The rust is history: Elyria Catholic's Hector Garcia IV making it look easy in his return to wrestling after three years away

Mat rust is the term used to describe the difficulty an athlete has reintegrating himself to wrestling after having spent a significant time away from the sport. Elyria Catholic senior Hector Garcia IV apparently isn't familiar with the term. Garcia stopped wrestling after the eighth grade and then decided to give it a try again this winter. He's 13-1 this season, ranked No. 30 in the state in Division III per Borofanohio.net and has two tournament championships under his belt. "It seems like he never stopped wrestling," Panthers coach Michael Cruz said. "He was good at everything (during the first practice of the season). He was taking shots like he's been doing it for awhile, he was attacking, good leg defense … he looked like he was just naturally good at it. "But he really puts in all the work. I'm surprised that he's as dedicated as he is since he didn't wrestle his freshman, sophomore or junior year. He just came in and went full charge … and the work has been showing in his results and I think that motivates him. He sees the progress that he's made and it's fantastic." Garcia's father started taking him and his brothers to Clearview's biddy program when he was in the second grade, and by the fourth grade he was working out at the Westshore Wrestling Club — a feeder program for St. Edward. Garcia actually attended St. Edward his freshman year, but decided not to wrestle, playing football and baseball for the Eagles instead. "St. Edward has a really big wrestling program and they travel (around the nation) a lot," Garcia said. "So it would have really gotten in the way of me playing football and baseball, so I just decided to do those two sports and stopped wrestling." Garcia transferred to Elyria Catholic before his sophomore season and continued to play football and baseball. A return to wrestling wasn't even possible at the time. "When I first transferred here there wasn't even a wrestling program," he said. "Last year there was a wrestling program but I didn't join, then this year they brought in some coaches that I was familiar with so I decided to wrestle for my last year." Elyria Catholic added assistant coaches Mick Burnett and Mark Moos this season. Garcia knew both through his offseason training at Burnett Trained Wrestling. The BTW facility in Milan was where he actually stepped onto the mat for the first time in three years a couple months ago. "It felt kind of weird to be honest," Garcia said. "My first match also felt pretty strange, too. I was pretty nervous at first, but it was also pretty exciting." Garcia's first high school match took place in his hometown as he ended up going 6-0 and winning the 190-pound championship at the Titan Classic at Lorain High on opening weekend. He pinned Clearview senior Greg O'Hern in the second period of his first match, pinned Valley Forge freshman Amir Abukhalil in the first period in his second match and rounded out pool play with a 6-0 win over Barberton junior Josiah Wright. On Day 2 of the Titan Classic, it was first-period pins over Lorain's Preston Whitfield and Garfield Heights' Justin Boozer before a 7-3 decision over Green sophomore Craig Campbell in the final. Garcia went 4-1 with two pins at the Great Lakes Conference Duals — suffering his lone loss of the season to North Olmsted's Zach Beeman — before pinning his way to the title at the Jacob Wasko Memorial Tournament at Columbia High last weekend. "We drill the basics pretty hard with these guys and he makes mistakes, he's not perfect," Cruz said. "But he's really like a sponge out there. He takes all of the water that we throw at him and he applies it. So he's really just absorbing what's being taught. I don't want to say it's like riding a bike for him, but, man, it sure seems like it is." Cruz said the success is well earned but still remarkable because of the hectic schedule Garcia has to deal with. Besides an elevated academic regimen, he also juggles wrestling practice, additional workouts and holds down a job. Despite the heavy workload, Garcia has maintained lofty goals for his lone high school season. "It's my last season, so I really don't have anything to lose," he said. "I'm probably not going to get recruited as much, maybe not even at all, but I want to make it to state and after talking to my coaches, I'm aiming even higher now and I'd like to place there. But to be honest, my only real goal is to just leave it all on the mat for my last year." Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on X.