Wrestler of the Year - Congrats Charlie!

As we were debating behind the scenes at Legacy Wrestling to make our selections for athletes and coaches of the year, we applied a new directive this year – pick the best candidates, regardless of weight, with an eye on more exclusivity than year’s past.

What that means is we narrowed it down to nine boys, four girls, and three coaches. In the past, we’ve had a Lightweight, Middleweight, and Upper Weight from each division along with a coach from each and the girls have always fluctuated.

And in that process, we came to a place we had never been before as siblings Charlie and Summer Mutschler were picked as year end awardees. What makes it more remarkable is they are triplets with a cross-country running sister named Jade.

“Being named wrestler of the year means a lot to me and I think it just reflects all of the hard work I put in during the offseason and the season,” said Mutschler.

Sometimes a pick is not necessarily the best, but has overachieved, or did something else remarkable. In the case of Archbishop Spalding’s Charlie Mutschler, he did something remarkable, as he improved upon his placing at every single tournament he entered this year, except the Beast of the East, where he equaled his blood round effort.

“Improving my placing at every tournament this year is again, just another testament to all of the hard work I put in and all that my coaches have done to help me get better and get to where I am,” Mutschler added. “I also couldn’t have done it without my mom’s cooking which helped me to get to the weight I needed to and be fueled so I could compete to my best ability.”

That set him apart from some of his other number one counterparts in the state of Maryland as Mutschler began the year atop the 113-pound rankings and held that position throughout the season.

A state championship was pocketed a year after being a runner-up to Loyola-Blakefield’s No. 1 at 120, Tyler Verceles. Verceles would still haunt Mutschler this year as he gave the sophomore his only loss to a Maryland Wrestler in their dual meet, 12-7, at 120 pounds.

“It felt really good to stand on the top of the podium at the end of the year, but it wasn’t a surprise,” Mutschler remarked. “I knew I had prepared the best I could and I did everything to be there. My coaches and parents had coached and prepared me to be there from the start.”

On top of all that, Mutschler’s Cavalier squad won this year’s state championship outright, one season after tying Gilman in the standings.

“It felt really good to be a part of a state championship and it was even better to win it by a little bit compared to the tie last year,” dished Mutschler. “The whole year we knew we were the best team in the state and would call out “state champs” every day after practice so it felt really good to do it.”

Going back to last year, Mutschler has beaten McDonogh’s No. 2 Jacob Naylor at every turn, expect a dual meet loss in 2025. This year the Cavalier handled Naylor four times, including a 3-2 tiebreaker win in the state finals. At states, Mutschler dropped a 19-3 technical fall on Mt. St. Joseph’s No. 10 James Wright and stuck Loyola’s No. 23 Logan Myers, 1:43.

“Naylor is an incredible competitor and is very good and always a tough match,” offered Mutschler. “He doesn’t give up anything easy and always comes out to scrap. I look forward to continuing to compete against him in the future.”

Naylor was also Mutschler’s MIAA Finals victim in an easier to breathe, 10-2, major decision. A pin of No. 6 Miles Molina (Gilman) and two more in 47 and 30 seconds helped him improve on last year’s MIAA Bronze.

“Winning MIAAs felt good going into the state tournament knowing the top four guys at MIAAs were going to be the same at states,” said Mutschler. “I got third last year so improving on that felt great and I felt like I wrestled great all the way through the tournament. Also winning the team title felt great to do for the second straight year.”

The first time Mutschler sat Naylor down in this campaign was in the Ray Oliver semifinals, 7-0, to kick off the season. Three pins preceded the Naylor win, including one against Peyton Friedman (Paul VI, VA), setting up a finals rematch with Ben Donato (Caesar Rodney, DE).

It wasn’t a recent rematch. It was from the 2024 Ray Oliver, when Donato beat Mutschler, 7-5, as the Cavalier landed in sixth place. This was another close match, but Mutschler was able to slay Donato, 13-10, to start the year off in Grand Style and begin the trend of marked improvement.

“Ray Oliver is always a tough tournament,” Mutschler said. “I got sixth last year, so it felt really great to stand in the top of the podium. I had lost to Ben there last year so to come back in the finals and win that match felt great. It was a confidence boost to begin the season knowing that I could make the weight, wrestle really well and beat some really good guys to begin the season.”

Unfortunately, Donato would be the guy who halted Mutschler’s Beast progression at the blood round on a 5-4 decision. Mutschler fell to Cael Muller (Notre Dame-Green Pond, PA), 7-0, and had notable wins over Holmdel, New Jersey’s Sayan Rao, 5-1, and Kingsway Regionals’ Evan Villecco, 6-3. A 12-0 major decision and a pin were used in two other wins.

A year ago, fourth was Mutschler’s landing spot at War on the Shore. Flash forward to this edition, and the Cavalier walked out as the 113-pound champ after surviving an overtime scare with Vince Von Bernewitz (Great Bridge, VA), 8-5 in the finals, and teching No. 7 Owen Hayden (Huntingtown), 19-3. Three first period pins were logged in the early going. Hayden is a three-time state placer that was fourth this season.

“Winning War on the Shore and improving on my fourth-place finish from last year felt really good,” Mutschler elaborated. “I wrestled really well through the semis and had a tough overtime match in the finals with Vince who is a really tough guy. I never doubted at all that I was going to lose that match even when I went down 4-0 because I knew I have the pace and conditioning, thanks to my coaches, to get it done in the third. If felt great to stand on the top of the podium and get that surfboard.”

The National Prep Tournament afforded Mutschler one last opportunity to outdo his previous self, and he answered by reaching the seventh rung of the prep podium a year after failing to gain hardware. The placement match set him up opposite a very familiar foe in Naylor, who he dished one final 4-2 loss to.

Mutschler opened with a close match against Carson Brown (Avon Old Farms), 12-10, and didn’t catch a break with a 2-1 bout versus Knox Ritchie (McCallie, TN) right after and then lost to No. 4 in the nation, Justin Farnsworth (Malvern Prep) by fall.

In the consolation bracket, Mutschler decked Cash Waymire of Tennessee’s Brentwood Academy, 2:38, and lost to Riley Alcantar (Baylor School, TN), 5-3.

“It felt good to place at national preps because that’s always been one of my goals,” Mutschler said. “Now just getting back to work to improve for next year.”

In January, Mutschler added two nice wins to his resume when he took down Mt. St. Joe’s Nathan Matthis (No. 3 at 120), 6-3, in a dual and bested No. 9 Quinn Greenstreet (Chesapeake-AA) at the Cavalier Duals, 4-0. Both Matthis and Greenstreet finished second at their respective state tournaments.

Mutschler surfaced in the Sophomore Brackets at the NHSCA Nationals up at 120 pounds and reached the blood round before his time there came to an end. The losses were to two wrestlers who were previously nationally rated, Oklahoma’s Aiden Jalajel and Pennsylvania’s Preston Bubash.

Mutschler had two close ones at NHSCA beating Brayden Laird (PA), 10-8, and New Jersey’s Adrian Feliciano, 10-9. Another PA grappler, Matthew Rowles was handed a 16-9 loss.

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