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Wainwright looking for more than ‘athletic’ wrestlers

Randy Lefko
Posted 6/15/17

GREEN COVE SPRINGS - Newberry College wrestling coach Cy Wainwright listed his top five items on his recruitment “skills” list during a recent visit to his alma mater, Clay High School, to stage …

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Wainwright looking for more than ‘athletic’ wrestlers


Posted

GREEN COVE SPRINGS - Newberry College wrestling coach Cy Wainwright listed his top five items on his recruitment “skills” list during a recent visit to his alma mater, Clay High School, to stage a week-long clinic. Ironically, being a great wrestler was not at the top of the list.

“I want to see work ethic, responsiveness to me as a coach and being a teammate are important parts of success at the next level; at our college level,” said Wainwright, a two-time Florida state champion while a Blue Devil and an unbeaten (36-0) national collegiate champion for Newberry College in 2008-09. “It’s a combination of responsiveness, coachability, work ethic and enthusiasm to learn as keys to achieving at the next level. Being a great athlete is really a small part of the equation.”

Wainwright, who was Eastern College Athletic Conference Division II coach of the year last year while at Coker with a first-ever All-American wrestler, is just the second coach at Newberry with his hiring in May 2016. He also reminded potential applicants that academics is always the bottom line.

“If you can’t get into the school because of grades, nothing else matters as far as how good an athlete you might be,” said Wainwright.

Wainwright, in combination with Clay High coaches Jim Reape and Hunter Hill, staged their week-long clinic with aspirations of some college-level techniques instruction, but bad news moved the camp to a “life” lesson as well.

“One of our most respected competitors, a state medalist out of Florida High in Tallahassee, Cam Brown, a second placer at 195 in Class 1A this year, was diagnosed recently with a pretty aggressive cancer in one of his legs,” said Reape. “He has been a top competitor for one of our guys, Kaleb Collins, and we are going to use some of the proceeds of this camp to give some money to his family.”

Reape noted that Brown, a stellar athlete for four years for Florida High wrestling, has been forced to travel between Tallahassee and Gainesville for treatment and care for his ailment. “We know that the cost of all that can add up quickly and we want to just let him and his family know that we are thinking and praying for him,” said Reape, who planned a Wed., June 14 visit to Gainesville to visit Brown. “You know, these kids all compete hard against each other all the time and when one of us goes down like this, the kids are affected by it whether it’s a teammate or a competitor. Cam and Kaleb have probably wrestled eight, 10 times in the last four years.”

Wainwright’s visit to the Clay County area also gave him opportunity to see other Florida prospects for possible inclusion in next year’s wrestling class.

“I have a unique advantage being a local guy who got out on a wrestling scholarship because I can call down and get information on guys because I’ve gone that route,” said Wainwright, who was named to the NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee in April. “Most coaches don’t think of Florida as a hot bed of high school wrestling with most heading to the midwestern states, but Florida is becoming a pretty tough wrestling state.”

One wrestler heading to Newberry College next year is Clay’s Kaleb Collins, three times a medal winner in Class 1A; fourth last year at 195 with two third place finishes. Wainwright noted that Newberry won a second consecutive conference title, had three NCAA qualifiers last year with one All-American (fifth at 125 pounds) and finished with another Top 25 ranking (22nd) for the 10th year in a row.

“We graduate a pretty good senior class of guys, we have a ton of good sophomores and we have a solid group of freshman also coming in,” said Wainwright. “We got kids from here; Collins, a kid from Tallahassee Lincoln (Josh Martin, third at 220 in 2A), a kid from Nevada, a kid from Washington and a kid from Idaho. It’s up to me as coach to get them all on the same page when they get here.”

Wainwright also visited the North Florida Wrestling Academy where another Blue Devil great; four time state champion P.J. Cobbert, rules the roost.

“I can relate to a kid like Jason Davis over at Fleming Island High (182 Class 3A champion; twice third at state) because I’ve been in his shoes,” said Wainwright. “Kids in north Florida are starting to compete at the highest levels because of youth programs like this one and Cobbert’s. It’s always good to get back here and see the local kids and hope that I can give a kid like that a shot like I got.”

One of Wainwright’s top pieces of advice for aspiring college wrestlers; athletes in general also, was marketability.

“Make yourself marketable through relationships with coaches, other wrestlers at other schools and teammates,” said Wainwright. “Use your high school coaches to promote your skills. The disadvantage in Florida is, like I said, that not a lot of coaches come down here. I can call Middleburg, Clay or Fleming Island and ask who looks good and then visit my family and roll around with prospects while I’m here.”