Wrestling with family
JACKSON TWP — For Shawn Cully, wrestling seemed to come naturally. For his brother, Nate, it was only natural to follow in his brother's footsteps.
Either way, the brothers certainly have left their marks in the Seneca Valley record book, including both reaching the 100-win plateau.
Wrapping up his high school career less than a month ago, Nate never won that elusive WPIAL Class AAA championship that Shawn captured in his senior year of 2001, but Nate didn't walk away without his share of success.
"It was an honor because I always looked up to my brother. He's my role model. I was excited to get to 100 wins. It says a lot about our family," Nate Cully said. "We work hard. You put in the time and you get what you put into it.
"As kids he always beat me up and I loved it. I actually used to go after him. There was always a competitiveness against each other. ... When he came home from college (Brown University) or California, we'd try to get a workout in.
"It doesn't matter your age or weight. It was a bummer to see he was so much older," Nate added.
Shawn Cully, who works with a private equity firm in San Francisco, said, "It was kind of tough with a much younger sibling and you follow in the older sibling's footsteps, especially in this sport. By the time Nate started wrestling, it was kind of tough for me to see him come through the ranks and work with him.
"I was pretty involved as much as I could be from a distance. I'd ask him on the phone how he did. ... I enjoyed his career from afar," Shawn added.
Nate wrapped up a strong senior campaign, leading the team in matches (37), points (a team-record 127), wins (32), falls (20), reversals (16) and near falls (38).
His 32-5 record improved his career mark to 103-27. He was a four-time section runner-up, won the Seneca Valley Tournament twice, the Altoona Tournament and was a three-time West Mifflin Tournament runner-up.
But being unable to win that WPIAL title — he did place in the top six a year ago — was something that Nate thinks about often. His season ended with a third-round consolation final loss at the WPIAL championships.
"That's what kills me. I think about it every day," said Nate. "It was one of my big goals this year. I had a big poster behind my bed to motivate me. It was hard to see my season go down. I wanted to do things my brother did."
The younger Cully also used the school's Wall of WPIAL Champions to motivate him.
"I wanted two Cully brothers to go up there," Nate said.
Nate also is an accomplished violin player, having performed at the White House in December 2006, as well as a pair of University of Pittsburgh wrestling matches this year.
As for now, Nate doesn't believe he'll wrestle in college, but hasn't ruled anything out."I know it's been a big part of my life," said Nate. "I'm deciding between Indiana University-Bloomington or Penn State-Altoona, the latter which does not have a wrestling program."Shawn began wrestling early when his father Tom and grandfather would attend North Hills-North Allegheny matches just because they enjoyed it."They were very knowledgeable about the sport and my dad suggested if I wanted to try it."I went undefeated my first year and I seemed to like it my first year," he added.Cully went on to a stellar career, capped by his WPIAL title at 125 pounds. He won four section titles, placed fourth in the WPIAL finals his first three years and qualified for the PIAA Championships all four years.He won one match in each of his first two years at states, then placed seventh as a junior and fifth as a senior.His 123-27 record put him second all-time, just two wins behind Mark Barron (125-19-3) and ahead of Matt Barron (119-22-4) and Rich Barron (118-10-2), the only other brothers who have cracked the 100-win barrier.He owns the record for the most matches (150) and is tied for fifth with most wins in one season (34 in 2001)."Getting 100 wins was pretty cool," said Shawn. "Seneca Valley has had a lot of great wrestlers. You look at the record book and not a lot made it."Like Nate, Shawn wasn't sure if he would wrestle in college, as academics came first."It's an incredibly rewarding sport, but a taxing sport. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work."My senior year, I decided I would wrestle and went on a recruiting trip to Brown and I loved it," Shawn added.Wrestling at 149, Cully got off to a strong start with the Bears with a 10-7 record as a freshman. He went 2-6 as a sophomore, then took a year off before finishing his final two seasons at 0-4 and 2-2 to finish at 14-19 record.An assistant coach, Jason Robison, a former Pitt assistant coach from Hampton who helped Cully adjust to the college level, had left the program."The entire team regressed," Shawn noted.Injuries still lingered during his junior season, but Cully rode out the final two years."I stayed with it the entire four years and I was happy I did that," he said.As for the legacy they've left behind, it comes down to the hard work and determination."I'd want people to remember me as an extremely hard worker and a well-rounded student athlete — someone who excelled as a student and had an appreciation for wrestling," said Shawn.
