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Spartans Bury Stanford 33-9; Grapplers Win 7 Of 10 Matches
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by Mike McGuire
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| The Spartan wrestling team bounced back from a disappointing loss to Bakersfield State by thumping the Stanford
Cardinal wrestlers 33-9 Friday. |
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| The Spartans took seven of ten, winning the first six matches of the evening. |
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| Sophmore Dave Ciprian (118) started the evening off by pinning Bert Fukunaga 2:09 into the first round. Senior
John Middlestead (147) recorded the other pin by smothering Jeff Bradley with 4:54 elapsed in the match. |
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| "I think he (Ciprian) got surprised," said head coach T.J. Kerr. "I don't think he got up for the
match too much. The guy went out and took him down, but i think his pride took over and he came back and pinned
him." |
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| Overall, Kerr was pleased with the team effort. However, he mentioned that a couple of losses were disappointing. |
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| The Spartans lost three matches. Junior Andy Tsarnas (190) lost to Doug Perkins, 8-2. |
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| "He (Perkins) kind of jumped up five points on Andy and then he stalled the rest of the match," Kerr
said. |
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| "It was a good match, but when we're looking to win the meet, the win is a lot nicer," Kerr added. |
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| Don Knox (167) lost a tough match to Tom Mullen, but Kerr said the freshman is moving along well and only needs
more time to reach his potential. |
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| The other loss came in the heavyweight division when Jerry Morrison lost to Flint Pulskamp 15-3. |
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| "I think the fact that he was wrestling a very small heavyweight had an affect," Kerr said. "I think
he took it easy on the guy. Sometimes I think there is a point where you don't want to look like a bully." |
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| Kerr said that Morrison got behind in the first round, dominated the second but couldn't score any points. Morrison
also dominated the third but was unable to overcome the point difference established in the first round. |
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| The Spartans host the Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo grapplers Wednesday night in the Men's Gym. |
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| The 10th ranked Cal Poly team has always been a big rival for the Spartans, and this promises to be an intense
meet. |
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| The Spartans are looking for their 20th win of the dual meet season, but Kerr emphasizes a different point. |
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| "It's not our 20th win," he said, "it's a win over Cal Poly. That's what it comes down to." |
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| "There's a big rivalry there," he added. "For the program's sake and for recruiting sake, we would
like to do well against them. It should be a very intense meet." |
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| The Spartans are cutting back on intense physical workouts and are trying to stay up for the coming matches and
the PCAA finals at the end of the season. |
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| "We've got a pretty good intensity," Kerr said. "I've been telling them that for the next three
days I'd like to keep building up our intensity so that we can jump into the conference with as tough a line-up
as possible." |
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| The PCAA finals are scheduled for Feb. 25. |
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