ALBANY – After six years and 470 combined wins, the two most distinguished wrestlers in Norwich history completed their high school careers as the best in the state.

Again.

Tristan Rifanburg (145) set the stage for back-to-back state titles in as many years Saturday evening at the Times Union Arena winning his third state championship. One weight class later, Frankie Garcia (152) captured his second straight championship.

Rifanburg amassed a remarked 249-12 career record over six seasons, and Garcia – who missed some time with an injury as a junior – compiled a 221-21 record in the same time frame. The twosome will go down as the most prolific winners in Norwich wrestling history with nine combined sectional championships and five combined state titles.

Their high school exploits are now over, and neither spent much time reflecting on what they had done until their final six minutes on the mat expired. “When you’re out there, you’re always in the moment,” Garcia said. “It started to hit me when I knew I had six more minutes left (in the finals).”

Rifanburg was complimentary of his longtime practice partner (Garcia), whom he grew up wrestling with – and against – since the pee wee wrestling days. Rifanburg made six trips to the state tournament and placed all six times. “You try to win every one and that didn’t happen,” Rifanburg said. “But you just keep training, get better one percent every day, and try to get to the top of the podium every time you can.”

Unlike last year when the two Norwich wrestlers had the overcome some difficult challenges, the two Norwich grapplers ran roughshod over the competition.

Other than a 6-1 decision win in his quarterfinals matchup, Rifanburg won by technical fall in the other three – the mercy rule equivalent in wrestling. Rifanburg meshed takedowns with his stalwart top game turning numerous tilts into back points in a 16-0 finals win over Camden’s Garrett Mitchell.

Garcia blew through the opposition early on pinning his first two opponents, then tech falling his semifinals opponent before meeting his most difficult challenge in the finals.

Garcia topped Section VI’s Andrew Shomers, a two-time state finalist, 5-1. “You try not to look ahead, but we knew that matchup was coming,” said Norwich coach Terry Hagenbuch of Garcia’s finals matchup. “We knew we had to score that first point, and once Frankie got the next two, we felt he would be okay because Frankie is so tough to score on.”

Hagenbuch is never surprised when Rifanburg and Garcia perform at a championship level, but even he was wowed by their final appearance in Albany. “They just wrestled outstanding,” the Norwich coach said. “If I had to pick eight matches to watch, those would be the eight.”