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SJSU To Face Cal Poly In Dual Meet Finale
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by Joe Roderick
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| After 120 career matches at SJSU, Spartan senior David Barnes needs a little fire under his behind every now and
then to get pumped up for a dual meet. |
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| Need a few incentives, Barnes? Check these out: |
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| First, Saturday's meet against Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo (7:30 pm) is the final time you'll wrestle at home. But
that bit of incentive only provides the spark needed to ignite the fire. |
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| How about the fact that Cal Poly snubbed its nose at you, Barnes, feeling that you just weren't good enough to
be called a Mustang? The fire is building up now, growing stronger by the minute. |
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| And the guy you'll wrestle Saturday, Barnes, just happens to be a former Spartan. Now the fire blazes wildly, roaring
out of control. |
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| You fired up now, Barnes? |
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| "I'd love nothing better than to beat Cal Poly in The Pit," Barnes said in reply. |
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| Another guy who who'll wrestle for the last time at home is Andy Tsarnas, the Spartans' 190-pounder. Tsarnas is
another one of those old seniors who needs a little kick in the tail to get the juices flowing. |
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| For incentive, all Tsarnas needs to know is that Cal Poly didn't even give him a passing glance while combing the
area for recruits in 1980. |
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| "I'm glad i came here," Tsarnas said. "I didn't want to wrestle at Cal Poly or Bakersfield anyway." |
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| Tsarnas has 116 career wins at SJSU, ranking him third on the all-time Spartan list behind Eddie Baza (134) and
Dean Prescott (127). |
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| "I hope to make it 118 after these next two matches," said Tsarnas, 33-4 this year and ranked sixth in
the nation. |
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| Before the Spartans take on Cal Poly, they'll tangle with PCAA rival Fresno State Friday in the Pit at 7:30. |
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| For the uninformed, Spartan Gym is the formal name of the trench-like home of SJSU's wrestling team. But for the
in-crowd, the place is simply called The Pit. |
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| "There are some teams that won't wrestle us because they have to wrestle in that gym," Spartan coach
T.J. Kerr said. |
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| By the way, The Pit seats upwards of 1600 people. Some of whom get as hot as the wrestlers. "If it's close,
you'll see guys standing up and cussing and yelling at the coach, telling him to bleeping shutup and sit down,"
Kerr said. |
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| "It's nice to have a big home crowd," Barnes said. "When the stands are empty, you're just out there
wrestling for yourself. But when there's people backing you up, it's nice." |
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| There's a guy who will have a few of the home fans backing him. But this guy's a Cal Poly wrestler...Caesar Escudero,
who wore SJSU colors his freshman year two years ago. |
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| It seemed Escudero (19-12-1), from San Jose's Santa Teresa High, didn't quite become acclimated with Kerr's rigorous
training techniques. He quit the team after his freshman year, transferred to Cuesta Junior College and was lured
to Cal Poly with a full-ride scholarship. |
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| "Most people leave the program because it's too tough," said Barnes, 27-5 this year. "Some adjust,
some go on to some other place, and some just quit." |
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| But it's not like Escudero didn't see eye-to-eye with his team mates. "He was liked by everybody," Barnes
said. |
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| But Escudero now wears green and gold instead of blue and gold. That doesn't set well with the Spartans, particularly
Barnes. |
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| "When a guy leaves to wrestler for the enemy, there's always the pressure to destroy that guy," Barnes
said grimacing a little. "He's wrestling for the bad guys now." |
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| Kerr is psyched to the max about Saturday's meet. "Cal Poly is our arch rival. We don't like them and they
don't like us." |
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| Kerr doesn't hide his dislike for Cal Poly coach Vaughn Hitchcock. "There are some things he does that you
hate," Kerr said, who then mentioned a few things that wouldn't make the most liberal of newspapers. |
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| Cal Poly has been a power since the dark ages, but the Mustangs have fallen to just 11-16 this year. "They're
having some rough times down there," Kerr said. "I like that. It gets nicer and nicer all the time." |
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| The Spartans may be on a 24-hour high, starting Friday against Fresno State, 4-0 in PCAA duals and 17-6-1 overall.
The Spartans are also 4-0 in conference duals and 13-1 overall.The Spartans may be on a 24-hour high, starting
Friday against Fresno State, 4-0 in PCAA duals and 17-6-1 overall. The Spartans are also 4-0 in conference duals
and 13-1 overall. |
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| The winner of Friday's meet will earn distinction as the PCAA dual meet champ. But that's a status thing. The real
PCAA champion will be decided next Saturday at the conference meet. |
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| But the dual meet title isn't one that Kerr wants to relinquish. "It's a momentum thing," he said. "Fresno's
got an up-and-coming program. They think they can beat us. But they're dreaming. No way. I don't see them knocking
us off." |
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| Fresno, nonetheless, is solid at several weight classes. The Bulldogs' Pablo Saenz (118), who'll oppose Brian Canali,
is 39-5 and ranked eighth in the nation. |
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| "Canali has the potential to beat him," Kerr said. |
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| At 134, Fresno's Joe Ismay, 33-11 and ranked 11th in the country, will battle Anthony Palomino (20-11-1) who has
the penchant for rising up against superior opponents. |
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| "Ismay's looking over his should," Kerr said. "He'll look behind him and there's Palomino." |
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| Fresno's toughest wrestler is Sylvester ( The Cat) Carver, 40-3 and the fourth-best wrestler in the country at
167. |
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| "He's a stud," Kerr said. "He's a tremendous athlete. He's quick and very powerful." |
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| Carver will tangle with Chuck Gibbins, wrestling for the first time in weeks. |
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| "Gibbins can be dangerous," Kerr said. "He can catch you off guard sometimes." |
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