High School Wrestling
Austin O’Donoghue becomes the all-time career wins record holder for Railer Wrestling
 

[June 04, 2021] 

Austin O’Donoghue set the Railer Wrestling Career Wins Record with 145 (and counting) on Thursday night in front of a huge crowd at Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium. 

O’Donoghue broke the previous record of 144 wins set by Jason Lawrence in 1995. The first person to congratulate O’Donoghue on the mat immediately after he pinned his 152-pound opponent from Mount Zion was none other than Jason Lawrence himself, a coach on the Railers Wrestling staff.

After the match, Lawrence was very happy for O’Donoghue and noted that it was an honor for an athlete who has worked so hard to break his record. “It’s makes me proud to see my name wiped from the record book,” said Lawrence. “I want to see my kids do better than me.” 

Lawrence emphasized the hard work O’Donoghue has put in from an early age. “I used to go pick him up to go to the Rec to work out at 5:30 in the morning. Most people don’t see all the work that goes into this. Austin has really put in the time and worked very hard for this.” 

O’Donoghue started wrestling when he was six years old and he recalled wanting to break the wins record for a long time. 

“It’s an honor,” said O’Donoghue of breaking the record. “I’ve been looking forward to this for probably seven or eight years. Coach Lawrence has been my coach since I was in third grade. Ever since I could understand what those records were, I thought that’s what I want to do. I want to break his record. I want to get that for my own and take all his names down. I don’t think I am going to get quite all of them but hopefully most of them," he said with a smile. 

O’Donoghue is also eyeing the Best Career Record for Overall Win Percentage held by Lawrence. 

O’Donoghue also broke the pin record last season and he is still adding to that number.

O’Donoghue is currently 24-0 on the season with more wrestling scheduled for this season. 

O’Donoghue also won by forfeit versus Charleston Thursday night to give him the tie with Lawrence. 

Last season O’Donoghue had 45 wins. This season was obviously shortened due to Covid. Imagine the wins O’Donoghue would have accumulated had it not been for Covid. He will undoubtedly leave a legacy on the mats at LCHS.

The Railers split with Charleston and Mount Zion Thursday night and improved their team record to 16-8 on the season. 

Lincoln will host Regionals on Sunday, June 13, 2021.

[Teena Lowery]