Moses Lake ready to end title drought

MOSES LAKE - A rhythmic crash could be heard from just outside the wrestling coaches' office.

The window pane shook and a plaque clattered off a shelf.

"That's OK, that's what we want," head coach Jaime Garza said.

Tiles line the wall of the office commemorating every wrestler who placed in the state tournament. It looks like wallpaper.

"Just being in here if you're a wrestler or around the state of Washington and you're involved with wrestling it's very impressive," Garza said. "The fortunate thing about Moses Lake is if you look at our wall we have more first and second, more second and third, more third and fourth and on... so just trying to uphold that."

Moses Lake's storied wrestling program has been without a team state title since 2002. The team placed 10th in last year's state tournament after winning the district and regional championship. Garza hopes a strong core of returning wrestlers will help the Chiefs regain supremacy in the state.

"We have a lot of experience coming back along with some youth, but that youth came with experience and some good skills as far as their technique, it's quality stuff," he said. "There's some quality young kids that are coming up and then with our older guys, our juniors and seniors, they have that experience along with that technique and fortunately this year we have a deep wrestling team."

The team returned eight of the 10 wrestlers who qualified for the state tournament and 14 of the 17 who qualified for the regional tournament.

Last season, Garza felt there was a bit of a learning curve as the team became accustomed to his style of coaching and the new techniques he was trying to teach the team.

"We consider some of the technique at times can be somewhat complicated for them... to grasp and all that stuff can be somewhat difficult for them right now," Garza said. "It's going to take us a few days and we're really having to kind of take things in small portions and make sure we're hitting all those key things."

Senior Fernando Leyva looks to be one of the wrestlers Garza will count on to be successful this year and set a good example for his fellow teammates as a captain. Leyva finished fifth in the state tournament last season and was a first team selection for the All-Big 9 Wrestling Team.

"He's one kid that my expectations are high for him," Garza said, "He's put a lot of time in this summer."

Garza also mentioned juniors Chase Clasen and Easton Castro, senior Jordan Lacelle and sophomore Cooper McCullough as wrestlers who look to make an impact this season.

Junior Trey Long, who placed second in state last season, will also be a key member of the Chiefs.

Garza hopes that Lacelle, who did not place in the state tournament but claimed the regional championship in the 195 weight class, will continue his improvement and vie for a high finish in the state tournament this season.

"He has the capability of doing a lot of things due to the fact that he's a great leg rider on top," he said. "He's worked on all three phases of wrestling which is the top, the neutral position, the bottom position... he's improved in all three of those phases."

Garza points to Lacelle's increased confidence in his ability to take an opponent down in the neutral position as well as his work over the summer to fine tune his leg riding technique.

Moses Lake hopes to be one of the best conditioned teams in the Big Nine as well as throughout the state. Garza has preached conditioning throughout practice and will make certain his team will not get tired.

"That's one thing I pride myself in," he said. "These kids will be in some of the best shape they will ever be in and throughout the state, they will be in really good shape and I value that. That's something that I think will mentally and physically give a kid a huge advantage is pushing yourself physically and mentally and I do a lot of that in here."

Garza is known for pushing his athletes and has suspected that a rumor has been circulating around the high school that he is a hard coach. He admits to being an intense person, but has found the ability to dial back some as he has settled into the Moses Lake job.

"There's other times when you have to be understanding and you can't be doing some of that stuff," Garza said. "You know, pushing so hard. There's times where you have to hold back some too. With that being said, I'm very, very excited for this year."

According to Garza, Lake Stevens will be the Chiefs main competition this season. The Vikings won the state title last season, beating out Tahoma and Graham-Kapowsin. As far as league opponents, Garza surmises that Wenatchee and Sunnyside will give the Chiefs some tough competition.

Garza and his staff have high hopes for this year's team and have set a lofty goal after leaving the Tacoma Dome unsatisfied last season.

"My expectation every year is to win a state title," he said.