Topic: News: Jonathan Garcia Has Bigger Goals Ahead

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Jonathan Garcia Has Bigger Goals Ahead
By Ray Fitzgerald

Excuse Jonathan Garcia if he doesn't have a lot of time to celebrate his being named The Sun's Weightlifter of the Year. He's busy training to become an Olympic athlete.

At first glance, you might not suspect that the 4-foot-11 Garcia is one of the nation's best young weightlifters, but his resume speaks volumes of his ability.

Garcia is a two-time state champion and state record holder in two weight classes. As a junior, he set the clean and jerk (245 pounds) and total weight (505) records en route to the 119-pound state championship. As a senior, he competed at 122 pounds in the 129-pound weight class and rewrote the record books again. His clean and jerk (275) and total weight (560) records were enough to win his weight class by 90 pounds. The performance also won him the Florida Dairy Farmer's State Weightlifter of the Year award.

"He could have easily won the 119 (pound weight class) again, because on the day of the state championships, he weighed 122, he could have easily cut back to 119," Palatka coach Gordon Roberts said. "He made the commitment to stick with the 129 class, and that's why Palatka won state again."

Garcia has shown that commitment since he started lifting weights four years ago. Lacking the proper equipment to train, he lifted cinderblocks and anything else that he could find that was heavy enough to give him a workout.

Times have changed for the Palatka student. Shortly after the school year ended, Garcia left for Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he is training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center for 90 days. If things go well, he will be invited back to live at the center while training with the Olympic team. His schooling will be completely paid for by the institute if that happens.

He will also be headed to Italy this summer where he will compete in a 120-pound class for his AAU team, all of which makes for a long summer away from home.

"He acts like he's big and bad," joked Roberts, "but this is the first time he's been away from home for a long period of time. It's a trial for him, but he's a good kid and I'm sure he'll do great."

Garcia hopes to do great, but great to this motivated athlete means bringing a gold medal home to Palatka.

COACH OF THE YEAR: GORDON ROBERTS, PALATKA

Roberts, who coached Crescent City to the 1995 3A state championship - still the school's only state title in any sport - led the Panthers to its eighth state crown this season and earned the state's weightlifting coach of the year award given by the Florida Dairy Farmers Association.

Led by The Sun's Weightlifter of the Year, Jonathan Garcia, Roberts' squad earned points in five of the 10 classifications.

The 2A championship, which is the state's largest classification, was made even sweeter when the Panthers defeated Spruce Creek and DeLand, the previous two state champions, by a five-point margin.

"I knew with Jonathan (Garcia) coming back as state champion in the 119 (pound weight class) was good," Roberts said. "I told them that if we've got a shot at winning state, (Garcia) had to be at the 129, because I was pretty sure Nick (Albert) was going to win 119 this year. I knew that if they won those two classifications, we'd have a good shot at winning state, and we did."