End of Mewhorter’s hoop dreams allows him to reach potential on the mat

In hindsight, getting cut from the St. James basketball team in eighth grade was one of the best things that ever happened to Michael Mewhorter.

Mewhorter decided he would attempt to leave an imprint at the school in a different sport instead.

And ever since his first day as a member of the Sharks wrestling team, Mewhorter has set the bar high. In his four years at St. James, Mewhorter racked up over 125 individual wins, helped lead the program to four straight Class AAA Lower State playoff appearances and achieved his ultimate goal of winning a state title as he took home a ring in the 2016 Class AAA individual state championship to cap an illustrious high school wrestling career.

“He definitely is a very, very hard worker. He doesn’t know the meaning of ‘I can’t.’ There’s no such thing to him,” Sharks wrestling coach Matt Anderson said of Mewhorter, The Sun News’ Toast of the Coast Wrestler of the Year. “Michael is a tough kid and you never have to worry about him going easy. There’s some guys you have to motivate, but you don’t have to motivate Michael.”

Mewhorter – a two-time Class AAA state qualifier – used a loss in the finals of the 2015 Class AAA individual state championship, which Anderson said was on a bad call, as a catalyst in his campaign for the title.

“That has been on his mind all season long,” said Anderson, The Sun News’ Toast of the Coast Coach of the Year.

Carolina Forest’s John Winzenried upset Mewhorter in the championship match of the 2016 Horry/Georgetown County Invitational, which ended up being his only loss of the season as he finished with a 42-1 individual record.

“It hurt to take a loss and I learned from that. I didn’t want to feel that pain and didn’t want to lose again, especially not in the finals like last year,” Mewhorter said. “So that definitely gave me some drive.”

As a result, Mewhorter’s journey ended with a big smile and a gold medal.

“It was definitely one of the best moments in my life. Myself, my family, team and coaches have worked so hard ever since I started wrestling,” he said. “My number one goal has been to win a state title ever since I started wrestling. That moment of finally getting it is indescribable.”

For Anderson and assistant coaches Ryan Lohman and Mason Myles, all the work they put in for Mewhorter’s development certainly paid off.

“We were very glad to see him work hard enough to get through it,” Anderson said. “And he did it in fairly easy fashion too; he just worked hard and it paid off.”

Lohman, especially, takes time out of his schedule in the offseason to work with Mewhorter and the group. Mewhorter said St. James wrestlers get about a week off when the season ends, then they’re back with Lohman, preparing for the next season.

“Michael worked a lot with coach Lohman. They would meet quite a bit, and the guys really don’t have much of an offseason,” Anderson said. “… With me coaching other sports, [Lohman] is our backbone. He just does a fantastic job working with the younger kids. We get them to him and he starts working on them. He gives up a lot of family and personal time to be there for our kids.”

Meanwhile, Mewhorter also worked with the Grand Strand Hurricanes Wrestling Club in the offseason to perfect his craft.

“Getting in practices with the Grand Strand Hurricanes definitely helped a lot,” he said. “They have a great facility and there’s a lot of coaches there to pass you knowledge. It’s a good place.”

And with his mind in the right place, Mewhorter was able to go out and be just as comfortable as he is tenacious.

“We worked him a lot on his feet, making sure he has a real ‘in your face’ attitude in takedowns. He’s usually very aggressive on his feet, and he’s very, very meticulous on the bottom and it’s very difficult to overturn him,” Anderson said. “We know he can take down pretty much anyone in the state, and he’s very confident and comfortable on his feet.”

As a team, St. James fell to Hilton Head in the second round of the Class AAA Lower State playoffs. But the Sharks – who had seven state qualifiers – finished 26-3 overall, won the Horry/Georgetown County Invitational championship, the Region VII-AAA championship and finished eighth as a team at the Class AAA individual state championship.

Mewhorter said it wasn’t only the losses that kept him motivated, but also the encouragement of his teammates and their hard work as they pushed each other to be their best.

“I saw how much they wanted me to win it. All four years with those guys, I saw how much work they put in,” Mewhorter said. “They pushed me and I pushed them and we definitely have a close bond. It’s just a great group of guys and I wanted to win it for them as much as I wanted it for myself.”

Mewhorter may have never done so had he made the basketball team in eighth grade.

“I'm glad I didn't make the team,” he said with a chuckle.

So, what else is on Mewhorter's plate?

“I'm thinking about going into MMA (mixed martial arts),” he said. “I want to start at Fitness Edge MMA and work my way up. I know if I work hard, I can achieve my goals.”

Anderson said he thinks if Mewhorter puts his mind to it, he can succeed.

“Mike would be a scrapper,” Anderson said. “He definitely could compete. It would be tricky to watch him do that, but if he wanted to – he’s definitely tough enough. There’s no doubt about it.”

Mewhorter said he would first like to continue his education, though, and if he can get an offer to grapple in the collegiate ranks, he would gladly continue his wrestling career.

Regardless, Mewhorter will always be obsessed with the competitive nature of grappling.

“Ever since we were young, we would always beat up on each other. We like the competitiveness of fighting and we would push each other around and stuff; it was fun,” Mewhorter said, referring to himself and his brother, Bradley, who also wrestled at St. James. “He always had the upper hand on me because he was always bigger, but I think I got him now.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 8:05 PM with the headline "End of Mewhorter’s hoop dreams allows him to reach potential on the mat."