Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: Serra’s Sebastian Garcia

A second-generation wrestler, whose father Julio competed at Skyline College and Menlo College, Garcia transitioned from Jiu-jitsu to wrestling in seventh grade. It was then he joined the Daniel Cormier Wrestling Academy in Gilroy, and would commute to the facility 60 miles away three times a week to get a level of training he called way different than anything he has witnessed on the Peninsula.

“Everyone is really serious,” Garcia said. “Everyone is there to wrestle. ... They don’t really mess around. And it’s hard work every single day.”

Gilroy has long been the class of the Central Coast Section, with an astounding 22 straight CCS boys’ wrestling championships. Garcia, though, knows their ways well, the movement, the flow, and the emphasis on hand fighting.

“I started from scratch and they built me up from there,” Garcia said.

So, after recording a tech fall and two pins to reach the Saturday’s MidCals semifinals, Garcia put that knowhow to use as he stepped onto the mat with Gilroy junior Anthony Cazarez, one of his former sparring partners at Daniel Cormier Wrestling. The result was a major decision victory to send Garcia to the finals.

Garcia was one of five Padres to reach the medals podium, along with Luke Hanna, fifth place, 179s; Solomon Zumbado, sixth, 289s; Tristen Klemish, seventh, 194s; and Ryder Doleschal, eighth, 117s.

It was a marked improvement from last year, when Serra had two wrestlers reach the MidCals podium — Preston Dixon, third, 219s; and Elliott Schnelker, fourth, 169s — both who graduated in 2025. And while the Padres settled for 31st place in the team scoring, this year they cracked the top 10 with an eighth-place finish.

“I’ll be honest, I thought after last year we’d have a drop-off, but we’re not seeing that,” Serra head coach Mike Klobuchar said.

Garcia has been one of the catalysts in Serra’s quick reemergence. He’s captured two tournament championships on the year, the other at the Sierra Nevada Classic in Reno. He also placed second at the prestigious Webber Lawson Boys Varsity Tournament at Fremont High School-Sunnyvale, and reached the podium with a fourth-place finish at the 5 Counties Invitational in Fountain Valley.

What’s more impressive than what Garcia is doing is how he’s doing it. As a sophomore, Garcia was a CCS runner-up at 144s, and posted a 2-2 record at the CIF state championships. It was a path forged by a war-of-attrition approach, with Garcia relying predominantly on scoring decisions until he reached the postseason.

This season, it’s been a different story since the outset.

“Definitely a marked improvement,” Klobuchar said. “To be honest ... he’s pretty much pinned his way through, where last year he was winning his matches at points.”

Garcia caught break at the MidCals when the projected No. 1 seed, Calvary Chapel-Santa Ana’s Cross Rodriguez, opted not to wrestle in the tournament. Rodriguez had defeated Garcia the previous week in the third-place match of the 5 Counties Invitational. In Rodriguez’s absence, Garcia moved into the No. 1 seed.

Garcia is now ranked No. 11 in the state at 165s, according to CalGrappler.com.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Garcia said. “My body’s pretty good. I’ve been doing recovery really well. My goals this year are to do better than last year, obviously. I really want to improve in these tournaments and learn from every single one of these matches.”

In Saturday’s finals against Montalvo, Garcia proved a quick study in utilizing a Blair ride wrist hold to initiate his winning sequence. Garcia tried the move in his semifinal match and didn’t time it right. So, he vowed to get it right in the finals.

“Every time I go to a tournament, I tweak my setups for my leg riding and ... I progressively get better with my pinning combinations,” Garcia said.

From the wrist ride, Garcia sat to his hip and brought it up to earn the takedown points. Then like clockwork, he brought it back down, he worked one leg in, then the other, then turned his opponent around to sit him for the pin.

That kind of aggression been Garcia’s winning formula this season, Klobuchar said.

“Getting shots right off the bat, scoring first,” Klobuchar said. “But just the domination. ... He’s just going shooting and pinning people. It’s just like a machine.”

Serra is now looking to the postseason. The Padres are in second place on the West Catholic Athletic League dual meet docket, dropping one dual against first-place Bellarmine. The Padres are now on a mission to flip the script from last year when Serra defeated Bellarmine in the regular season, only to get denied the WCAL tournament championship by the Bells. This year’s WCAL championships are slated for Saturday, Feb. 7, at Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Unlike last year, Klobuchar can project next season’s team quite clearly. The Padres have just two seniors on roster this season. Four of the five medalists at MidCals are non-seniors.

“It’s sophomores and juniors,” Klobuchar said, “which is nice for next year.”