North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week finds balance and finds success

NorthJersey.com

Sometimes caring less leads to producing more.

Jeremy Garcia was always full of talent. But something was missing. The Leonia cross-country star would occasionally show flashes of running brilliance, winning last year’s North 1, Group 2 state sectional at Garret Mountain and leading the Lions to their first sectional title in 46 years.

But the consistency needed to maintain his brilliance wasn’t there, and after he had a disappointing spring and missed qualifying for the state group in both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter run, he had a long discussion with Leonia coach Tim Ryan.

Four months later he’s the North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week, presented by HSS.

“We were butting heads a bit last fall and I gave him a little more leeway to train his way last spring and he didn’t have the success he wanted,” said Ryan. “He came to me after the season and we figured out a way to make it work. He really matured.”

For Garcia, running had become too important, and he needed to reassess why he was doing it.

“I started caring less about success and started trusting my coaches,” he says. “I was letting running define me as a person and not a hobby I do for fun. It was something I had to change. I couldn’t let it consume me.”

As Ryan says, the results speak for themselves.

He’s won five of eight races this season, including the NJIC Colonial and Bergen C titles, and ran well in the three races he didn’t win including a top 20 performance at the Shore Coaches Invitational at the state course at Holmdel.

“Training has been easier this year now that I’ve treated running as a hobby,’’ says Garcia. “That’s one thing I finally learned.”

“He’s always been immensely talented,” said Ryan. “His approach this season has been what every coach would want from an athlete. He does what he’s told and anytime he needed to know more about we were doing he’s asked, and we’ve told him. The communication and contact we had during the summer has gotten better and better.’’

So much so that Ryan named Garcia one of his captains, a role Garcia has grown to relish.

“It meant a lot to me to give me his trust and know that the friends that I love the most are looking up to me,” Garcia says. “I just want to show up for my team.”

“He’s been great as a leader,” said Ryan. “Making him a captain was a huge responsibility and he took it seriously and has become the leader I knew he could be.

Garcia has come pretty far for a kid from Colombia who first wanted to be a basketball player.

“My dad and I used to go out running and he’s been running for many years,’’ said Garcia, who played as a freshman and sophomore at Leonia before committing to full-time running. “I originally joined cross-country to get in shape for basketball, but when I did well my sophomore year in track, I decided to do it full-time.’’

Now he wants to run in college, and schools like DeSales University, Eastern, Misercordia and Marywood are vying for his commitment. But Garcia knows that running isn’t everything in college and with his favorite course in high school being anatomy, he has big dreams for his future.

“I want to study and become a Doctor of Physical Therapy,” he says. “I want to have multiple clinics in multiple countries in Latin America and give back to my community.”

Garcia is looking forward to the next few weeks of the cross-country season, and his goals are to give 100% in every race he runs, but have fun doing it at the same time.

“I was excited to run against great competition at the county meet and I’m looking forward to run against better runners the rest of the season,’’ he says.

That’s another sign of maturity that leads to consistent success.

Jeremy Garcia

Sport: Cross-Country

School: Leonia

Class: Senior Age: 17

Accomplishment: Won the Bergen County B cross-country championship in a huge personal-record time of 15:44.

Jeremy Garcia, Leonia- Record Sports “Male Athlete of the Week!

North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week finds balance and finds success

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