Wrestling / will to win

Southern Columbia's Gaige Garcia celebrates with head coach Jerry Marks and assistant coach Kent Lane after winning his 195-pound state championship match. By MARC MALKOSKIE Press Enterprise Writer (Written after Saturday, March 9) HERSHEY — Wrestling is life in the Garcia household. Southern Columbia’s Gaige Garcia, the oldest of four sons, has been trying to live up to his father’s legacy for the past few years. His father, Mike, won three straight state titles for Mount Carmel from 1992-94. After falling short the last two years, placing fifth and third, respectively, Gaige Garcia got the monkey off his back, as the 195-pounder capped off his third state tournament with a 5-2 decision over second-ranked Kolby Franklin of St. Joseph’s Academy in the finals on Saturday at the Giant Center. Garcia had a tie-breaking four-point takedown and back-point combo with a minute left in the match to secure his gold medal. “I can’t describe (the feeling),” Garcia said after finishing 47-0 as a junior. “I don’t think it really hit me yet that I’m a state champ, it’s just an indescribable feeling.” Gaige Garcia stands atop the 195-pound podium on Saturday. Garcia couldn’t have been less selfish after the match, as he couldn’t stop talking about how he hopes his younger brothers extend the family’s wrestling legacy. “My dad set the bar with three state titles,” Garcia said. “The last two years I came up short, but hopefully I’ll be able to finish with two and hopefully (my brother) Gavin will able to be a three-timer, too. It’s just leading by example, and if you work hard and never give up, your dreams can come true.” During the semifinals Friday night, Garcia seemed a little tense or stressed en route to a narrow 3-2 decision. But Saturday’s gold medal match was a different story, as Garcia was relaxed leading up to his title bout. “When I saw him sitting on the chairs over there (in the bullpen) during the 138 and 145-pound matches, he was sleeping, he was dozing off,” Southern coach Jerry Marks said with a laugh. “I could see his head bobbing. It reminded me of myself because you just kind of take your mind somewhere else. You can’t keep on thinking about things. I said to him, ‘You’re going to win this thing because you’re so relaxed,’ and he was. I could tell he was relaxed because he wasn’t tight, he wrestled a tremendously smart match.” Gaige Garcia waits to meet his opponent during the Parade of Champions. As if Garcia earning his first state title without losing all year wasn’t impressive enough, after Saturday’s finals, Marks revealed his 195-pounder has been delaying a potential season-ending gall bladder surgery. “Gaige Garcia is getting his gall bladder out on Thursday, we didn’t tell anybody that,” Marks said. “It’s one of those things where these guys just had that vision of winning this thing. I think they won it for the community, they won it for their parents. It’s just such a grind, and it was a long time coming. I’m just so proud of these guys.” When the dust settled following the rematch of his Ultimate Warrior tournament final from earlier this year, Garcia’s emotions were the opposite of the ones he displayed when his team dropped their first-place match to Reynolds in the team state tournament a month ago. “I live to win,” Garcia said. “That weekend at team states, we didn’t win and that meant so much to me and the team. Not being able to win was brutal for me. I knew I couldn’t come down to Hershey again without winning it all.” Marc Malkoskie covers sports for the Press Enterprise. He may be reached at 570-387-1234, ext. 1338, or by email at sports@pressenterprise.net. Follow him on Twitter at @mmalkoskie.