Thursday, March 28, 2024

State Champ Garcia competes at NHSCA High School Nationals

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VIRGINA BEACH, VA – When young wrestlers gathered at the 2018 Okanogan Valley Wrestling Camp last Saturday, March 25, little did any of them know that on that same day, on the opposite side of the country, a Brewster alumnus of youth wrestling was competing in the National High School Coaches’ Association High School National Wrestling Tournament.
Brewster senior, Alex Garcia, the reigning 2018 high school 2B heavyweight wrestling champion, experienced the culminating trip of his high school career when he departed Brewster on last Wednesday, March 21, to complete against the nation’s best opponents in his 285-pound weight class at Virginia Beach, Va.
Accompanying Garcia on the trip was his mother and coach, Cindy, and Pateros varsity wrestling coach, Bill Haley, who started the varsity wrestling program at Brewster High School.
“Bill started the school wrestling program when I was a senior at Brewster in 1993-94,” said Cindy.
Garcia, went undefeated in 19 matches during the 2017-18 season.
“Alex was the shortest guy and the lightest guy in his weight class,” said Cindy. “He was the smallest of all of them, but he never let his size make the difference of whether he won or lost.”
The 29th annual NHSCA tournament drew more than 3,500 wrestlers from around the nation to the Virginia Beach Convention Center where matches were held on more than 40 mats.
Garcia, who sat out more than a few matches in the Central Washington 2B league because he had no opponents in his weight class, did not have that problem at the three-day NHSCA blowout. How large were some of the heavyweight contenders there?
Haley summed it up best: “There were some that had their own zip code,” Haley said.
Garcia came away from the encounter with a win and two losses and a heightened appreciation for the caliber of talent that gets to compete at the national level.
Haley said the first opponent that defeated Garcia ended up placing fifth in the heavyweight division.
“There was an amazing new level of kids and such quality of wrestling,” said Haley.
It was not the first trip for a Garcia wrestler to national competition. In 2016, older brother Jose Garcia, now 21 and a U.S. Marine, was the undefeated state champion at 120 pounds. Prior to high school, Garcia competed at the Junior Nationals in Harrisburg, Penn, and placed sixth at 113 pounds.
All the Garcia children began their wrestling careers at four years of age, said Cindy. Gabe Garcia, now a Brewster sophomore has another two varsity years in him and younger sister Kaitlyn is an up and coming freshman. Both will be attending wrestling camp this summer, their mother said.

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