A Goal Unchanged

Kayne MacCallum was in the midst of a record-breaking season in January 2018. Then wrestling at Eastern Michigan University, MacCallum was on a run that would lead him to be the school's first individual conference champion since 2009; he would be one of five EMU wrestlers to earn a bid to the NCAA Championships, the largest group to do so since 1996.

He didn't know it then, but he would be the last MAC champion at Eastern Michigan. Along with his teammates, he would be part of the final group of Eagles to represent EMU at the NCAA championships.

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A native of Libertyville, Ill., MacCallum began wrestling as a fifth grader.

MacCallum grew up in Libertyville, Ill., just north of Chicago, and began wrestling when he was in the fifth grade. A neighborhood friend who was a wrestler encouraged MacCallum to join his team.

“At first, I thought it was like throwing chairs at people and just roughing around,” laughed MacCallum. “Then I realized that it's actually a hard sport to do. I tried it in fifth grade and liked it, now I'm here, 12 years later."

MacCallum went on to earn four varsity letters at Libertyville High School and amassed a 130-25 record in his prep career. From there, he went on to wrestle at Eastern Michigan.

"Eastern Michigan was a good choice for me. … I liked the team, I liked the coaches, liked the areas around it. It was a good fit for me."

MacCallum made the Eagles' lineup as a freshman, posting a 12-11 record before redshirting the following year. It was his last season at Eastern Michigan saw him his greatest success. MacCallum went 18-15 overall with a 10-6 mark in duals and a 5-2 slate against conference opponents. He went on to win the 184 pounds title at the MAC Championships to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament.

Just two days after returning from the NCAA Championships, MacCallum and the Eagles received an email asking them to attend an early-morning team meeting. There, the university president and athletics director informed the team that Eastern Michigan would be cutting sports four due to budgetary reasons, and wrestling would be one of them.

Said MacCallum, he and his teammates were taken by surprise. “It was sad, but it was probably a lot more sad for the younger kids than me because I only had one year left and they had their whole careers,” said MacCallum.

"It was a great feeling that we were one of the most accomplished groups at Eastern Michigan,” MacCallum said.

“It's tough that our memory there and accomplishments won't really be remembered as well as they could have been. There's nothing like your name being put on a wall saying you're the last MAC champion, or [my teammate] Sa'Derian Perry was the last All-American. Without that recognition, it's tough, but overall it's a great personal feeling."

Suzuki

MacCallum was the last MAC champion at Eastern Michigan and one of the last Eagles to wrestle at the NCAA Championships.

Eastern Michigan would honor scholarships for student-athletes whose teams were cut, but many of MacCallum's teammates chose to leave.

“Some people did stay but a lot of kids left because it's not all about the money, it's about wrestling and doing something you love,” MacCallum said. “With my situation, it was a little bit of both: I needed the money, too, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go to college. They would've honored [my scholarship] but I wasn't on enough for grad school. … It just seemed right to move somewhere where I could get more athletic scholarship."

"The goal has never really changed: I want to be an All-American."
-- Kayne MacCallum

Because of his success at EMU, it didn't take long for MacCallum to start receiving offers from other universities. The Sooners' assistant coach, Nick Heflin, was one of the first to reach out to MacCallum. A week later, he was in Norman on an official visit, and after seeing the campus and meeting the team, MacCallum felt like OU was the right place to finish out his athletic and academic careers.

MacCallum quickly found his way into the Sooners' lineup at 184 pounds and has competed in every tournament and dual this season, picking up 10 wins along the way. The graduate has tallied three pins this year, including one in the Sooners' upset victory over then-No. 16 Arizona State at the Virginia Duals.

And although he is as new to the team as the freshmen who joined the squad this season, MacCallum's experience has garnered him a leadership role.

“Being a post grad makes you a leader just inevitably,” said head coach Lou Rosselli. “When you get a bit older you get a little better, more wisdom of what you need to do to be successful at the national tournament. He's done a good job, he does what's asked, he's a good student, he works hard. I think that alone, he does that a lot by the example of being successful.”

With just months left in his collegiate wrestling career, MacCallum credits the Sooners' coaching staff for pushing him to give his last season everything he's got.

"Coming here, it's more of a relief than anything. The process was so stressful getting here. The move was easy but the mental stress – not knowing where I'm going to be going for a while was a little taxing on me,” said MacCallum.

“The goal has never really changed: I want to be an All-American. That's been my passion since high school, middle school. Now that I'm here and I'm close to doing it, I'm hoping that if I put together a good tournament in the Big 12 tournament and in the National Championships that I can end up where I want to be."

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MacCallum against West Virginia. The graduate transfer picked up his third pin of the season in the Sooners' win over the Mountaineers.

MacCallum and the Sooners are home to host Lehigh Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424. The match will air on Fox Sports Oklahoma. Live stats will be available through Trackwrestling.

The Lehigh match will be contested under the spotlight in McCasland Field House, and free glow sticks will be provided for fans in attendance while supplies last.

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A Goal Unchanged

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