Golf tournament raises $10,000 for Moses Lake wrestling
Team Zamora goes to work on the second hole during the Moses Lake wrestling golf scramble on Friday. Joey putts as Miquiyah, left and Pete check the read.
MOSES LAKE — Wrestling championships are forged in the room, hammered out and shaped into something great. Good teams have a way of developing great programs and the way to staying on top every year is hard work in the offseason.
Summer camps are a way of getting the entire lineup that much needed experience, but it takes financial backing and community support to make it all happen. Twenty one teams, 84 golfers got together to raise right around $10,000 for the Moses Lake High School wrestling team Friday afternoon at the Links at Moses Pointe.
“We try to do two or three camps a summer. We try to send as many kids as we can to these camps,” said Jamie Garza, who is headed into his fifth season as the Chiefs head coach. “There’s a lot of growth in the summer and kids need to be exposed to more wrestling. Going to one camp and wrestling 50-60 times, then going to another camp and wrestling another 20, you can get another whole season wrestling during the summer.
“A lot of our kids need that. Some of them are young, some need extra work. By exposing our guys to as much wrestling as possible is how we develop and get even better.”
The Chiefs were the 2015 Washington 4A state champions, having won the program’s 18th overall state title at Mat Classic XVII. This is a wrestling town and the support at events like the golf scramble help them take it to the next level.
“The amount of support we see from the community is amazing,” Garza said. “I was born and raised in Moses Lake and came up through this program. I feel my role is to continue this legacy that we have. The kids’ job is to do well in school and get after it on the mat. I believe they are students first and athletes second and the support we get out here with things like this helps make that happen.”
The golf tournament was a reunion of sorts with the return of former Washington 4A state champion Pete Zamora (1995-98), who runs a home construction business in Vancouver. Pete’s brother Joey (1984-86) was also a part of Team Zamora, which is happy to do its part to support Moses Lake wrestling.
“This sport means a lot to me and I think it’s what this community needs,” Pete said. “Wrestling teaches us to be better humans. It’s a sport that’s taught me a lot in life. There’s times in your life when you’re going to get knocked down and it’s how you come back after that that matters. That’s what wrestling taught me, how to come back like a champion.”
Joey is a pastor at Worldwide Christian Center down in Pasco these days. He made the trip north to join forces with his father Joe Sr. and nephew Miquiyah, who is moving up the Eastern Washington all-time leading tackler list. Joey was a two-time 4A state runner-up and a captain on the state champion 1985 team.
Joey later coached 13 years as an assistant for Ron Seibel (408-28-2).
“I got to coach my younger brothers Pete and John. Pete was the first Zamora state champion. All of us had taken second up to that point, so he broke the Zamora curse,” Joey said. “Coming back means a lot. I believe that Moses Lake is one of the finest programs in the state of Washington and the Northwest. It takes alumni’s like us to come back and support it. It takes financial backing to make a good program work and I believe in that support.”
As for the golf, the team of Todd Gary, Cody Reagan, John Glasco and Gabe deLeon won. Team Lopez, which consisted of Mike Sr., Mike Jr., Tony and Steve, finished second. The State Farm team was third. That team included Jaime Garza Sr., Ariel Garza, Juan Peralez and Jed Barta.
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