Football and basketball players aren’t the only ones who can raise their profile during summer.
Desert Mountain wrestler Shane McGough went to North Dakota last week and finished in 5th place at 125 pounds in the Freestyle Junior Nationals to become the first All-American wrestler in school history.
In the process, McGough became the fourth student-athlete in Desert Mountain history to be an All-American (regardless of sport), joining a few Wolves swimmers from earlier this decade. The senior-to-be has lost six matches in his high school career, two since his freshman year.
He and Ryan Finch (Safford) at 112 pounds were the only Arizona representatives to be All-Americans in the junior freestyle.
McGough didn’t stop there. The two-time 5A state champion (he finished runner-up as a freshman) spent his summer at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., the University of Iowa with former Olympic gold medal-winner Dan Gable and with the Oklahoma Junior National Team.
Shane became the first wrestler from the City of Scottsdale or the Scottsdale Unified District to become a high school all-American. His accomplishments surpass Chris Heckel who was a 3-time state champ at Chaparral.
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Shane since the 7th grade when I coached him at the Phoenix/Brophy Wrestling Club. All his hard work has paid off, he is an excellent role model for other high school wrestlers in the Scottsdale area, showing them what can be accomplished.