PREP WRESTLING: Suwannee's McKinney, Pearson finish runner-up at Class 1A IBT

KISSIMMEE — Another good showing at the FHSAA Class 1A IBT state championships was close to being great for Suwannee.

For the first time since 2015, the Bulldogs qualified a wrestler — two in Topher Pearson at 113 and Austin McKinney at 150 — into a state title match, and, according to SHS coach John Wainwright, should have had three.

McKinney then fell one point — and a few seconds — short of becoming the Bulldogs’ first state champion since 2014. Add in three defeats in the blood round and Suwannee finished the meet tied for seventh as a team with Fernandina Beach with 76.5 points. Somerset Academy won state with 156.5 points.

“Losing three kids in the blood round about killed me. And then McKinney losing that one,” Wainwright said. “Still a good tournament for the kids. The highest we’ve placed in a long time.”

Entering state, Wainwright said the Bulldogs, who have now finished top 10 as a team the past three years with their highest finish since placing runner-up in 2010, needed to get someone into the finals. SHS last sent a wrestler to the championship match in 2015 when Sasha Key qualified.

Pearson and McKinney, a pair of seniors, did just that.

Pearson followed up a 4-3 decision in the first round with a pair of other decisions to qualify for the title match, including a 2-1 match against First Baptist’s Timmy Boda in a tiebreaker in the semifinal. Pearson, who ended the year 52-10 and with a third career state medal, then lost to Somerset Academy’s Jake Austin in an 18-4 major decision.

McKinney, though, had a shot at a state title against two-time reigning state champion CCC’s Gavin Nolan, but was edged by a 2-1 decision.

Wainwright said McKinney chose to be on the bottom in the second period, believing he could escape. Nolan, though, rode him the entire period to score the two points.

“We knew what we were going against, he just felt like he could get up,” he said. “I wanted him on his feet. He made that tough decision and went down.”

Wainwright added McKinney, who went 53-5 on the year, came close to scoring a pin to win the match in the closing moments.

“He just decided to match up with a kid that hasn’t been beat in the state finals in three years now, and he was right there with him,” Wainwright said. “About another second and I think he would have had the takedown. But we ran out of time on it.”

Instead, Shawn Brown remains Suwannee’s last individual state champion in 2014. McKinney ended up with his fourth medal after previously placing fifth, sixth and seventh.

Two other Bulldogs medaled at state, with junior Marshall White finishing third at 157 pounds and junior Eli Jolicoeur placing fourth at 106. White, who went 50-6 on the year, defeated First Baptist’s Andres DiGrigoli 7-3 after DiGrigoli had beat him 5-3 earlier in the tournament. 

White rallied from that loss to win four straight matches by decision to take home third.

“Marshall might have found himself this weekend,” Wainwright said. “I’m hoping this was the corner I watched him turn. He beat two solid kids.”

Jolicoeur dropped an 8-6 decision to St. Johns Country Day’s Kevin McLean in the third-place match. Wainwright, though, said Jolicoeur should have been in the championship match.

In Jolicoeur’s 4-2 loss to Bayshore’s Broc Dahlin in the second round, Wainwright said a couple of bad calls went against Jolicoeur, who finishes the year 56-8, costing him that match. Dahlin then advanced to the finals before losing.

“Eli should have been there,” he said. “He had some really bad calls on him. It happens. Referees make bad calls just like everybody else does. It’s part of life and we had that discussion, ‘That’s part of life son, we have to move forward.’”

Out of the eight Bulldogs that qualified for the state meet, three others came one match away from earning a medal as well, falling in the blood round instead. Justin Contreras, who medaled in 2023, lost a 13-3 major decision to be eliminated a round before guaranteeing a repeat medal at 120 pounds.

Also falling there were Benjamin Lewis at 165 pounds and Clay Starling at 190. Lewis, a senior, qualified for state for the first time and picked up a win by pin in between a pair of decision losses. Starling, an undersized junior for the 190 weight class, had a 4-3 win by tiebreaker in between losses by pin.

Suwannee’s sophomore heavyweight Holden Corbin lost both of his matches, eliminated in a 1-0 decision on Friday. He ended the year 41-22.

VANDERPOOL, RAULERSON ELIMINATED EARLY

In the Class 2A meet, Columbia’s Arthur Vanderpool lost both of his matches at 150 pounds. In the first round, Vanderpool was pinned by Heritage’s Keith Cole. Vanderpool, a junior, then lost in a major decision to be ousted. He ended the year 34-16.

Josie Raulerson, Columbia’s first girls wrestler to qualify for state, won her first match in the Class 1A state meet in the heavyweight class before dropping two matches Friday to be eliminated in the blood round.

After winning by pin in the first round, the freshman was pinned in her next two matches. She ended the year 26-6.