By anyone’s standard, Norwich’s Frankie Garcia, who recently turned 14 years old, had a heck of week on the wrestling mat.

A much-heralded pee-wee wrestler, along with fellow seventh-grader Tristan Rifanburg, Garcia has lived up to expectations over the first six weeks of the 2009-2010 season.

In the span of three days a week ago, Garcia avenged his only defeat in beating the number two ranked Section IV, Division II wrestler at 103 pounds, then proceeded to beat Section III’s number one ranked Division II wrestler at 103 pounds, and in the championship match at the Leo J. Sammon Tournament in Ilion, beat Section III’s number one ranked Division I wrestler. Garcia was, not surprisingly, named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler, and is our honoree today as Evening Sun/Smith Ford LLC Athlete of the Week.

Garcia and Rifanburg are two key building blocks of Norwich’s resurgent wrestling program, and each sport gaudy records with a combined 39-2 record in their first-ever varsity season. Norwich coach Joe Downey had no doubt that Garcia would make a smooth transition into the varsity lineup, even though he missed the first two weeks of the season recovering from a football injury.

“Frankie and I worked together in the spring time and pretty much all summer with our camp,” Downey said. “He’s just tough, and he’s not going to let an injury hold him back or set him back. He has a great wrestling mentality, and the right mindset.”