Providence Journal Features Rhode Island Native and Bucknell Senior Thrower Maria Garcia

Garcia to Compete in NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships This Week in Austin, Texas

Maria Garcia was profiled in her hometown newspaper on Monday, June 7.

June 7, 2004

Ex-Hope star Garcia among U.S. best in hammer throw

BY MIKE SZOSTAK
Journal Sports Writer

When Maria Garcia was a freshman at Hope High School, she wanted to lose weight. So she went to see the track coach, Tom Spann.

"Coach Tom, he's very smart," Garcia says with a soft chuckle. "I was pretty chubby. He knew I couldn't run, had no future on the track. But he put me in the core workouts and one day said, 'Here, try this.' And I started throwing the weight."

That was eight years ago. Today, Garcia is one of the best collegiate hammer throwers in the nation, a four-time Patriot League champion and the Bucknell University record-holder. She is on her way to the University of Texas to compete in the NCAA Championships this week, and she hopes to be in Athens in August to compete for her native Dominican Republic in the Olympics.

"Maria is a very special athlete," her Bucknell coach, Bob Schanbacher, said in a telephone interview. "When she first came here to Bucknell, she was an acclaimed high-school performer. But it took some years to adapt to the collegiate atmosphere. . . . This year is the first year everything seemed to fit together for her."

Garcia conquered numerous challenges -- academic, athletic and social -- to get everything to fit. She came to the United States from the Dominican Republic when she was 6, grew up in Providence's minority neighborhoods -- Spanish-speaking Broad Street and the housing projects -- and became a U.S. citizen. Her mother, Maria Nunez, supported her small family by working in a factory. Her father was in New York, out of the picture. She went to Hope High, hardly the fast track to college. She could have gone to Brown but wanted to taste life outside Rhode Island and accepted a scholarship to Bucknell, in Lewisburg, Pa., where big strong Latinas are as common as penguins in the Caribbean.

"Academically I had a great time. It's a great university," she said last Friday by phone from Bucknell, where she is training. "At first, I didn't think I'd make it. The professors made the adjustment so much easier. They were always there to give me extra help, unlimited time, their home phone numbers."

Garcia got to know the curriculum quite well. She started in biology, switched to engineering, changed to psychology and finally settled on international relations. She graduated last month and is thinking about a career in international law.

Socially and athletically the changes were more dramatic. She was reluctant to elaborate but said she knew of two Hispanics in her graduating class of 823.

"It was a challenge. I've definitely learned a lot and I'm a whole other person because of the lessons I've learned," she said. "I came here to get an education. Education is No. 1, and they gave me an education. I don't regret anything, coming here or any of my experience. You have to learn from the good and the bad."

Schanbacher, her coach, said: "Maria handled the adjustments extremely well. She came into an environment of high academic expectations with a Hispanic population that was not very high. She overcame everything. Was it hard? Yes. She had to battle to fit in. . . . She has had to be extremely resilient."

Garcia received the Lee S. "Bud" Ranck Award this year for her spirit and contributions to the Bucknell athletic program.

A high-school All-American in the weight throw and hammer, Garcia became a better hammer thrower in college and this spring went on a record-breaking tear. She broke the Bucknell record as a freshman (175 feet, 4 inches), shattered it last year (180-11) and obliterated it on five consecutive weeks in April.

Garcia threw 186-1 at the Maryland Invitational, 188-11 1/2 at the Bison Outdoor Classic, 190-2 at the Bucknell Five-Way, 198-8 at the Penn Relays and 202-8 at the Patriot League Championships at West Point, where she was the field athlete of the meet.

"That's remarkable. Amazing. A PR (personal record) five weeks in a row. Most athletes can't do that," Schanbacher said.

Garcia used to be so energized in the throwing circle that she would foul or fall short. "Giving up throws," as it's known in the sport. And with only three throws in trials and three in finals, giving up throws can prove costly.

This spring, she worked on staying focused, remaining in control, taking charge. As her results improved, so did her self-confidence. She also credited videotaping, which she started last summer while training with Dominican teammate Daniel Alonzo.

"It made me more cautious as an athlete," she said.

Garcia finished second (192-08) at the ECAC Championships at Yale in May and eighth (195-06) in the heat of the NCAA Eastern Regional in Gainesville, Fla. At both meets she was distracted by conditions of the throwing circle. At the NCAA Regional, confusion about registration, a missed deadline and a resulting plea to allow her to compete disturbed her focus.

"When I was warming up, I didn't know if my throws would be counted. I was more concerned about getting into the competition than in doing good in the competition," she said.

"I felt really disappointed with my performance. I should have gotten composed and figured out how to deal with the circle," she added.

Her record-breaking throw at West Point in April earned her an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.

Garcia competed in a meet in the Dominican Republic early this spring, threw 185 feet and just beat that nation's top female thrower. Dominican officials have told her that she must throw 64 meters (210 feet), the minimum Olympic qualifying standard, to make their team. She hopes to reach that mark this week in Texas. If not, she'll try again this summer while training and competing in Latin America and Cuba. She also plans to work out at Rhode Island College and Mount Pleasant High School.

"I'm under the notion that if I get close to it, I'll probably end up going," she said.

Whether or not she goes to the Olympics, this once chubby kid who wanted to lose some weight has already traveled a long way from the Dominican Republic and Broad Street. But there's an ironic twist to her journey.

"I haven't been able to lose a pound," she said, laughing.