GULF SHORES — With sports specialization encouraging athletes to lock into one sport at an earlier age than ever before, Gulf Shores senior Ethan Sharkey bucked that trend on Wednesday by signing with the Montevallo Falcons to play two sports.

Thanks to trust from both college coaches, Sharkey will wrestle in the winter and run outdoor track in the spring. Despite not having much of an offseason, Sharkey said he was looking forward to the challenge instead of overwhelmed at the thought of playing two collegiate sports.

“I’m more excited than anything. A lot of people tell me it’s going to suck but I’m excited for it, especially with the school I picked. I’ve enjoyed the coaches and they said they’d help me out,” Sharkey said. “They want me to be great on both sides; they want me to go be good in wrestling and good in track, not just one. I think the two sports in college will be a challenge, but I’m excited for it.”

Sharkey said his recruiting roller coaster started with Montevallo’s wrestling team that is in its debut season this year. The Falcons’ inaugural wrestling squad features a handful of Baldwin County alumni, including Sharkey’s friends in Orange Beach’s Shayd Arboneaux and Elberta’s Colton Sullivan who are in their freshman years. While he had already opened the line of communication with the Montevallo track coaches, it was Sharkey’s local connection that brought him directly to their doorstep.

“When I was on my Montevallo official visit, it was their first-ever dual (match at home) so they had the whole place packed out. Colton’s grandma, she pulled me through the crowd by the ear to the track coach and said, ‘He’s good enough to do both here and he should do it,’” Sharkey recounted. “It was their jumping and throwing coaches who had heard about me, and they said you should talk to our head coach.”

Track offer could expand if needed

After he conversed with the Falcons’ head track coach and exchanged his personal-record marks, Sharkey earned an outdoor track offer. However, Tommy Barksdale took it one step further.

“He said, ‘With how long you’ve been doing it and where your PRs are at, I’m willing to give you a shot and let you pursue both,’” Sharkey said. “‘And it if it doesn’t go your way, I’ll offer you in track and cross country. So if wrestling doesn’t go your way, if you get hurt and can’t wrestle, you’ll have the opportunity to run all three sports here.’”

Still, with wrestling in the winter, Sharkey made a calculated commitment to run outdoor track in the spring instead of cross country, his third high school sport. That will allow him to participate in preseason wrestling during the fall.

“It was a cool experience. For him to tell me that he trusts me enough to do that, it felt good and gave me the confidence I needed,” Sharkey said.

Sharkey ready to add his stamp to young Falcon squad

While the phrase goes, “the rest is history,” Sharkey will likely be part of writing the record books with the young Montevallo Falcon wrestling squad. This year’s team is already well on its way where Arboneaux and Sullivan are joined by Isaiah Jones from Foley and Anthony Martinez from Fairhope in sitting at No. 22 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s top-25 rankings.

“I’ll come into a second-year program. They’re a very young team and with that young team they’ll all be together, there’ll be that core group those first two groups of people,” Sharkey said. “When we get older and mature as wrestlers into those four or five years, I think Montevallo will be a very dominant D-II program, especially in the south.”

Montevallo’s newest wrestling, track signee makes it official

With his signature on two National Letters of Intent, Sharkey became the newest Montevallo Falcon in front of a busy gym lobby.

“Support was crazy, I came out from getting dressed and all the seats were taken already; and we were still in class, so I was wondering how they all got out of class,” Sharkey said. “This whole hallway was full and there was a lot of parents over here that I’ve known from over the days, like we had a duel against Elberta last night and one of their team moms was here. Stuff like that was great to see the local support.”

In a moment of reflection, he looked forward to seeing the next round of Dolphins ascending to the college ranks.

“There’s a lot, it’s a lot of emotions,” Sharkey said of his takeaway. “I’m just excited to see what footsteps come after me, who else on the wrestling team can make big moves and wrestle in college and see what the future holds for them.”