Topic: News: Jonathan Garcia Lifts National Title

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Garcia Lifts National Title
By Andy Hall

Jonathan Garcia is beginning to throw his weight around on a national level in the same dominant fashion Florida high school rivals have come to know.

The Palatka High School senior is fresh off his first national weightlifting championship — an overall title, that is, and not a junior-division trophy.

Garcia, 18, routed the 56-kilogram competition last weekend at the USA Weightlifting American Open in Birmingham, Ala. He set personal records in the snatch (82 kilograms/181 pounds) and the clean and jerk (112 kilos/257 pounds) for a 194 total that was 37 kilos better than his closest competition, 28-year-old Virgil Young of Orlando.

“He blew them away. There wasn’t anyone close to him,” said Shelton Gilyard, Garcia’s Tampa-based coach and a state champion from Palatka High in 1993. “In that sense, it was kind of like his high school meets.”

Garcia admitted to feeling blown away himself.

“I was just overwhelmed by happiness — to know that all my work paid off,” said Garcia, who has built a small gym in his home and obtained a part-time job to pay for weights and other training material, as well as travel costs to places like Birmingham.

“Just knowing that all that paid off … As soon as you see the fruits and know why you went through all that — it’s awesome,” he said.

It was the first national championship for Garcia, who broke two state records last spring en route to the 119-pound championship for PHS in the Florida High School Athletic Association weightlifting meet at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville. Garcia won that title by 55 pounds and was named the Daily News boys prep weightlifter of the year.

“This was (against) everybody — everybody minus me,” said Gilyard, 31, who competes in the same weight class as Garcia but has been out of action while recuperating from an injury.

“I was thankful for Shelton’s coaching and just for the opportunity to be there with all those athletes,” Garcia said.

While the clean and jerk is a lift common to both high school and amateur competition, the snatch takes the place of the bench press on the amateur level. The transition from the bench to the snatch often proves difficult, but Garcia managed to win a bronze medal at the USA Weightlifting Junior Nationals back in March.

Last weekend, against more difficult competition, Garcia made it look easy. He executed both the snatch and the clean with ease, Gilyard said, and narrowly missed on a clean and jerk of 117 kilos.

“He had the weight. He cleaned and jerked it, but he was turned down 2-1 by the officials,” Gilyard said. “So he’s actually capable of even more weight.

“He’s starting to really make waves on the national scene.”

The Junior Nationals next March could serve as Garcia’s springboard to his first major international competition, the Junior Worlds, Gilyard said.

And there’s still his senior season to go with the Panthers.