Mackenzie Manuel

Mackenzie Manuel hates to lose. Lexington’s most accomplished wrestler dropped her first match of the season then reeled off 25 straight wins.

“That kind of lit her up,” coach Mike McKay told The Register. “She was winning when she lost that first match. She didn’t want to feel that again, so she went on a 25-match win streak and didn’t lose again until the regional final. That’s just who she is.”

Manuel, the No. 2 seed at 170 pounds in Class 5A out of the west regional, recently finished fourth in her weight class at the OSSAA state wrestling meet in Oklahoma City.

She lost her first match to Wagoner’s Alyvia Edwards at 170 pounds, then won two in a row to reach the third-place match and a rematch with Edwards. The Wagoner wrestler won a 9-4 decision.

Manuel’s toughest match of the state meet, however, came against Oologah-Talala's Jaylee Sanders in the consolation semifinals, a match she had to win to reach the podium.

Sanders just happened to be a state-runner up and a two-time state placer.

“We really had to go get it, and she did,” McKay said. “She ended up pinning her in the first. It was important to win that one because if we don’t win that one, we don’t medal.”

Perhaps most impressive about Manuel’s accomplishment is that she didn’t even start wrestling until her junior year, according to McKay.

“She started late compared to a lot of wrestlers,” he said. “A lot of wrestlers now a days  start when they can barely walk.

“So, for her to start her junior year and then be so dominant was a result of how hard she works.”

Manuel, a senior, is also a pretty good softball player who will continue her career at McClennan Community College in Waco, Texas.

She is a glutton for punishment, prompting McKay to say, “this kid is different.”

Manuel never missed one of McKay’s grueling practices. After practicing, she would go home and get cleaned up, then return to the school for hitting practice.

“She’s the hardest working athlete I’ve ever coached, boy or girl,” he said. “I think she’s obsessed with winning. “I think she hates losing more than she likes winning. She just wants to be the best.”