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Alumni Top Spartan Wrestlers
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by John Ormsby
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| The SJSU wrestling team learned a few lessons last week in its final tune-up of the pre-season. The varsity dropped
a 26-16 decision to a talented Spartan alumni team. |
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| "I was disappointed with a couple of the results," varsity coach T.J. Kerr said. "They (the alumni)
have a lot of talent, but i felt we could have won. Some of our guys need to wrestle more offensively. Final scores
are often misleading. One fall or takedown can make all the difference." |
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| The alumni team was indeed loaded with talent. As a team they have won 15 individual PCAA championship titles,
6 NCAA All-American titles and have a combined career record of 634-191-9. |
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| The varsity jumped out to a quick lead by winning the first three bouts, one by forfeit. Brian Canali took a 22-9
decision from 1982 team member Mike Rodriguez at 118 pounds, and Tim Porter pulled off the upset of the night by
decisioning 1974 member Danny Kida at 126 pounds. |
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| Kida is a two time PCAA champion. |
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| "Tim did a great job of beating Kida," Kerr said. "That might have been the best matchup of the
evening." |
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The alumni finally got it going in the fourth bout when Wayne Jones, now a SJSU assistant coach, beat David Barnes
8-3 to take the 142-pound class. "Wayne is very tough," Kerr said. "He hasn't worked with Barnes
this season because he knew he would be wrestling against him in the meet, but now hopefully he'll have some pointers
for Dave." |
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| The alumni went on to win the next four bouts, and only a 5-5 draw between alumni David Brouhard and Andy Tsarnas
at 190 pounds prevented the alumni from sweeping the final seven bouts. |
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| "Andy did a good job, but he should have won," Kerr said. "he was taken down in the last 10 seconds
and that forced the tie. I think he just lost his concentration a little bit at the end." |
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| Even though this was an alumni meet, Kerr said it was hardly a casual reunion. "They (the alumni) were very
serious. They try to keep it lighthearted but the competition was very real. Most of these guys see each other
quite a bit, so this was hardly a reunion." |
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| The meet gave the coach the opportunity to evaluate his team against tough competition. "It's good to wrestle
quality people," he said. "It highlights our weaknesses and shows where we need improvement." |
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| Kerr doesn't expect to face such a talented team again this season. |
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| "They had quality people, top to bottom. It gave our guys a good chance to taste that kind of competition.
You don't face many teams during the year that are so strong," he said. "If Bakersfield is that tough,
we're going to be in trouble." |
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