O-R Athlete of the Week: Nicholas McGarrity, Peters Township
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Name: Nicholas McGarrity
School: Peters Township
Sport: Wrestling
Class: Freshman
McGarrity’s week: McGarrity had a perfect tournament, pinning all four of his opponents and not allowing a bout point to be scored against him while winning the 107-pound weight class in the Chartiers-Houston Invitational over the weekend.
McGarrity needed just 56 seconds to pin Rosalio Arc of Plum in the first round and followed that up with a pin of Ryan Galloway of Bradford in 29 seconds. That moved him to the semifinals, where he pinned Brady Rohaly in 1:02. In the finals, McGarrity finished the run with a pin in :24 of Joe Emma of Mt. Lebanon.
In all, McGarrity spent 2:51 on the mat, earning him the pinning award from the tournament.
“The toughest match that I had was probably the first one,” said McGarrity.
McGarrity finished in fifth place at the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling state championships last year, his 11th season of wrestling.
McGarrity said there is no time spent at night going over the bracket of the tournament. He relies on is wrestling skills.
“It doesn’t matter what names are out there, I try to wrestle my hardest,” said McGarrity. “I don’t have a gameplan or strategize.”
McGarrity’s brother, A.J., a junior, finished second at 145 pounds, making it a successful tournament for the McGarrity family. Even though A.J. has a few pounds on his brother, the two still go at it sometime.
“He tends to beat me,” Nicholas said. “He has a little weight on me. But that might change next year.”
Peters Township head coach Derrick Evanovich said he was not surprised by McGarrity’s performance.
“He has that kind of talent,” Evanovich said. “I think he’s going to be at states, trying to get a medal.”
Evanovich said McGarrity is strong in all positions.
“He has a lot of confidence in himself and that helps him get through moves,” said Evanovich. “It didn’t happen today but if he gets in a bad position, he works through it.”
Evanovich said McGarrity can get out of most jams on the mat.
“He works through it,” said Evanovich. “He knows how to get through it just because he thinks he should be able to. I’ve never met two brothers who I can wrestle with who were able to wrestle without getting into it and be at each other’s throats.”
Evanovich said Nicholas is a little more of a scrambler.
“(Nicholas) has a little more in his arsenal,” Evanovich said. “I knew he was going to have a real good tournament.”
Compiled by Joe Tuscano