The Collegian

Issue date: 10/28/05 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Karyn Gilbert Benny Garcia is the Number-one ranked wrestler in his wieght class.

Swirling lights, chemically enhanced bodies, and theater-like melodrama----mention wrestling and that's the pop-culture imagery. While wrestling has chair-swung, and moonsaulted its way to high cable ratings and swollen ticket gates, its evolutionary base, amateur wrestling, has slid its way into relative anonymity on the radar of John Q. Sports Fan.

Blindly pick out the hole-in-the-wall facility, gym, or room that's accumulating dust and sweat, and within those walls one can often find young amateur wrestlers grappling their way through practice. What the sport misses on style points and cache, it compensates for in grit and perseverance: Enter the surging Delta Mustang wrestling program and its budding star Benny Garcia.

Children are impressionable. Some impressions are fleeting, while others eventually die when met with the reality of the aging process. For the Garcia family, amateur wrestling had its presence.

Benny's father encouraged his boys to practice self-defense, and getting involved in wrestling seemed like a natural. As a five-year-old, watching his older brother wrestle left an impression on Benny; the younger Garcia could already see his future take shape before his very eyes.

"Ever since I saw my older brother wrestle, I was determined to get involved in the sport," said Garcia. "Those were key years for me."

That impression continued to stick even through the distracting teen years; Garcia enjoyed varying degrees of success while tinkering with different styles and techniques while in high school. That evolution has continued its ascension. As a sophomore at Delta, 2005 has proven to be Garcia's coming-out party.

Sacramento, Modesto, and West Valley tournaments have all reached the same conclusion: Benny Garcia, MVP.

Guess who is currently the top-ranked, junior college wrestler in California at his weight class?

The hunter has become the hunted. It's not the worst problem to have, but anxiety can creep in.

"Truthfully, I loved being the underdog," said Garcia. "My current ranking has given me the mindset defending my accomplishments by outworking the competition. I would be lying if I didn't admit that there is added pressure involved with being somewhat of a target."

Continued...

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