Mt. Hope wrestler Andrew McCarthy achieved All-American status by placing fifth in the 138-pound weight class in the Nuway Combat Summer Nationals in Atlantic City, NJ last week. 

“Andrew has worked extremely hard this off-season and has grown physically and mentally as a wrestler,” said Huskies wrestling coach Ryan Fazzi. “He has taken every opportunity to wrestle and has beaten wrestlers that he has previously lost to including collegiate wrestlers.”

McCarthy went a phenomenal 40-4 during the high school season and 3-1 at the state tournament, losing to Ponaganset’s Jacob Joyce in the 126-pound championship. He went 2-2 at the New England tournament and 5-2 at the national tournament, where he placed fifth earning All-American status. 

“I am proud of my performance and what I’ve achieved so far,” Mccarthy said. “My driving force is wanting to win and better myself.”

The soon to be junior said that he loved the challenge of competing against the top wrestlers in the country at his age and weight class. 

“It was difficult, but fun,” said the humble McCarthy who will be a junior this fall. “It was tiring, but I learned a lot.”

As grueling as the high school winter schedule was with over 36 matches and tournaments, McCarthy doubled down this off season and is working even harder.

“We forced him to stop and take a breather after the New England tournament,” said coach Fazzi. “Then he was off and running. The kid is getting good.” 

McCarthy flourished while wrestling in high school and collegiate tournaments this spring, winning the Massachusetts Freestyle and Greco Roman State Championship, the Roger Williams University East Coast Championship and the Fourth of July Bash Championship. McCarthy also competed on the RIC summer team for a dual meet tournament.

McCarthy is also working out with the East Bay Wolfpack Wrestling Club this summer. The club brought in multiple high-level wrestlers for McCarthy to work with such as 2010 University Greco Roman Champion Orkhan Pashayev, UFC Veteran Kris Mountinho, and CES MMA Champion Mitch Raposo.

“I love having those guys around because they’re great sparring partners for Andrew,” said Coach Fazzi. “He can actually go full blast without worrying about hurting them. He scraps hard, but they still have him for now.”

“I love seeing different styles of top level wrestlers,” said McCarthy. “Wrestling people like that is a good challenge and it makes me a lot better.”

Raposo has been working with McCarthy since the winter. He was a Massachusetts state finalist and could have wrestled at a Division I school, if not for his MMA goals. 

“Funny coincidence, said Coach Fazzi, Jake Ferri, who beat Raposo in the Mass state final and is a D-I graduate of Kent University, wrestled Andrew in an offseason dual meet tournament at RIC. Ferri won, but only by points. He was a grown man going against Andrew.” 

With McCarthy gaining experience and getting better by the day, he’ll be a difficult match for opponents to recon with, during the wrestling season this winter.