State champion at last: Oakdale’s Ceasar Garza is The Bee’s Wrestler of the Year
Ceasar Garza looked up to the Oakdale High School wrestling program from the beginning.
Even as a 4-year-old, he knew that one day he would be a Mustang.
“As a kid, I always looked up to the Oakdale wrestlers, the program as a whole and especially my coach, Steve Strange,” Garza said. “I’ve got a lot of love for the Oakdale community and (Strange).”
Garza’s high school experience had personal highs, lows and — as happened to other high school athletes — was put on pause by a pandemic. But he came out of it a better person and competitor.
Now, the senior’s high school wrestling carer has reached its zenith.
Garza, a three-time state qualifier and 2022 170-pound state champion, is The Bee’s Wrestler of the Year.
It has been a steady climb to the top.
Garza was the only 126-pound freshman on the podium at the 2019 Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Meet and qualified for state but finished outside of the top eight, meaning he didn’t earn a position on the state podium. As a sophomore in 2020, he won a 145-pound masters title but placed seventh at state. For the second year in a row, he fell short of the state title against mostly upperclassmen, but Garza took pride in holding his own and making the podium.
“It was definitely a heartbreaker to realize that I wasn’t going to be able to win state,” Garza said. “I was a little disappointed, but then again, I was kind of proud of myself, too. Reaching the podium, especially as an underclassman, it’s something that most people don’t accomplish.”
Competitions were virtually nonexistent during his junior year, when the season was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Garza had to find creative ways to get better.
He worked out by himself and got together with some of his teammates at Oakdale, laying down mats anywhere they could, including a barn, to make sure that if they ever got to wrestle again, they’d be ready.
“It made me realize not to take every tournament for granted and when you have the opportunity to wrestle, make sure you give it everything you got.” Garza said.
His senior season, he didn’t disappoint.
He entered winter 2021-22 as California’s No. 1 wrestler and held that title for the entire season. According to Track Wrestling, Garza went 30-2. He helped lead Oakdale to second at the Sac-Joaquin Section Team Duals and won individual championships at the section Masters Meet and — the best one of them all, for him — the State Meet.
“Winning under those bright lights like that in front of thousands of people was a great feeling, I don’t think there’s a better feeling than that ...,” Garza said. “I wish I could live it over and over again.”
He’s had a community of people behind him from the beginning and said his successful high school career is a direct product of not only his hard work but their support as well.
“I would like to thank the Lord for all my success, nothing is possible without Him,” Garza said. “My parents, my uncle Big John and my coaches Steve Strange, David Ferry, Trevor Williams and Josh Bennet, it truly means a lot.”
Garza will take his talents to the best college wrestling conference in the country, The Big 10, and wrestle at Michigan State next season. He said he’s looking forward to helping the Spartans get from middle of the pack to a top program in their conference and knows the impact he wants to make when he steps on campus.
“They’re gonna get a young freshman who’s ready to get after it,” Garza said. “They’re gonna get a guy who’s ready to go and give everything they got, scrap every day and make some noise instantly, and prove to them that I’m the guy and ready to make it happen.”
