- May 1, 2024
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Kevin McLean of Palm Coast is not in high school yet, but he has already earned a medal at the FHSAA state wrestling championships.
The eighth grader placed third at 106 pounds in Class 1A at the state tournament Feb. 29 to March 2 at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
McLean was one of two wrestlers on the St. Johns County Day team. His father, Tim, knew the SJCD coach, Hunter Hill, through club tournaments. Hill offered Kevin a chance to compete against high school wrestlers. As a pre-K through grade 12 private school, SJCD is allowed middle school athletes on its varsity teams.
“It was an opportunity for Kevin to compete on the state level,” Tim McLean said.
After Christmas the McLeans home-schooled Kevin and he practiced about half the time with the Flagler Wrestling Club, led by Flagler Palm Coast High School head coach David Bossardet. The rest of the week, he traveled to Green Cove Springs. Kevin and Hill’s son, seventh grader Colt Hill, practiced with the Clay High School wrestling team.
Hunter Hill, a former wrestling coach at Clay, was just starting the program at SJCD this season and Colt and Kevin were his first wrestlers. Colt Hill also placed at state, finishing seventh at 113 pounds.
Kevin had a 29-4 high school record this year. He won the district title and was runner-up at the regional tournament. At state, he lost his second-round match and then won four straight consolation matches to finish with a 5-1 record in Kissimmee.
He beat high school junior Eli Jolicoeur of Suwannee, 8-6, to win the third-place match.
Next year, Kevin will join older brother T.J. on FPC’s wrestling team, Tim McLean said. T.J. McLean, who will be a senior next school year, placed fifth at state as a sophomore in 2023 at 106 pounds in Class 2A.
“I want T.J. and Kevin to be together at least one season,” Tim McLean said.
