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Palma receives national honor

Submitted by jmikeblake on 05/15/2009 - 13:46
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Make that another postseason award for Cary wrestling.
 
Exactly a week after coach Jerry Winterton was named National Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, the Wrestler Insider Newsmagazine honored senior national champion Eloheim Palma with the Junior Schalles Award.
 
The Schalles Award  is named after Wade Schalles, who set the college pin record at Clarion (Pa.) State where he also won two NCAA championships (1972-73). During his career, Schalles defeated 153 of 159 opponents and pinned 109. 
 
Junior Schalles Award
            • Eloheim Palma of Cary (N.C.) only let one of his 62 victims in an undefeated season go the distance when he settled for a 10-4 decision of the state tournament; netting the heavyweight his fourth state championship.
            Overall, Palma pinned 50 opponents this year and also earned 10 forfeits and one technical fall. For his career, Palma pinned 159 opponents in compiling a 225-9 mark in four years.
            “I don’t feel that I’ve won a match unless I pin someone,” said Palma, who also captured the NHSCA Senior National Championship as the nation’s top-ranked heavyweight and will compete for N.C. State next fall. “When you pin someone there is no doubt that you beat someone.”
            “Everyone will talk about how hard a kid works but this wrestler is special,” said his high school coach Jerry Winterton.  “Eloheim outworks everyone in the room.   As a heavyweight it is amazing how he'll run sprints, lift weights, do pull-ups and all the extras to better himself.”

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About the blogger

J. Mike Blake has played against or covered teams in southern Wake County for six years. He is the Sports Editor for The Cary News and Southwest Wake News. He graduated from N.C. State in 2008. He loves getting young athletes' names in the paper, but hates hearing "CALL IT BOTH WAYS REF!!" 4,000 times every game.

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