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SJSU Wrestlers Beat Stanford 23-15;
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Host Cal-State Bakersfield Tonight
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by Richard Motroni
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| Spartan wrestling coach Kevin Hejnal has plenty of reasons to be pleased with his squad's first win of the 1987-88
season against Stanford last Thursday. |
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| In its five wins, SJSU averaged a seven point margin, while Stanford squeaked by with one point in three of their
four wins. |
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| "I'm pleased with the overall effort, but we have a lot of room for improvement," Hejnal said. |
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| SJSU won the evening's first match in the 118-pound category by forfeit as Stanford didn't have a wrestler in that
weight category. The Spartans had an automatic six-point lead. |
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| "Even though it was a shame that Andrew (Flores), our 118-pounder didn't get a chance to wrestle, we will
still take six points anytime," Hejnal said. |
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| The first real match saw SJSU's Joel Chew get a hard fought 9-3 win in the 126-pound category. |
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| While Chew struggled, Joe Zamlich in his 134-pound match had a much easier time against Stan Dinette with seven
takedowns to post an impressive 15-7 victory. |
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| Spartan Martin Navarette lost the 150-pound category to Stanford's Tony Farmer, 6-5. |
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| In the last seconds of the third period, Navarette had a golden opportunity for a takedown, which would have won
the match, but time ran out before he could make an attempt. |
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| In the 158-pound contest, SJSU's Jeff Profio was ahead by only two points at the start of the third period, but
successfully made a takedown to post a 8-4 win. |
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| The 167-pound match between SJSU's Shane Baum and Stanford's Jeff Harber seemed like another tight contest until
the third period. Baum leading by only three points exploded with two near falls, both of which nearly got the
pin. But it was more than enough to post a 13-2 win. |
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| Baum's win sealed the Spartan's overall victory. This made the three remaining matches, which Stanford won, battles
for personal pride. |
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| Tonight, the Spartan's will host Cal-State Bakersfield at 7. This promises to be an emotional match since Bakersfield
is coached by T.J. Kerr, a former SJSU coach who left three years ago in a wave of controversy. |
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| "When Kerr left three years ago, there was a lot of hard feelings between him and the athletic administration,
Hejnal said. "Most people felt he betrayed SJSU by not only going to Bakersfield, but also taking our best
wrestlers with him." |
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| At first, the administration refused to play Bakersfield because of Kerr's actions. This year, however, Bakersfield
moved up to the Pac-10 division, so SJSU must face them. |
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| "This will be the most emotional match of the year and i know our guys will be ready," Hejnal said. "Kerr
has one tooth missing and i hope at the end of the match he loses another." |
