbell tonight in Buies Creek, N.C., and again Sunday when they wrestle at Davidson.

He's growing, learning to push on as he copes with life's sometimes bruising lessons while living 12 hours from family and close friends.

"Last year was good, filling in some for Cody Cleveland, the school's most recent All-American," Greevy said. "Coming into this season I thought, 'I'm the go-to guy,' and I have big shoes to fill. A lot of people were expecting a lot from me."

He readily admits that Division I wrestling isn't for everybody.

"I figured, though, that I'd give it a try," he said.

UTC was the only Division I school to offer him a scholarship, and he jumped at the opportunity.

"I probably would have wound up going to a junior college or trade school and learning to be an auto mechanic or something. Now I'm looking at a degree in wildlife biology," he said.

The 2011-12 season started off well enough, but then he suffered a concussion, which cost him valuable practice time. Then he suffered a grade II sprain in his knee against Central Michigan.

"I talked with the coaches. I was beat up mentally and I was hurting from past and present injuries," Greevy said, "and they agreed that what they'd seen recently didn't look like me out there wrestling."

He was concerned about his failure to win a match in eight weeks of wrestling.

Yet he began anew, ignoring nicks and bruises by putting them out of his mind. He quit thinking so much about missing his parents, his brother and his friends in Mechanicsburg, Pa., by throwing his mind into his academics and his heart and body into his wrestling.

"It isn't like classes or being in college or the down time has matured me," he said, "It's been the downfalls and setbacks I've faced in the wrestling room, and the reason I've been able to bounce back is the great coaching staff we have and my teammates who have rallied behind me and motivated me.

"There are people other than my family who care about me. For them to step forward and offer a hand and guide or pull me, that means a lot."

The coaching staff encouraged, often providing different and more positive viewpoints.

"I don't know that he has really had a problem," head coach Heath Eslinger said. "He was in a slump and he's working out of it. He's a kid who is doing a great job academically and socially. He's done whatever we asked in the wrestling room. Sometimes things don't go your way and you have to dig your way out, and he's doing that now.

"Here's a guy that never won a state championship and he was wrestling somebody tough every weekend. He's lost some matches, yeah, and he's had some nagging injuries. But the way we look at it, he's 5-0 since we came back from Christmas break."

Eslinger is prouder of the fact that Greevy is faring very well academically.

"I think his goal this year is to win a conference championship, and he's on track to do that," the coach said. "I think his goal was to come here and get a degree, and he's on track to do that. I'm not going to panic if he has a losing streak. Something like that is a whole lot easier to overcome than two bad semesters academically or two bad decisions socially."

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