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Victory For Matmen
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by Les Mahler
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| While most people celebrated Thanksgiving last Thursday, SJSU's head coach, T.J. Kerr, celebrated Thanksgiving
two days early. |
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| The reason for the early celebration was the surprise and come-from-behind victory Tuesday of the Spartan wrestling
team over the Roadrunners of Cal-State Bakersfield. |
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| The 21-18 win over Bakersfield, (unofficially ranked fifth in the nation), helped boost the matmen's record to
3-0. |
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| With 8,923 people watching, the Spartans began on a losing note as freshman Dave Ciprian, wrestling in the 118-pound
weight class lost to Adam Cuestas, ranked sixth in the nation, by a 14-7 decision. |
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| For Brad Gustafson, a sophomore competing in the 126-pound class, the results were no different as he lost to Dan
Cuestas, rated number one in Division II wrestling. Gustafson lost 16-0. |
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| But the trend of losses was not to continue as the next three Spartans came back with victories. |
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| To start things off for SJSU, Wayne Jones, competing in the 134-pound class, won 13-4 over Mike Bruch. |
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| A few minutes later, Eddie Baza at 142 pounds, took a 7-3 win over Charlie Cheny, giving the Spartans seven team
points while Bakersfield had garnered eight. |
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| Wrestling in the 150-pound weight class, Arnold Perez defeated Joel Acosta 22-5 to give the Spartans a 12-8 lead
in total team points. |
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| Perry Shea, a senior and ranked third nationally in Division II competition, defeated Spartan Bart Ah You in the
158-pound class, tying the meet at 12-12. |
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| In the 167-pound bracket, Michael Hairston lost to Scott Teuscher of Bakersfield 5-3, giving the Roadrunners a
15-12 point lead. |
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| But the Spartans would come back. And leading the way was Andy Tsarnas, competing in the 177-pound class. |
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| All Tsarnas did was to pin his opponent, Michael Robinson with 1:21 left in the second period. |
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| That pin gave SJSU matmen six points and 18-15 team point lead, a lead they never gave up. |
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| John Torrise put the icing on the cake, so to speak, as he defeated Mark Loomis, 190-pound class, 17-14. |
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| Torrise's win gave the Spartans a 21-15 point lead with only one match left. |
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| Although Casey Gulliford, competing in the heavyweight class lost to Roger Herrera, 10-7, the inability of Herrera
to pin Gulliford preserved the victory for the Spartans. |
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| Kerr expressed hopes that after the win over Bakersfield, the Spartans would get a national ranking within the
top twenty but said that such ratings would be determined by "how we come along." |
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| As for the competition within the PCAA, Kerr said that the victory over the Roadrunners would help to "scare
the other schools a little bit." |
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| Come Saturday, the Spartans will host the Mumby Invitational in the Spartan Gym. |
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