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Spartan Wrestlers Overwhelm San Francisco In Dual Meet
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by John Ormsby
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| It was a rout, plain and simple. |
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| T.J. Kerr's Spartan wrestling team overwhelmed San Francisco State 36-4 Wednesday night. |
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| The Gators broke through for their only victory of the evening in the final bout. Heavyweight Morris Johnson took
a 10-2 decision from Spartan Mike Monroe, but by then it was far too late. The Spartans had already sealed the
match. |
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| Marvin Jones came up with the night's only pin to lead the Spartans. The 177 pounder wasted no time with the Gator's
Herb Weller, pinning him just 50 seconds into the bout. |
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| The closest bout of the night was the 150 pound match-up. Spartan Jay Slivkoff came up with a gritty performance
to decision a determined Bobby Gonzalez 4-2. Slivkoff came up with a takedown early in the third round and held
off Gonzalez 4-2. |
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| The rest of the meet was little more than a workout for the Spartans. |
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| Gator coach Lars Jensen expressed concern before the match about starting two freshmen and a sophomore at the lighter
weights. It was a legitimate worry. |
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| Freshmen Cliff Lentz and Kerry Sako learned some hard lessons in their bouts with seasoned Spartan wrestlers. |
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| Senior Brian Canali opened the match by cruising to a 17-8 victory over Lentz at 118 pounds and Sako took a beating
from defending PCAA champion Albert Perez at 126 pounds. Perez had things pretty much his way as he rolled to a
28-5 win. |
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| Spartan freshman Anthony Palomino wasn't bothered by inexperience. The 134 pounder took a 10-3 decision from Gator
sophomore Carlos Levexier. David Barnes decisioned Steve Gillian 15-7 to take the 142-pound class and Slivkoff
came up with the tough win to all but wrap up the meet before intermission. |
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| The Spartans came back after the break and picked up where they left off. Pat Huyck took the 158-pound class with
a 7-1 win over Alan Lawrence. Huyck is one of several Spartans on a roll. Wednesday's win pushed his season record
to 12-2. |
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| Spartan Darryl Pope took the 167-pound class with a controlled 9-2 win over Gator Andrew Steffan and Jones came
on to do his instant pin in the next bout. Jones has also been red hot lately, improving his season record to 11-2. |
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| Senior Andy Tsarnas, a picture of consistency all season, came up with a big win at 190 pounds. The senior had
little trouble with the Gator's Tim Johnson, taking a 25-7 decision. |
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| Tsarnas is now 11-1 for the season. His only loss came at last week's Caesar's Palace Invitational. |
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| The Gators salvage some pride in the final bout as Johnson, last year's Division II runner-up, built an early lead
and held on in the final round to decision Monroe. |
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| Tsarnas was at a loss to explain the Gator's lackluster performance. |
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| "They're the best team in their conference, if you can believe that," he said. "I think this year's
team is better than last year's, but while they're getting better, we're improving even more." |
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| "They used a lot of stalling tactics and you can't win that way." |
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| Kerr would have been just as happy to sweep all ten bouts. "I feel Mike can do a little bit better,"
he said. "Johnson is awfully tough, but Mike needs to wrestle better on the bottom. He looks good on top,
but he let Johnson control too much of the bout." |
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| Kerr is pleased with his team's progress so far this season. "We're doing ok, but we need to keep improving.
It's the same in any sport," he said. "After tonight's win and our performance in Las Vegas, (the Spartans
finished third behind Oklahoma State and Oklahoma), i wouldn't be surprised if we broke into the top 10 nationally." |
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| The Spartans travel to Utah State to compete in the Beehive Invitational this weekend. |
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