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Wrestlers Ready To Chase 10th PCAA Championship
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by John Ormsby
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| The SJSU wrestling team kicked off its quest for a 10th PCAA title Tuesday night with the annual Blue-Gold Meet
at Spartan Gym. |
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| The intrasquad meet gave coach T.J. Kerr a chance to evaluate this year's talent. SJSU has virtually owned the
conference title over the last decade, winning nine out of the last 11 championships, and judging from the talent
on hand for the Blue-Gold Meet, the Spartans are a good bet to make it 10 out of 13. |
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| "I was pretty happy with the results," Kerr said after the Gold team defeated the Blue 24-19. "We
need some work at a couple of weights, but overall we looked pretty solid." |
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| Kerr will have little to worry about in four of his weight classes. Returning PCAA champions Albert Perez (126),
David Barnes (142), Jay Slivkoff (150), and Andy Tsarnas (190) figure to be the nucleus of this year's team. Barnes
and Tsarnas are two-time PCAA champions and Tsarnas was named PCAA wrestler of the year last season. All four posted
victories in Tuesday's meet. |
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| Perez, wrestling for the Gold team, outpointed fellow senior Tim Porter 17-6. Barnes, a senior pinned sophomore
Bill Newton of the Gold team, Slivkoff, also competing for the Blue team, took a 13-7 decision form sophomore Mat
Olejnik and Tsarnas pinned freshman Lenny Moore of the Gold team in the second to the last match of the night. |
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| Kerr had high praise for Tsarnas. "Not only is Andy a great wrestler, he is an outstanding person as well,"
he said. "Other coaches are always telling me how lucky i am to have him." |
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| The Spartans have plenty of good wrestlers in addition to the talented foursome. Kerr was impressed with sophomore
Darryl Pope, who outpointed junior Kyb Fugfugosh 18-13. |
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| "I think that surprised a lot of people because Kyb is a very tough wrestler," Kerr said. "Darryl
worked very hard over the summer and he looked great Tuesday night. He could be a great one." |
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| The coach was also pleased with the showing of highly recruited freshmen Anthony Palomino, who took a 9-3 decision
from sophomore Ken Brison. |
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| "Ken and Anthony have had some very close matches, and i was pleasantly surprised to see Anthony show well,"
Kerr said. "Anthony was a great high school athlete, but he still has a way to go before he becomes a great
college athlete." |
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| The Spartans will return to the mat tonight when they participate in the Alumni meet at Spartan Gym. The meet will
begin at 7:30 pm. |
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| The Alumni team figures to give the varsity a tough battle. Scheduled to compete are four All-Americans from years
gone by. Danny Kida (126), Wayne Jones (142), Eddie Baza (150), and Dave Brouhard (190) will provide the Spartans
with some stiff competition. |
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| "It should make for some good matchups," Kerr said. "Kida and Albert Perez at 126 and Brouhard against
Andy Tsarnas at 190 should be outstanding bouts." |
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| The meet is designed mainly to give the varsity some experience before the season starts, but Kerr expects his
alumni to put on a good show. |
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| "There's a lot of pride involved," he said. "The alumni stay in shape and i expect them to put on
a good show." |
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| Kerr isn't concerned that some of his former stars might have fallen out of shape. |
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| "Pride will take over where conditioning leaves off," he said. |
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