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Malvern's Chris Hisey has come a long way

Fifteen years ago, Scott Hisey and his wife, Jackie, embarked on a 27-day trip to Tomsk, Siberia. But their venture was far from a vacation.

Malvern Prep wrestler Chris Hisey.
Malvern Prep wrestler Chris Hisey.Read more(Steven M. Falk/Staff Photographer)

Fifteen years ago, Scott Hisey and his wife, Jackie, embarked on a 27-day trip to Tomsk, Siberia.

But their venture was far from a vacation.

The couple, having no children at the time, traveled across the globe to a small city in Russia's largest province with one goal in mind: to adopt a 2-year-old boy.

Chris, the child they brought home to Collegeville, was not the typical 2-year-old.

"When we first got him home, he couldn't close his hand on a Cheerio," Scott Hisey said. "He used to get so frustrated because he couldn't feed himself.

"When you think of a normal 2-year-old, it's a kid running around, terrible twos, but he was more like 6 months old when he was 2 years old."

Before the adoption, Scott and Jackie Hisey were informed by an adoption agency that Chris Hisey had motor skills delays, speech problems, and severe malnutrition, which caused him to weigh only 15 pounds at 24 months old.

"When we brought Chris home, I went back to work and Chris and his mom did everything together," Scott Hisey said. "She took him to physical therapy, she took him to speech therapy, she fed him, and she worked real hard with him."

A full year after his adoption, Chris Hisey could finally walk without assistance at 3 years old.

Today, a glance at Chris Hisey shows a normal, 17-year-old high school student who walks and talks just like every other kid his age. But that's just the surface.

A deeper look at the Malvern Prep sophomore reveals his 4.0 GPA and status as an elite high school wrestler.

"At first, we were just trying to get him to walk and talk," said Scott Hisey. "Athletics and being in a sport? That was the last thing that was on our mind."

Scott Hisey, 50, now the assistant head football coach at Malvern, and Jackie Hisey, 49, first tried putting Chris Hisey on the gridiron when he was 8, but his inability to run with the speed and rhythm of the other kids his age relegated him to the sideline.

A friend of the Hiseys' suggested that Chris might be a better fit for wrestling. After receiving a recommendation from legendary Norristown wrestling coach Mark Harner, Scott Hisey brought his son to then-Malvern Prep assistant coach Nate Lautar's youth wrestling clinic in 2007.

Unlike Chris Hisey's clunky experience with football, something clicked on the mat.

"Chris is a great student and really smart," said Lautar, who is now the head coach at Malvern. "I think he thinks about his matches, he thinks about his mistakes, he knows what he did wrong sometimes and will actively work with someone whether it's me or someone else to try and fix stuff that he's done wrong to get better."

After six years of training with Lautar at the youth clinic, Chris Hisey transferred from Gwynedd Mercy Academy to Malvern Prep, where Lautar put him on the varsity roster as an eighth grader.

Lautar's confidence in his longtime apprentice proved sound as Chris Hisey went 34-6 overall and 5-0 in the Inter-Ac while making first team all-league.

"Coach Nate prepared me," Chris Hisey said. "The confidence he had in me made me feel confident in myself."

Now a sophomore at 5-6 and 152 pounds, Chris Hisey has already surpassed 100 career victories. He was just one of 15 freshman last season to place at the Pa. Independent Schools state wrestling tournament. Hisey, who wrestled at 132 pounds, finished third.

With more than two years left in his high school career, Chris Hisey has a lot more wrestling to look forward to. But he's not one to forget where he came from.

"[My past] definitely makes me humble and realize where I came from, being so malnourished and weak and now being very strong and powerful," he said. "All the people in my life, they've really helped me to overcome my adversity and my disadvantages and get to where I am now."