THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603060124
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: THUMBS UP
SOURCE: BY SUSAN W. SMITH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
``The price of success is more responsibility,'' said Shane Darnell, 20.
``I recently saw that message on the front of a church, and I think it's true. Maybe I was successful, but I also know I have to work even harder now.''
Darnell's success came in the form of an All-American designation after he was ranked fifth in the nation as a junior college wrestler.
Years of work, workouts, early morning runs, weigh-ins, wins and losses paid off as Darnell, a former Great Bridge High School wrestler, achieved junior college All-American status at the National Junior College Athletic Association Wrestling Tournament in Bismarck, N.D.
Darnell is the son of Mike and Debbie Darnell of Great Bridge. When he was a wrestling Wildcat, Darnell competed at 103, 112 and 118 pounds. His junior year, Darnell took third place in state competition.
For the past two years, Darnell has attended Gloucester County College in Sewell, N.J., where he is majoring in law enforcement. He also wrestles for the Roadrunners, the school's team, at 126 pounds.
Although the Roadrunners are a Division III school, they faced tough competition from Division I and Division II schools at the national tournament.
Gloucester coach Mark Lamb praised Darnell as one of the leaders of the team. He praised Darnell's 4-2 tournament record, pointing out he won by two overtime matches and two one-point leads.
Darnell completed his junior college wrestling career with a 55-19 record.
But wrestling wasn't always Darnell's choice of sports.
``I started out playing football in junior high school,'' Darnell said. ``But once I overheard the coach say he would like to play me but he was afraid I would get hurt. I decided maybe I had better look for something else to do.''
His friends introduced him to the mats and holds of the wrestling room. Although he didn't make the team in the seventh grade, he still showed up for practice and workouts. Darnell said by the eighth grade he had learned some moves and even recorded a few wins.
``By then the individuality of competition had hooked me,'' Darnell said. ``You meet someone on the mat, and you win because you're prepared. If you get beat, you learn from it. You gain a lot of pride and learn a lot of self-discipline.''
Not satisfied with the number of matches he had managed to win, he began in the 10th grade to run every morning and do push ups at night. To prepare for each season of competition, he put in a year of structured and very disciplined training.
His twin brother Shawn was a wrestler in the same weight class. Darnell said that he and his brother got along fine off the mat, but they always went head to head when wrestling each other. Each brother had his share of wins and losses against the other.
After high school, Darnell said, he learned another tough but valuable lesson in self-discipline. He worked for a year as a painter and brick mason. Since he was earning a paycheck, his parents put him in charge of all his own finances.
``It was another lesson in responsibility I tried to learn,'' Darnell said. ``I also realized that I wanted to do more and that I would need more education. And I wanted to wrestle again.''
Darnell said he and his dad had a long talk, and he came away with his family's support and some important advice: Do the best you can at whatever you are doing.
Now when he's not studying or lifting weights, Darnell has a few other likes. He's a fan of old movies, attends church and prefers his mountain bike to the stationary bike.
His list of handwritten goals on his bedroom wall include to graduate from a four-year college, to grow stronger spiritually and to win again in national competition. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SUSAN SMITH
Shane Darnell, 20, is ranked fifth in the nation as a junior college
wrestler.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE by CNB