Shady's Grove will help usher in Bluefield State women's wrestling

May 16—Tayla Grove played a big part in getting the Shady Spring girls wrestling program going from the ground up.

Now she'll have a chance to do the same at the college level.

Grove signed her letter of intent to wrestle at Bluefield State on Tuesday, where she will be part of the university's first-ever women's wrestling team.

"I am very excited. It actually means everything to me because this is all I've wanted to do since I started," Grove said. "Thanks to Anthony (Shrewsberry, the Shady Spring head coach), because he helped me find it."

The addition of the program was announced in December 2021 and Brooke Richards was hired as head coach last August. Bluefield State is the first Historically Black College to add a women's wrestling program and is one of only 13 at the NCAA Division II level, a list that includes Alderson Broaddus.

Grove, who plans on being a mental health therapist, expressed nervousness about moving on, but is also excited to be part of history.

"I'm very scared for that, but I've talked with the girls up there and I feel like we'll do good," she said. "I feel like we'll just fall in line with each other."

Job one will be getting used to the freestyle form of wrestling.

"A lot of them have wrestled freestyle and I have never. I went to one freestyle practice and it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life," Grove said. "Everybody says it's easy, but it's hard. It's a lot different than folkstyle. I hope they will help me learn it faster, because I have no idea what I'm going up into."

She learned folkstyle well enough to not only help put Shady girls wrestling on the map, but also enjoy some personal success. She wrestled in the inaugural West Virginia Girls Championships as a freshman in 2020 and finished third at 136 pounds.

Grove missed the following two tournaments due first to Covid and then to a broken ankle. She finally was able to return in February, when she went in ranked fourth in the state at 152 pounds. She came home with a third-place finish.

Grove was also one of 11 Tigers wrestlers named USMC/NWCA Scholar All-Americans. The others were Brooklyn McClure and Danielle Simmons on the girls team, and Alex Starcher, Bryce Lambert, Camron Martin, Owen Pannell, Tucker Ransom, Andrew Franco, Cameron Whittaker and Kaiden Helmer on the boys team.

It all started for Grove when she was in sixth grade and began wrestling on the middle school team at the influence of a friend whose family was heavily involved in the sport. Wrestling hit like no other sport she had played.

"I tried a bunch of different sports; I hated them all," Grove said with a smile. "But I fell in love with wrestling. I went to my first practice and never stopped going."

What was different about wrestling?

"I could be mean and not get in trouble," she said, again smiling. "I was so excited about that."

Wrestling gives her an outlet when there's something going on that might have her upset.

"I don't like bullies, so I get to go to practice and take that anger out and not have any consequences for it because they're doing the same thing at the same time," she said. "It helps me train better. I'm mad."

Grove had also considered WVU Tech after learning the Golden Bears might add women's wrestling, but said she wants to get started right away. She's excited to wrestle for Richards, a North Carolina native who knows all about being a pioneer. She was the only girl on her middle school and high school teams, and she wound up wrestling for Tiffin University, the first in Ohio to have a women's wrestling program.

"She's nice. She came out to girls states and was talking to us and I could see her as my coach," Grove said. "She doesn't seem like a bad person and I like that about her personality."

She admitted she's nervous about what might happen to the Shady girls team without her and Simmons — who also has committed to Bluefield State — because there were so many new wrestlers last winter. But the program grew to 10 wrestlers last winter and the Tigers finished second at the state championships.

"I'm scared for them, but I think Brook McClure is going to a good job at teaching (the younger wrestlers) how to communicate," Grove said.

"But I am very excited. There's a bunch of middle schoolers doing it. I've talked to them and I'm excited for them to come up and actually experience it because they will get to wrestle more girls in high school."

Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5