The freshman 195-pound wrestler just wanted to make the team.Now, he's made the Region 1 quarterfinals with a clutch overtime decision in Wednesday's preliminary bout.
It’s safe to say that Warren Hills freshman 195-pounder Nick Galka has exceeded all expectations this season.
Certainly he has surpassed his own.
“My goal at the beginning of the season? Make varsity,” Galka said.
Galka has certainly done that and a lot more as he showed Wednesday night in the preliminaries of the Region 1 tournament at Wallkill Valley High School. Galka, the #8 seed, finished a single-leg takedown beautifully in the middle of the mat in overtime to defeat Morris Hills junior Samuel Weiner 3-1 and advance to Friday’s quarterfinals that start at 4 p.m.
“In the beginning of the season I did not expect to be at regionals,” said Galka, now 18-13 on the season wrestling as a freshman at an upper weight, a supremely testing task. “This feels great, absolutely great. All I wanted to do was make the varsity and have a winning record.”
Galka’s exciting triumph capped a pretty good night for Warren Hills, which saw four of its six wrestlers win and advance. Coupled with D-1 champs Cody Harrison (106) and Jarod Ostir (170) the Blue Streaks will have six athletes in action in the quarterfinals.
Warren Hills winners Wednesday also included 113-pounder Kyle Wulff, a 7-6 winner over Maverick Liebl of High Point; 126-pounder Matt Valli, who defeated Eric Jensen of Randolph 8-4, and 138-pounder Zach Nauta, who hammered Justin Pichardo of Morris Hills 12-0.
Blue Streaks who saw their seasons end were 145-pounder Cameron Nauta, who was edged 6-4 by Hackettstown’s Anthony Carida, and 160-pounder Anthony Roessner, who gave up a highly questionable takedown with less than five seconds left and lost 3-2 to Kittatinny’s Taylor Molfetto.
Galka joined the ranks of the winners by staying on his offense and ignoring what would happen if he lost.
“It’s nerve-wracking to know if you lose the season is over but it’s not too hard to deal with it,” Galka said. “I was taking all the shots in the match and he was always on the edge. But I finally finished one.”
Galka said he hadn’t looked ahead at all to his quarterfinal foe -- which may have been just as well, given that it’s top-seeded 32-0 senior Dean Drugac of Morris Knolls, ranked No. 2 in the state by Wrestling Full Circle.
“I am just going to go out and wrestle,” he said.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.