This month, wrestlers from all across the country made their pilgrimage to Fargo with hopes of returning home a national champion. The tournament features both styles of Olympic wrestling; freestyle and greco-roman. To qualify for Fargo, individuals must place in the top 3 at their freestyle and/or greco-roman state tournament.
This year, Beat the Streets Philadelphia was represented by two athletes; Miles Lee (SR) of South Philadelphia High School and Angel Garcia (FR) of Marianna Bracetti Academy. Both wrestlers qualified for the championships in both styles and entered their respective campaigns at Fargo with high hopes to return home with some hardware.
Miles Lee, a recent graduate of Mastery Charter High School had an extremely successful folkstyle season to cap off his high school career and hoped that success would translate into freestyle success. Miles finished his senior season wrestling for South Philadelphia High School as a section, district, and regional champion (Philadelphia’s first). At the PIAA State Tournament, Miles wrestled his way to an astounding 5th place finish; the highest finish at the PIAA State Tournament for any Philadelphia Public League wrestler in history.
At Fargo, Miles competed in both styles and returned home a double All-American. Miles competed at a tough weight class, but was able to beat some tough opponents and make history by being the first Fargo finalist in Philadelphia wrestling history! He recorded technical falls in each round until his semi match against two-time Georgia state champion & #10 in the nation, Matthew Waddell. Despite being overlooked, Miles bested Waddell by a score of (6-2), securing his spot in the finals against #1 Jacob Warner. After ultimately coming up short in a tough bout, Miles finished his freestyle campaign as up a national runner-up. Miles competed in the greco-roman as well; taking home a 6th place finis.
Angel Garcia, a rising sophomore from Mariana Bracetti Academy had a phenomenal rookie season. As a freshman, won a sectional title, placed 3rd at the district tournament, and 5th at the northeast regional tournament. This offseason, Angel has worked day in and day out to get better, and it showed out at Fargo. In freestyle, he recorded technical falls into the quarterfinals where he lost a tough match against fellow freshman and Utah state champion Mckay Foy. After being eliminated from the championships, Angel battled back though the consolations but eventually fell short of the podium after losing to Iowa state runner-up Skyler Noftsger. Despite falling short in freestyle, losing in the blood round, Angel saw an opportunity in greco to redeem himself. He blew through all of his opponents until the semifinals; where he met Dalton Andrist, a wrestler at Minnesota-powerhouse Stewartville High School. Angel lost (6-1), dropping him directly to the consolation semifinals where he defeated Jacob Nolan, a New York 4th place finisher. Angel defeated Nolan and earned an opportunity to battle for the 3rd place. Angel cruised through his consolation final with ease, recording a tech fall (10-0) against California standout Marcos Jimenez.
Both Miles and Angel made us very proud this freestyle season. Both student-athletes worked extremely hard to get better and truly earned everything they’ve accomplished. Both will undoubtedly continue to work hard and make all of us at Beat the Streets proud. This fall, Miles is preparing to attend Millersville University and Angel is preparing to enter his sophomore year at MBA. If they both continue to work like they have these past few months then the sky’s the limit for both of them. If you want to see all of their results, check out Flo Wrestling here! Miles competed as a junior, while Angel competed as a cadet.
If you want to assist Beat the Streets in creating these opportunities for as many kids as possible in the future, check out our donation page here.
Author: Dan Altomare
Coach Development – October 21st
On October 21st, Beat the Streets will be hosting a coach development meeting for all Beat the Streets coaches. Hosted by Pennsylvania Regional Training Center Head Coach, Brandon Slay, all who attend will have the opportunity to learn technique from a world-class coach, ask questions, and ultimately offer the best possible programming to your wrestlers! More information (i.e. time, location, etc) will be announced soon. If you want to receive updates about this event, fill out this form
Beat the Streets Open House
On Friday, August 18th Beat the Streets-Philadelphia will host it’s 1st Semi-Annual Open House! From 10am-2pm all are invited to visit our newly renovated Mentoring Center, meet our new Executive Director James Mangan, new Mentoring Director Ben Reiter, and many of our volunteer mentors. The afternoon will be capped off with an generous donation of laptops courtesy of 1SEO and the re-opening of the Mentoring Center for the 2017-18 school year!
Yes, I want to attend the BTS Open House!
In Their Shoes – Ron Palmer
My name is Ron Palmer. I am a 2016 graduate from Mariana Bracetti High School where I was a 4-year wrestler, 3-time Public League champion, 2-time District 12 champion, and MBA’s first 1st 2-time Academic All-American. Currently, I go to Kutztown University of Pennsylvania where I’m a member of the wrestling team and I’m majoring in Marketing.
Beat the Streets has contributed a lot to my success both on and off the mat. School wasn’t always my top-priority, but my mentors worked with me and taught me how important an education was. They taught me how to stay organized, helped me to develop good study habits, and showed me how to set personal goals. The lessons they taught me over the years are a big reason I was so successful in the classroom and I give those guys a lot of credit for helping me to become the student I am today. But my mentors didn’t just help me to become a better student, they helped me become a better man. Life-lessons about hard-work, dedication, and standing up for your beliefs were just a few of the deeper conversations I had with my mentors, and some of the things they taught me will stay with me forever. To put it simply, Beat the Streets gave me the tools and the opportunity to succeed; and that was all I ever needed!
The things I learned from my wrestling career with Beat the Streets are things I want all the kids who come from my neighborhood to have. Laying the blueprints for other youth wrestlers so that they can follow in my footsteps is something that continues to motivated me as I continue to be involved with Beat the Streets. Although I’m nearly two and a half hours away during the school year, I still give back as much as possible while I’m in college. When I’m home, I head over to practice at MBA or PAL or stop by the Mentoring Center to see what the kids are up to. When I came through, there was no ‘wrestling culture’ in Philadelphia; but now, I’m a part of the culture that’s emerging. Because of my success on the mat and in the classroom, I know that I’m a role model to many of these younger kids and I don’t ever want to let them down.
After graduation, I plan to stay hands-on as much as possible and show kids all that is possible with just a little confidence. Anything is possible with God by your side and the right support system in place. Beat the Streets gave me the support I needed to believe in myself, fight for what’s mine, and be successful. I’m not done though. I’m going to keep working, keep getting better, and continue to be someone the next generation of Beat the Streets wrestlers can be proud of!