Hutchison, May on way to Harvard

Tommy Hutchison couldn’t look at the e-mail. His mom didn’t need to read the first sentence. When she walked into the room, her expression told him everything, the Corona del Mar High senior cross country runner had just been accepted to Harvard University.

“I had my mom look at it, when she came into the room. She was crying,” Hutchison said. “All she read was ‘I’m delighted to tell you … ‘ “

Hutchison was second on the team at the CIF Division III state meet, running the course at Woodward Park in Fresno in 16 minutes, 41 seconds.

Hilary May, Hutchison’s teammate on the Sea Kings’ girls’ team, will also attend Harvard. Hutchison said it was a unique situation because he went to kindergarten with May.

“I think that was her top choice,” Hutchison said of May who found out a month ago.

Hutchison is preparing for the many adjustments being a student at Harvard will take. The biggest change is the weather.

“It was like four-degrees with wind chill there last week,” Hutchison said. “I think my mom’s going to buy me everything this weekend probably.”

Hutchison visited the campus over the summer with his twin sister Sarah, who plays for the Corona del Mar water polo team, when they went to look at colleges on the East Coast.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Tommy Hutchison, who does not know what his major will be, but expects it to be something in line with his strengths in math and science. “It’s going to be a challenge. I always saw myself going to a school like that.”

After the initial trip, the Harvard coach visited some of the members of the Corona del Mar cross country teams. On Oct. 21 Hutchison went on a recruiting trip to Harvard.

“The team was great,” Hutchison said. “A couple of the other recruits and me we were all staying up with them.”

— Dominic Perrrone