Boys captain and member of OSAA all-state second wrestling team, Lucas McCall-Petke, won silver for McDaniel at the state level wrestling championship on Feb.27 in the 215-pound final.
McCall-Petke lost in his fifth round to Forest Grove’s Brandon Cook after putting up quite a fight. This is the school’s first-ever wrestling state finalist in the history of the program. McCall-Petke describes the feeling of placing at state as “pretty good.”
Fellow senior captain Henry Folkerth describes McCall-Petke as a humble winner.
“States’ very like–everyone who loses in the finals, they threw their headgear and weren’t very chill, but Lucas was more mature,” McCall-Petke said.
McCall-Petke hoped to be a medalist at the state, and now he considers this hope fulfilled.
Teammate and junior Ford Morris describes Lucas as dedicated.
“When [Lucas] puts his mind to something, he really locks in,” Morris explained when asked about McCall-Petke’s podium.
McCall-Petke describes going from not placing to placing as a nice kind of weird.
As for the future of the wrestling program after his graduation, McCall-Petke believes the program is in good hands. He highlighted how the program is full of promising upcoming wrestlers.
McCall-Petke began the season strong, placing first in the Southridge tournament, the first tournament of the season. As for the end of the season, McCall-Petke explains that it’s “nice to end off on a good note.”
In his senior spotlight post on the official @mcdaniel_wrestling page on Instagram, McCall-Petke explains that his plans post-high school are to go to college to further his education in a variety of subjects. Outside of wrestling, McCall-Petke participates in Speech and Debate, and he is a state contender for this too. McCall-Petke is the first person of the debate team to go for impromptu speaking and parliamentary debate.
His fondest memory from wrestling is the point where he discovered his skill for wrestling.
“Basically there was a wrestling meet we were at my freshman year where I wasn’t meant to be wrestling anymore but our teams were neck-to-neck. It was a match at the heaviest weight class. I was one below. We didn’t have anyone wrestling in that weight class, so my coaches asked me if I wanted to try this,” McCall-Petke explained. “I ended up beating someone who was 50 pounds heavier than me to win the match,”
Although McCall-Petke does not plan to continue wrestling competitively in college, he hopes to find a wrestling club or jujitsu gym to participate in a combat sport.
