Nico Garcia will have mixed emotions when he dons his wrestling attire for tonight's dual meet against arch-rival Douglas.
"I'll be excited for Senior Night, but kind of sad because it will be my last home dual meet," Garcia said. "I'm really looking forward to wrestling Douglas."
Garcia, one of five seniors who will be honored tonight before the match, has had a tremendous four-year career at CHS, including a 67-17 mark the past two years and two appearances in the regionals and one at state.
Save for winning a state or regional title, and that could happen later this month, there isn't much that Garcia hasn't accomplished under the tutelage of Carson coaches Tim McCarthy, Paul Carter, Bing Blood and Guy Rocha.
"So far it's been a pretty successful career," Garcia said. "I wanted to place in the top three at a Sierra Nevada Classic, but I wasn't able to do that. I got fifth this year.
"Winning a state ore regional title would mean the world. I want it so bad. Putting all that work in ..."
One guy stood in Garcia's way the last two years - Wooster's Steve Elicegui. Garcia has placed second in the last two regional meets to the Wooster star, and last year lost 10-3 in both the state and regional finals.
Garcia isn't bitter. In fact, he said that he and Elicegui have become good friends despite the rivalry. They have been practice partners for Team America and go to many of the same tournaments.
"We talked about avoiding each other (this year)," Garcia said. Weight took care of any future match-ups.
Elicegui moved up 10 pounds to the 170-pound class, while Garcia, who played football again this year, moved all the way up to 182.
"It's a more comfortable weight for him," McCarthy said. "After football last year, it was tough for him to get back to 160. His walk-around weight is the high 180, so 182 wasn't that tough for him to get to."
Garcia agreed.
"It was a little tough at the first of the year (to drop weight)," Garcia said. "I had to stop eating junk food. I was having a light salad for lunch and a light dinner. It took about a week or two to get used to it. There are cravings you get. Everything tastes so much better during wrestling.
"My sophomore year, it was tough getting down to the 140s. I was running all the time. Every night I would run with sweats on. Now, it's just a matter of maintaining my weight."
One guy stands in the way of Garcia winning a regional title - Tyler Beaulac of Spanish Springs.
"He's supposed to be good," Garcia said. "I haven't seen him wrestle that much. It's not like a guy I've seen all year."
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Garcia got started in wrestling because of his Pop Warner friends who also wrestled. He thinks he was 6 or 7.
"All the kids who were on defense wrestled, so I decided I wanted to be on defense," he said. "I wasn't that good (at first)."
Garcia joined the Bulldogs' program, which McCarthy was involved in. The current Carson coach has been around wrestling a long time, and when you have his experience, you can usually spot talent a mile way. Garcia wasn't one of those naturals.
"Nico is one of those kids who has had to do it the hard way," the CHS coach said. "He just didn't have a whole lot of success. He got beat up quite a bit. In eighth grade, he started to turn things around; had a better year in club wrestling.
"There's a saying we (people in wrestling) have that you can't cheat the sport of wrestling; can't cut corners. Nico is an example of that. He's been to a dozen or more camps. He's definitely put the time in. His biggest asset are his heart and lungs. He has a really good gas tank."
McCarthy says that if wrestling matches were four periods instead of three that Garcia would have more wins to his credit.
"His sophomore year over half of his wins were comebacks," McCarthy said. "His biggest strength is his ability late in the match to suck it up and still be able to score. He's a grinder."
Garcia felt the turning point was his freshman year. He started wrestling JVs, but ended up on the varsity squad, and he never left.
"Everything started clicking and coming together," Garcia said. "I don't know if it was just maturity or my technique getting better. That's when I started to get better."
The Carson wrestler said strength can only get you so far. Technique is the key to becoming a winning wrestler.
"Being strong gets you by when you're younger," Garcia said. "Once you get up to varsity, everybody is just as strong as you are. Technique is going to win you a lot of matches."
McCarthy said Garcia has improved every year, and that's the key reason for continued success.
"He's gotten a lot better on his feet (neutral position); the takedown position," McCarthy said. "He was more defense. Now, he has a couple of go-to moves that he's gotten a lot better at."
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What does the future hold for Garcia?
The Carson senior has some interest from Waldforf College in Iowa, which is the same path that former Carson football player Levi Bloxton followed, and he's going to travel to Colorado to look at Western States College, a Division II program, later this week.
"I've been talking to their coach nearly every week," Garcia said. "They have a good medical program."
Garcia wants to focus on dermatology as a career.
