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Sharp extends family legacy
By BRIAN DZENIS
CANFIELD
If Ian Sharp ever feels like he’s on top of the world, he can think about Christmas time.
The West Branch heavyweight spent this season ranked No. 1 in the state in his weight class and some media outlets have him projected to win it all at this weekend’s state tournament in Columbus.
None of that has any impact when his family comes together.
“There’s always those practices over Christmas when everybody gets home and they all wrestle me,” Sharp said “It’s kind of miserable for me, but the outcome is I become a better wrestler.”
Do they beat him?
“Oh yeah,” Sharp said.
Sharp’s family can be considered a wrestling dynasty in the Mahoning Valley. His father and assistant coach, Rodger, took sixth place in 1989. His Uncle Nathan was a state runner-up in 2005 before winning back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007. Ian has three brothers — Seth, Logan and Connor — who have all placed at state.
“They don’t take it easy on Ian, but you have to realize that they’re men who are 20 years old and in the Air Force and 300-plus pounds and they beat on him and they tell him about it,” West Branch coach Jason Brown said.
“It’s a sibling rivalry, but it’s a good thing. “Ian certainly benefited from it. You just don’t get that experience with Division I level athletes all that often in this area.”
Sharp (37-1) wants the bragging rights of a state title as one would put him over his brothers and father. He lifts at 5 a.m. every day before school in pursuit of those laurels. The junior learned the necessity of those early morning workouts the hard way.
“I did it my sophomore year, but I didn’t put that much effort into it and I went two-and-out at states. I didn’t do well at districts,” Sharp said.
“I put more effort into it this year and it makes a tremendous difference when you look at the stats.”
This season, Sharp has lived up to the family moniker: be tough and be mean.
“They can go out and beat on people and impose themselves and that’s a quality you have to have as a wrestler,” Brown said of the Sharp family.
“You have to be determined and you have to be willing to go out there and take that opponent and put them in a position to where you know you could score and you know you could win.”
With the opening sessions starting today, Sharp and his coaches have spent the week scouting his opponents. Sharp won’t be facing anyone he’s already wrestled this season and the only other local wrestler in his weight class is Canfield’s Mason Giordano.
As his family already taught him, his lofty rankings don’t make him invincible.
“I don’t put a lot of stock into the talk as you will, every match at state matters. You’ll see people who are sleeper cells all throughout the season and at state,” Sharp said.
“They really pick it up. They go ‘hey, this could be my last match,’ so they’ll give it every match. You can’t take any match for granted.”