Stevensville’s Devin McLane had a tough draw in his first high school wrestling tournament on a recent Saturday in Corvallis. Without a varsity record, the freshman was slotted against the tournament’s top-ranked wrestler at 103 pounds.
Devin faced the challenge, like he does most things in his life, with tenacity and grit.
“You just have to think you cannot be beat and as long as you know that, you won’t be beat,” McLane said of his mentality on the wrestling mat.
It could very well be a mantra for his life.
See, Devin wrestles — and does just about everything else — without the use of his arms.
Devin has a condition called Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita, or AMC for short. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) explains AMC as a “development of multiple joint contractures affecting two or more areas of the body prior to birth.” The stuck joints can create stiff or missing muscles, according to Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Devin does a better job of clearing that all up; after all, he’s informed countless inquisitive children and unknowing adults as he’s grown up.
“It’s a rare condition,” McLane said of AMC, which affects about 1 in 3,000 people in the US, according to the NIH. “I don’t have any, really, muscles in my shoulders so I don’t use my arms.”
Devin also has to stand and walk on his tip toes, adding stature to the wrestler who competes at the lightest weight class the high school sport offers.
Those toes do more than increase Devin’s height, though. They also serve as Devin’s hands.
“…If you can do it with your hands, I can do it with my feet,” he said. “I use mine to eat, to write, to draw, to cook.”[…]
So when Devin came home from middle school one day and told his mom that he wanted to wrestle, how could Michelle say no?
“For me, I’ve seen how he just lights up and he wants to be a part of something bigger than himself,” Michelle said. “…When he’s on the mat, the dads, the kids, they don’t necessarily see (him) as, ‘Oh, Devin with the disability.’ I’ve had dads come up to me and say, ‘That kid has heart.'”
Devin’s effort was on full display at the wrestling tournament on Dec. 15.
With his Stevensville Yellowjacket wrestling squad sitting beside the mat, head coach Ted Adams in the wrestler’s corner and Devin’s mom rooting just alongside the playing field, McLane took center stage with his opponent.
He offered a low handshake to his combatant, then the two squared off. Devin’s opponent scored an early takedown and tried for the pin, but he had trouble rotating the Yellowjacket wrestler. Devin’s core strength and flexibility are assets in the grueling sport.
“My legs are super strong, I’d say, and my abs,” Devin said. “I mean, I have to do crunches every time I want to take my sock off.”
He battled from the bottom, trying to hook his leg into his opponent for a modified move or reversal. He was unable to gain the upper hand.
But Devin kept from getting pinned, something he accomplished in his final match of the day, too. In fact, he scored a pair of escape points, including one that nearly turned into a reversal of his own.
The crowd in the gym went wild.
“We keep telling these guys that wrestling is about 30 percent physical and you gotta go out there with the mentality that you’re willing to give it everything you got,” Adams said. “That’s huge and I think (Devin) does that.”