Mill Valley’s Colin McAlister is The Star’s 2024 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year

In five years, Colin McAlister hopes that he’s either an NCAA All-American, having completed a successful wrestling career with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, or on his way to starting his own business, with a business administration degree from the prestigious Nebraska College of Business.

Or, optimally, both.

McAlister, an incoming freshman headed to Lincoln, Nebraska, on a full wrestling scholarship, is The Star’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and he’s certainly earned it. He boasts a 4.2 weighted GPA as the valedictorian of his Mill Valley High School class and has more varsity letters in wrestling than he did losses in his senior season … by three.

He lost one match all year.

“I’m really most proud of what I was able to overcome last year,” said McAlister, a two-time state champion wrestler.

But even with all his success, he says he “experienced imposter syndrome, almost.”

For McAlister, that began at the beginning of the year. Having just earned his first state title, he felt the pressure to make it two straight, lest he face the disappointment that would come from falling short.

Then, that pressure was amplified even before his first meet as a high school senior when he announced his college choice.

“I am extremely grateful to announce that I will be continuing my academic and athletic career at the University of Nebraska,” McAlister wrote on Instagram on Sept. 27, 2023. “A huge thank you to the coaching staff at Nebraska for this incredible opportunity. I would also like to thank my coaches, teammates, friends, and family members for all their support along the way. Go Big Red!”

Making the decision to join the Cornhuskers, a program boasting 131 All-Americans, seven conference tournament titles and 11 individual champions, was, to many, a big step in the 17-year-old McAlister’s young wrestling career.

It was for McAlister, too, only he still had to overcome the feeling that he didn’t quite deserve it. That made the decision difficult to process.

“People think you’re supposed to be this really good kid,” McAlister said. “You’re coming off of a state title. You’ve just committed to a (Division I) college for wrestling, and the college you committed to is no slouch.

“I feel like a lot of people knew I deserved to be there. I just had to prove it to myself.”

He did.

McAlister took the mat for one more season and — in coach Joey Lazor’s words — “dominated” every opponent he faced, losing just once to a “stud from Tennessee” as he finished 51-1 and claimed a second straight state championship.

“It might have been a close match (at times),” Lazor explained of McAlister’s season, “but it was all controlled by him. Whenever he walked out on the mat, he knew he was going to dominate his opponent.”

McAlister’s confidence in adopting that mindset grew throughout the season.

“The main thing I would always do (was) fall back on my training,” McAlister said. “I trusted my training, talked to people that I knew believed in me, or I would just go in the practice room and work through things. If I ever need to work through stuff, the mat is always where I do it.”

Wrestling, to McAlister, is a happy place, though he’ll tell you that after acknowledging it “sounds cliché.” The mat was where he found his success, and where he wants to continue to do so.

But it isn’t the only place.

To qualify for The Star’s annual award, nominees have to fit both categories — the athlete and the scholar. McAlister’s two titles prove the latter, but the former? How about his valedictorian status, ACT score or even beyond that...

“I’m most excited to get to learn in the business college,” he said. “I can’t wait to get out there and do internships, meet people, expand my network, all that stuff. I love meeting new people and learning from people, so it’s going to be really great being out there.”

McAlister’s passion for business and academics showed in the classroom. He achieved a 4.2 weighted GPA, qualified for the All-State academic team four times and earned a pair of first-place nods for Mill Valley’s DECA team. He’s found success in an area of life that, among athletes, can sometimes play second fiddle.

“I feel like academics are (often) forgotten,” McAlister said. “Kind of overlooked. For the most part, it’s either people are really academically strong or they’re a very, very gifted athlete. And I’d like to say that my academics (have) gotten me where I am today.”

That belief, Lazor says, started with McAlister’s parents when he was young.

“They kind of push towards those academics, Mom and Dad,” Lazor said. “And he’s got a little brother, too, so I’m sure he looks up to him. (McAlister) is trying to set that good example for him, and he knows that academics are really going to help him get to where he wants to go.

“When I talk about it, I tell (my team) that wrestling is a tool. It’s a ticket to go get a degree, so (they) need to make sure that they’re still being good in the classroom.”

When you ask McAlister about the success he’s found, he’ll credit his family for instilling a sense of pride in academics. He’ll credit his father as a role model and his first wrestling coach, but also Lazor, who inspired him to pursue a future in business and on the mat — and maybe even as a coach someday.

“He’s kind of given me an outlook on how to do things,” McAlister said. “He’s been through it — every level (of wrestling) — so he knows how it is, and he’s very straight up about it. It’s nice to learn from him.

“I would love to coach wrestling in the future.”

Five years from now, McAlister hopes he’s an All-America wrestler. He hopes he finds a home with the Cornhuskers and continues to have a successful career on the mat, but also in the classroom. Maybe he’ll start a business or find a job coaching kids as they embark on their athletic journeys, which he’s already done in small capacities during camps at Mill Valley.

Maybe he’ll do all of those things. He’s already learned how to be a multifaceted athlete, after all. The hope is that if he does, he’ll have overcome the feeling of “not deserving it.” He’ll have earned it.

And to those around him, that won’t be surprising.

Not at all.

“He’s on pace to go do something great in life,” Lazor said of McAlister before delivering a word of advice to the 17-year-old scholar-athlete: “Remember that no matter what you do, it’s going to be hard. So choose your hard and dive fully into it. If you choose wrestling, then don’t stray from it.

“Don’t get complacent, and remember your ‘why.’”