Kiski Area’s Mario Hutcherson wins wrestling gold at Pan-Am trials in El Salvador

Kiski Area’s Mario Hutcherson came, saw and conquered in the Pan-Am trials from June 11-16 in El Salvador, winning gold in the 75-kilogram (165-pound) weight class.

His victory came a month-and-a-half after taking home the 15-under 75-kilogram U.S. Open title in Las Vegas, which was his second in a row.

This was Hutcherson’s first time wrestling in a different country, and he and the team dominated. Eight out of the 10 wrestlers took home gold, and two won bronze.

Hutcherson went 8-0 and outscored his opponents 68-1 as he competed against wrestlers from Puerto Rico, Argentina, El Salvador, Mexico and Ecuador.

His father, Greg Hutcherson, was proud of his son’s accomplishment as he continues to build a wrestling legacy.

“As a 15-year-old, this is the highest level that you can reach wrestling on a world team representing your country,” Hutcherson said. “Everything that he’s done to prepare for this moment and then to see him go out and dominate, it was just almost refreshing to see that happen.”

Mario, who will be a freshman in the fall, said the victory was proof the his work was paying off. Although he had the confidence to wrestle worldwide, he now has the gold to prove he belongs at the elite worldwide class.

He said his favorite moment came whenever he threw the American flag across his back and ran with it. For the first time, however, he was getting booed since Team USA was seen as a powerhouse.

“It was getting real rowdy in there,” Hutcherson said. “The fans weren’t liking us. They were booing us, and whenever we got to run with the flag, it was just like an award right in their face.”

Team USA put on a clinic, tallying 230 points. Puerto Rico was second with 132, and Mexico was third with 128.

Greg Hutcherson said a coach from Team USA told him most don’t realize how hard it is to bring the top kids across the country together on one team.

Nonetheless, the wrestlers have the same goals: to be high school state champions, college national champions and Olympic champions.

“Bringing all those kids together is something,” Greg Hutcherson said. “It’s just kind of like they all feed off of each other, and eight out of the 10 kids from the USA won gold. It was nice to see that there weren’t that many sad faces at the end of the weekend, and how well American wrestling is going and how much they dominated.”

The Americans combined for a 34-2 record in the trials.

“I made some new friends on the team,” Mario Hutcherson said. “It was good, though. We all came together at the hotel in another country and stuck together all the time.”

In terms of the competition, Mario Hutcherson said he was prepared for the different styles.

“The hand fighting was different,” Hutcherson said. “Some of those guys from those other countries, they’re a lot more laid back, compared to people in the U.S., where they just go, go, go and attack you.”

However, Hutcherson adjusted to the difference in styles and had the perfect strategy. He just kept doing what he does best, and that is turn up the aggression.

“I thought if I just got to my attack and focused on me scoring, they couldn’t score because my pressure was going to be too much,” Hutcherson said.

Hutcherson’s strategy worked as he beat Layden Acevedo Cordero, who won silver for Puerto Rico, and Benjamin Casas Vaquel, who won bronze for Argentina.

Greg Hutcherson said his son’s preparation paid off on the big stage.

“He’s wrestling older high school kids and college kids every day in practice,” Greg Hutcherson said. “For him, to see him get to wrestle his age group, it looks easy, but this morning, he wrestled with Trent Hidlay, a runner-up in college this year from North Carolina State. He wrestled Cody Law before we left, who was a Division II NCAA champion at Pitt-Johnstown. He’s wrestling Shane Valko, who was a national champion from Pitt-Johnstown, and Maddox Shaw, who’s going to Ohio State. He’s a junior at Thomas Jefferson right now who’s one of the top-ranked high school kids in the country.”

Next up for Hutcherson are the Fargo Nationals from July 13-18 in Fargo, N.D.

“Fargo’s next, and the preparation are just the same things,” Mario Hutcherson said. “Just keep going. I’m getting ready to go real hard coming off of El Salvador. We’ll take a little break and then get straight into that hard training leading into Fargo.”