|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
SJSU Wrestling Archives The Spartan Daily 11-15-78 |
||
|
|
||
|
SJSU In Big Meet With Cal |
||
|
by Mike Barnhart |
||
| UC Berkeley wrestling coach Bill Martell says tonight will be the first time in 12 years SJSU defeats the Bears
in a wrestling meet. Spartan boss T.J. Kerr thinks Cal has a better team than Martell leads one to believe. Nevertheless, if recent clashes between the two teams are any indication, the 7:30 "Big Meet" in Spartan Gym won't be decided until the final few matches. Although the Spartans hold a slight edge in the 37 meet rivalry (18-17-2), they have not recorded a series victory since 1966. SJSU has come close to winning the "Big Meet" the past two years. The Spartans wrestled to a 19-19 draw last year in Harmon Gym and lost 23-15 at home the season before. "The meet two years ago was a real barnburner," Kerr recalled. "It went right down to the heavyweight bout and we needed a pin to win the meet. At the end of the second round, our heavyweight reached up from the bottom position and threw Cal's heavy on his back Time ran out, but the poor referee couldn't hear the buzzer--the gym was wild. The referee called a fall." Unfortunately for the Spartans, the error was corrected and Cal won the meet. "But this year, we're out to kill them," Kerr says. And, if Cal's team is as bad as Martell says it is, the Spartans will snip the Bears' series unbeaten string. "There's no way we'll win," Martell said in a telephone interview. "We don't have much talent this year. We weren't given any money to recruit and we had a bad recruiting year, anyway." The Bears are led by senior David Cotti (126), a product of San Jose's Overfelt High, and 142-pounder David Nason. "This will be the first year San Jose has beaten us in over 10 years," Martell said. Kerr says Martell may be "trying to pull a fast one" with negative pre-meet publicity. "I know Martell must have a better team than what he says," Kerr said. "If Cal comes to compete in San Jose, it must have a halfway decent squad. I think he'll come out a little better than he says." The meet will be Cal's initial action of the season. SJSU is coming off a fourth-place finish at last weekend's 16th annual Great Plains Open Championships at University of Nebraska. Competing under the name of Spartan Wrestling Club, SJSU garnered 26 points. The Hawkeye Wrestling Club of Iowa won the team crown with 81 points. Oklahoma State Athletic Club (56) was second and Ohio Wrestling Club (30) was third. Robert McDowell was the Spartans' only individual champion, registering five pins and two decisions before gaining a 6-5 come-from-behind championship victory over Oklahoma State's Dave Shultz. Shultz was the NCAA's Freshman of the Year last season and was a gold medalist in last summer's Pan American games. Marty Lockwood (115) and Duane Harris (193) captured fifths and SJSU assistant coach Kevin Hejnal finished seventh. Another Spartan assistant, Tihamer Toth-Fejnal, claimed the 145-pound championship, but his points went to the New York Athletic Club. "Tihamer wrestled for them," Kerr explained, "for financial reasons. The New York AC picked up his tab." |
||
