Thomas Jefferson’s Shep Turk named 2024-25 TribLive HSSN Boys Athlete of the Year

By: Chris Harlan
Tuesday, July 1, 2025 | 6:01 AM

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TribLive HSSN Boys Athlete of the Year

Shep Turk

Thomas Jefferson

Senior

Football, wrestling

Wrestling started out as something to keep Shep Turk busy in the winter once his football season was over.

That was around sixth grade.

“But I definitely fell in love with it,” said Turk, who became known around the WPIAL as both a dominant lineman and a talented heavyweight wrestler.

In fact, the Thomas Jefferson standout won WPIAL titles in both sports this school year. The senior led the Jaguars to a WPIAL football title in the fall and defended his WPIAL wrestling title as the 285-pound champion in the winter.

A Pitt football recruit, Turk later placed third in the state at the PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships.

He was honored as a member of the Trib’s Terrific 25 for football in December and named an all-star in wrestling in March. His remarkable success in two sports make him the 2024-25 TribLive HSSN Boys Athlete of the Year.

In football, Turk epitomized what won Thomas Jefferson the WPIAL Class 4A title: physical football. Running behind the 6-foot-5, 285-pound tackle was always one of the Jaguars’ best options. They rushed for 2,862 yards, an average of 191 per game.

Thomas Jefferson (14-1) won the program’s 11th WPIAL title, including a record 10th under coach Bill Cherpak.

“That area of Jefferson Hills, Pleasant Hills, West Elizabeth, that’s a football town,” Turk said. “Always has been, especially since ‘Cherp’ has been there. Growing up, on Friday nights, you were at the TJ football games. That’s what you were doing. You were watching those dudes.”

Turk became one of those dudes.

He earned first-team all-conference honors from Big Six coaches for both offense and defense. He earned first-team all-state honors for offense.

In wrestling, Turk went 47-7 as a senior, upping his career record to 115-38. He won the Eastern Sectional title with three pins, the quickest in just nine seconds.

At the WPIAL tournament in February, he pinned his first two opponents in 57 and 16 seconds. He won the next two with 5-0 and 4-1 decisions as he repeated as WPIAL Class 3A champion.

At states, he clinched third with a 54-second pin.

But he ranked two team successes among his favorite accomplishments on the mat. As a group, Thomas Jefferson wrestlers accumulated more points than any other team at the PIAA Southwest Regional tournament and had the second-most points at states behind only Bethlehem Catholic.

“Won the regional tournament (and) got second in the state, too,” Turk said. “The team that won was a private school, so we were happy with that. That was a blessing to be able to win both of those.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Thomas Jefferson