Carson's Garcia reaches state finals

SPARKS - Carson High's Nico Garcia won both of his matches by pin on Friday to earn a spot in the 160-pound finals at the NIAA 4A State Wrestling Championships at Spanish Springs High School.

Garcia's three teammates - Cole McCarthy, Patrick Craugh and Kyle Sharp - still are alive and will be wrestling in the consolation bracket which gets under way today at 8:30 a.m.

Dayton's two wrestlers - Moises Vega (145) and Joey Moore (215) - were eliminated from the 3A tournament. Both went 0-2 and both were pinned twice.

Garcia will see a familiar face staring at him from across the mat in today's finals which begin at 3 p.m. For the second time in as many weeks, Garcia will face defending state champ Steve Elicegui of Wooster.

"We were confident Nico would be in the finals," Carson coach Tim McCarthy said. "We're going to use a different strategy against him (Elicegui). Nico was right with him, but he made a mistake last week at the end of the first round which cost him five points.

"He got in a big hole early. We have to make sure that doesn't happen again."

Cole McCarthy pinned Basic's Vince Segura in his first match and then was pinned by Arbor View's Ruben Rodriguez. McCarthy has faced Rodriguez twice this year and lost by pin both times.

Craugh had a tough first-round opponent in Cimmaron Memorial's Bronson Ashjian, who beat Craugh last year at stat. Ashjian won 13-4, sending Craugh to the loser's bracket.

"Patrick was down 8-4 in the third period and in position for a takedown, but the guy threw him down on his back," coach McCarthy said.

Sharp suffered a third-round pin at the hands of Cimmaron Memorial's Austin Lattana.