Boys athlete of the week
The Post-Gazette’s top male performer of the past seven days
Recently: MacKay won a 50 decision against Grover City junior Hunter Hohman to win the PIAA Class 2A boys individual wresting title in the 160-pound weight class Saturday in Hershey.
Check this out: MacKay, a senior and Pitt recruit, finished his final high school season with a 48-1 record and won his second state title. He won at 152 pounds in 2021. He also had to come to terms that his best friend and teammate, Colin Bartley, lost his senior season after a hunting accident.
What did it mean for you to win another state title? Well, it means a ton. At the beginning of the year, after Colin got hurt, I told him I was dedicating this year to him. There was no other way my senior season could have concluded. I promised Colin my senior season was for him and there was no other way to walk out of high school. What happened in the hunting accident? We were walking in the woods. We were using flintlocks and a thorn branch caught the hammer, pulled it back and he ended up getting shot through
the leg. I had to call 911, helped him put a tourniquet on it and he was life-flighted. How was it having Colin be the first to congratulate you when you came off the mat?
It was amazing. Before any of it happened, we were best friends and inseparable and we hung out every day. But the tragedy that happened made us even closer. It’s hard to describe. Having him in my corner, always cheering me on, he’s a great person and it’s amazing to see him progress every day. He’s starting to walk without crutches, and that’s really cool to see. What do you do to get ready for Pitt? Lift and get big. That’s it. High school to college, there’s a bunch of differences. I was able to spend four days a week last year and into the summer at the Pitt (Regional Training Center) practices. I got to work out with all the guys that are currently on the team and it helped me to make some jumps. How did you first get into
wrestling? My dad, he played football, but when I was little, around 5, he was kind of worried that I was going to be soft. He went to Clarion and he lived with a lot of those Clarion wrestlers, so he figured he’d sign me up and I kind of went with it. Do you still play football? I
gave it up in the third grade when I broke and dislocated my ankle and I had to miss most of the wrestling season. At the same time, my dad was getting surgery to repair his neck and shoulder from football, and I just figured that it really wasn’t worth it. What is something people would be surprised to know about you? I’ve got a few things. I’m colorblind and I played bagpipes as a kid.
Do you still play? No. I haven’t picked them up since grade school. But it is still something I can bring up.