Kiski Area youth wrestler earns spot on Team USA, inspires younger brother

Kiski Area’s Mario Hutcherson, 15, is headed to El Salvador to compete for Team USA at the Pan-American Wrestling Championships on June 11-16.

Hutcherson earned his spot on the team by winning the U.S. Open in the 15U 75 kg division April 28 in Las Vegas. Hutcherson put on a dominant display, defeating Parker Casey in finals, 13-2, clinching back-to-back U.S. Open titles.

Hutcherson’s strategy was to wear Casey down, tire him out, then smash him. Hutcherson executed his plan to perfection and earned a decisive victory.

“It felt good, but it was just one of those tournaments I knew I had to win and dominate to set me up for the future,” Hutcherson said.

Hutcherson also won his fourth state title this year. His father Greg, a former Division I football player at Bowling Green and Indiana State, was impressed with his showing at states.

“He dominated and made it look easy, but it’s not easy,” Greg Hutcherson said. “The hard work and the preparation it takes to go into that is very tough. Making the weight and also, the practices day in, day out and the nutrition with all that the stuff in between, that’s what a lot of people don’t see. When they do see the end results, a lot of people think, ‘Oh, he made it look easy,’ but there was a lot of stuff in between there that went on to get to that point.”

Hutcherson outscored his opponents 86-0 in pursuit of his state title.

That momentum carried on into the U.S. Open, making him a back-to-back champ.

Last year, Hutcherson defeated Cooper Rowe to take home the title for the U15 class at the 68 kg division. This year, Hutcherson hit a growth spurt, and he added 25 pounds as he grew. Nevertheless, moving up a weight class was an easy adjustment.

Hutcherson, as an eighth grader, works out with the Kiski Area high school team. Wrestling older wrestlers made it simple for Mario to adjust to the 75 kg division.

“Strength was different from opponents, but nothing major,” Hutcherson said. “The strength there, all of it was stronger, but I see it every day in practice wrestling the older guys.”

Hutcherson is now preparing to wrestle internationally for the first time.

Last year, there was a two-step process to reach the Pan-American championships and Hutcherson didn’t advance. This year is an Olympic year, so his victory earns him a spot on Team USA immediately since the Pan-Am tournament is pushed up on the calendar.

Hutcherson trains at Hutchy Hammers with Dave Sidun and Young Guns wrestling club with John and Jody Strittmatter. He balances those two clubs with wrestling with Kiski Area and working with strength coach Jeff Jackson.

Club wrestling allows Hutcherson to have a plethora of sparring partners, including Landon Sidun and Jack White from Norwin, Elijah Brown from Belle Vernon and Jonah Erdely from Frazier. Mario is using the different types of styles he wrestles in sparring to his advantage.

“I have a lot of different types of wrestlers in my practice room,” Hutcherson said. “Whether it’s a fast pace, whether it’s a slow pace, whether it’s a slow-you-down type of pace, it’s a lot, but they’re gonna have to adapt to my pace. Gonna be coming at them the whole time.”

Greg Hutcherson said that Dan Dennis, a former freestyle and folkstyle wrestler at Iowa, and current coach at Iowa, mentioned that U.S. wrestlers tend to wrestle at a faster pace and hand fight more, which is different than the pace of international wrestlers.

Hutcherson wants to keep the same mentality as he travels to El Salvador.

“Everything’s the same, just pick it up even more,” Hutcherson said. “Just because I won the U.S. Open doesn’t mean I can slouch or anything. We’re going to pick it up even more.”

His parents, Greg and Tara, hired a nutritionist as well. Greg mentioned that they focus on making sure Mario only has to worry about competing and having fun.

“He has one of the best nutritionists in the country,” Hutcherson said. “It helps us with his meal planning, what he should be eating, what he should not be eating. So we kind of just rely on our nutritionist and he does all that work for us, and my wife and I just basically grocery shop, get the right foods and make sure we’re feeding him at the right times when he’s supposed to based off his nutrition.”

Hutcherson started wrestling when he was 4 and is now living out one of his dreams, making it to the U.S. team. He fulfilled another dream as he practiced at the University of Iowa.

“It was one of those things that I dreamed of and who knows what the future will be like?” Hutcherson said. “There was a lot of great coaching out there and a lot of great partners.”

Hutcherson’s dedication to perfecting his craft on the mat has resulted in him wrestling in a worldwide tournament. He lifts three days a week and has put his heart and soul into wrestling.

Team USA handles travel arrangements, and the team has recently started practicing together. Greg is impressed with the professionalism and the organization of the U.S. team.

“They all fly out together. They train together. They wrestle together,” Hutcherson said. “It’s really top notch. They send USA Wrestling coaches for these guys, and they’re great coaches for him. So we’re excited for that. This will be his first time wrestling internationally, so he’ll get a taste of some international competition. Hopefully we’re doing this every year.”

While Hutcherson is new to the worldwide stage, his 11-year-old brother Marco also is making his way up the totem pole.

Marco won the 12U U.S. Open for his age group and is moving up into the 15U World Team Trials next year.

“It’s a great journey to watch both be at the top of their age group and weight classes,” Greg Hutcherson said. “It’s a marathon not a sprint, so we take it one day at a time and just continue to be consistent in the training.”

Hutcherson said Mario has been a great role model for Marco. Marco is also continuously perfecting his craft as he has already won three state titles.

“Everything that Mario does, Marco wants to follow,” Hutcherson said. “The nice thing about that is that I don’t have to do much as far as for Marco because he just watches and follows Mario. So Mario’s success basically rubs off on him, and it’s kind of a standard that we have. Mario is that standard for Marco.”

With Mario being a four-time state champ, Marco has quite the standard to follow, but Marco is inspired by Mario and follows his lead, securing another state title and a win at the 12U level after being fourth in last year’s U.S. Open.

“Every time I go to see him, whether he wins it or whether he may come up short, he’s dominating and attacking and doing everything right,” Mario Hutcherson said. “It’s very important for me to be in his corner to make him feel comfortable, and I feel by me leading the way, he’ll fall right behind me and do everything right.”

Mario is grateful for his parents’ support throughout his wrestling career.

“They’ve done a lot of work, a lot of nutrition, weight cut, lifting, like they set everything up for me to do everything to get me to be the best,” he said. “And there’s a big thank you for that.”