Athlete of the Week: Beck Hutchison, Hazleton Area

Feb. 22—Hazleton Area senior wrestler Beck Hutchison beat No. 1 seed Julian Everitt of Pittston Area by decision in the 126-pound championship on Saturday to earn his first career district gold medal in Class 3A.

For his accomplishment, Hutchison was chosen as The Citizens' Voice Athlete of the Week.

After having a day to think about it, what does it mean to win a district championship? Honestly, I just feel like I accomplished something that ... I feel really good about myself and what I did. I never made the finals before in any high school tournament. It was just a big milestone for myself to break.

What was your mind set going into the final; were you confident? I tried to treat it as if I was the guy to beat. He may have been the No. 1 seed, but I'm older than him and could use that to my advantage. Confidence has been my own worst enemy since I was a freshman. This year, once (the pandemic) happened, I started training better and working on my conditioning and my confidence shot up.

How different was it competing at the arena compared to a regular gymnasium? If this were a normal season, it would have made a big difference. I would have gotten more of the heebee jeebies. But, I was honestly happy that it was at the arena.

Did you feel any emotion considering it was your senior season? My father's really into watching me wrestle, and I was just really happy that he was there to see me accomplish that. I feel like one of his joys is seeing me and my brother wrestle, and I was just happy to do that for him.

What is your approach for regionals? I'm just going to go out and wrestle as if I have the target on my back. I've gotta feel like I'm the one to beat.

How long have you been wrestling? Growing up, wrestling in elementary school, I really wasn't into it. I didn't like it all that much until middle school. Then, I won the conference as a seventh grader, and I really started to like wrestling a lot and quit baseball. It's definitely a lot different looking at the three levels.

Get to Know Beck

Hometown: Hazleton

Age: 18

Family: Mother, Tina; father, Brian; brother, Cade; cats, Daisy and Duke

Favorite school subjects: Biology and computer science

Favorite teams: Penn State football and wrestling and New York Yankees

Favorite wrestler: Bo Nickal

Favorite movie: "Django Unchained"

Away from wrestling, Beck likes to ... run. "I'm actually going to train for a marathon after wrestling is over."

Do you have a pre-meet routine? "Every other year, I would have superstitions, like I needed to wear the same pair of socks for every match. But this year, I just didn't really care."

If Beck were an animal, he would be ... a moose.

Beck's biggest role models are ... his parents.

One thing Beck is afraid of is ... spiders.

After high school, Beck ... will likely attend PSU Hazleton. He wants to work with his father to save up money.

Contact the writer: tpiccotti@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2089; @CVPiccotti on Twitter