San Manuel’s Garcia crowned individual state champion

After running through the competition in the previous days, it all came down to one match for the Division IV individual state championship at 113 pounds. When the dust settled, Garcia showed his strength, defeating Winslow’s Michael Romero and taking home the gold.

Garcia found success from the opening whistle, taking down his opponent and staying active enough to continuously score points.

By the end of period three, it was clear that Garcia was well on his way to being crowned a state champion. After his hand was raised, he immediately embraced his coaches, thanking them for everything they have done for him.

Miners coach Vince Majalca said before the championship match that Garcia has done everything right up until that point and all that was left to do was win.

“This was a completion, he wrestled in the summer, went to some tough tournaments and put in the work in the offseason,” Majalca said. “The biggest thing is that he is coachable and he listens. Every mistake he’s made helped him shape the perfect wrestling match he had in the finals.”

For Garcia, it was a culmination of all the hard work, the countless hours in the weight room and the fulfillment of a long-time goal.

“This is a dream, I’ve had this set in my mind since the beginning of the season,” Garcia said. “I manifested this, spoke it into existence and put the work in and boom, here I am, a state champion.”

While Garcia walked away with the top prize in the 113-pound weight class in his division, two more San Manuel wrestlers walked away with hardware.

Miners wrestlers Thomas Morris and Aiden Lozoya took home fourth place medals in the 190-pound and 285-pound weight classes, respectively.

Majalca said that it is a great feeling to bring so many San Manuel wrestlers to the Arizona Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum to compete at the state meet, saying it is a testament to the rich history of wrestlers that are made at the school.

“It’s a great joy to see the tradition from 1969 has continued,” he said. “From the first man who started San Manuel wrestling, it’s been a tradition, and we’ve held that tradition. I wrestled at San Manuel, now I coach at San Manuel and a lot of the coaches in this arena have come from the school as well. To see them take that tradition, put it on their shoulders and wrestle with the same voracity, it’s fantastic to see them embrace that philosophy.”