WINTER ALL-AREA: Austin McKinney repeats as LCR Wrestler of the Year

LIVE OAK — As Austin McKinney’s freshman season was winding down in 2021, Suwannee coach John Wainwright got an inkling of what was to come.

McKinney had spent that first year with the Bulldogs in the 113-pound weight class, including going home with Wainwright in an effort to keep his weight down to that level.

Then, right as the district tournament was about to begin, Suwannee’s 120-pounder quit.

When McKinney asked if he could go up a class, Wainwright asked him a question to consider: would he be able to place up a class?

“He said, ‘I’ll do it,’” Wainwright recalled, saying he agreed to let him go up.

A few weeks later at the state meet, McKinney was facing off against McKeel’s Yodock Guy in the blood rounds of the Class 1A state meet. A win guaranteed McKinney a medal. A loss and he’d go home empty handed.

“He got out there and just took it to them,” Wainwright said. “It was just, he went out there and did everything he had to do to win that match and place. Just watching him in that match and knowing that we’ve got something here. This is going to be a special four years with this kid.”

A special four years indeed.

During his time at SHS, McKinney set new school records for wins in a season with 68 a year ago, pins in a season — he is a “pinning machine” according to Wainwright — and wins for a career, capping off his four years with a 225-31 mark including three district titles, two region titles and four state medals. As a senior, McKinney and junior Topher Pearson became the first Bulldogs since Sasha Key in 2015 to qualify for a state championship match in the IBT tournament, and he was just a second or two short of becoming the first since Shawn Brown in 2014 to bring home a state title.

Now, he’s also repeated as the Lake City Reporter Wrestler of the Year.

He also had a hand in chasing kids out of a stacked 150-pound weight class. During a brutal schedule that included wins over five state champions from pretty much every state in the southeast, Wainwright said First Baptist’s Michael Kersey dropped to 144 pounds to get away from both McKinney and Clearwater Central Catholic’s Gavin Nolan, who edged McKinney 2-1 in the state championship match.

“He had the hardest schedule I’ve ever had for a kid in my 30 years,” Wainwright said.

McKinney, though, was up for the challenge after a grueling offseason that carried on into the season. It was an easy choice, McKinney said, for his final chance at a state title.

“I had to dedicate my life to this for this short period of time,” he said, adding his life has basically been school and working out since his senior season began. “I had to leave everything out on the mat.”

So he dedicated himself to the sport. There were multiple workouts daily, including conditioning with weight after practices that followed a summer in the weight room building up his strength, which he believes is the key to his dominance on the mat. There were also changes to his diet.

It all added up to better conditioning and stamina, which paid off in those biggest of matches.

“That was one of my weak spots,” McKinney said of his conditioning. “Last year, I was good, obviously, but by the third period, I was exhausted. This year I felt pretty good going the distance with a lot of these good guys.”

That included that championship match against Nolan.

The difference came in the second period when McKinney had the choice to start on the bottom or in a neutral position. McKinney chose bottom, saying nobody had been able to keep him down for an entire three-minute period the entire season.

Another escape would have meant an “easy point” in his mind and if he followed it up with a takedown, he’d have the lead.

However, McKinney was unable to get that escape.

Still, he had his shot late.

An escape in the final 15 seconds or so of the third and final period, gave him the opening he had been waiting on. As he started to pressure Nolan, the CCC junior retreated before shooting in on McKinney.

“As soon as he shot, I sprawled and started to come around the side,” McKinney recalled. “He just caught the inside of my leg with his fingers and the time ran out.

“Just knowing how close I was was disappointing.”

In fact, McKinney said it would have been better to have been “whooped” in the finals than lose in heartbreaking fashion.

“Then you just got outwrestled,” he explained. “I really didn’t outwrestled by this guy, it was just a good match from both of us and he ended up with one more point.”

Wainwright, too, lamented the fact that McKinney was “one second” away from scoring the takedown that would have given him that ultimate prize.

“He wanted it and he wanted it bad,” he said. “This one is going to stick with him until he’s 50.”

It definitely will.

With all the accolades he’s racked up and taken down, McKinney knows his place in Suwannee wrestling lore is secure. However, there is one thing that is missing: the state championship and the recognition that comes with that, which includes their name added to the wall in the Suwannee wrestling room.

“It feels pretty good knowing that I’ll be remembered in the wrestling program,” he said. “But it’s a little upsetting that I won’t have my name up on that wall with some of the other great Suwannee wrestlers.”

 

ALL-AREA TEAM

106: Eli Jolicoeur

Suwannee, junior

Finished 56-8 in a season where he placed fourth at the Class 1A IBT after winning Region 1-1A and District 2-1A titles.

113: Topher Pearson

Suwannee, senior

Finished 52-10 in a season where he was runner-up at the Class 1A IBT and Region 1-1A IBT after winning a District 2-1A title.

120: Justin Contreras

Suwannee, junior

Finished 43-14 in a season where he won a District 2-1A title and placed third at the Region 1-1A IBT to qualify for state.

150: Austin McKinney

Suwannee, senior

The LCR’s Wrestler of the Year finished an area-best 53-5 in a season where he was runner-up at the Class 1A IBT after winning Region 1-1A and District 2-1A titles.

150: Arthur Vanderpool

Columbia, junior

Finished 34-16 in a season where he qualified for state after finishing runner-up at the District 2-2A IBT before placing fourth at the Region 1-2A IBT.

157: Marshall White

Suwannee, junior

Finished 50-6 in a season where he placed third at the Class 1A IBT and was runner-up in Region 1-1A after winning a District 2-1A title.

165: Benjamin Lewis

Suwannee, senior

Finished 42-16 in a season where he qualified for state after winning a District 2-1A title and finishing runner-up at the Region 1-1A meet.

190: Clay Starling

Suwannee, junior

Came on late in the season to finish with a 7-3 record that included a District 2-1A title and a third-place finish at the Region 1-1A IBT, which earned him a state bid.

235: Josie Raulerson

Columbia, freshman

Was the lone girls wrestler in the area to qualify for state, which capped off a 26-6 season where she swept District 2-1A and Region 1-1A IBT titles.

285: Holden Corbin

Suwannee, sophomore

Finished 41-22 in a season where he qualified for state after winning a District 2-1A title and placing third at the Region 1-1A IBT.

COACH OF THE YEAR

John Wainwright, Suwannee

Wainwright led the Bulldogs to District 2-1A and Region 1-1A duals titles, setting up a runner-up finish at the Class 1A state duals. SHS then capped off the season with district and regional IBT titles before tying for seventh at the Class 1A state IBT. Eight Bulldogs qualified for state and four reached the medal stand, including a pair of runner-up finishes by Austin McKinney and Topher Pearson.

— All-area capsules by Sports Editor Jordan Kroeger