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Matmen Pin Fresno
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by Mike McGuire
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| The Spartan wrestling team dominated Fresno State last Friday, handing the Bulldogs a 36-4 loss. SJSU also managed
to break the dual meet record, finishing 21-5 for the season. |
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| The Spartans will head to Long Beach for the PCAA conference championships to be held this Friday. |
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| Fresno State was only able to win one match the whole evening. SJSU's Pat Huyck, a 167-pounder, lost to the Bulldog's
Sylvester Carver by a score of 14-5. Head coach T.J. Kerr said that Huyck stayed with Carver the whole time and
did a good job. Kerr said Carver could possibly be one of the best athletes he has ever seen. |
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| Even though the score shows a convincing victory, Kerr said that scores in wrestling don't always reflect the closeness
of the match. |
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| "They have a good team," Kerr said, "but we're a bit better off down the line, so the team score
is not really indicative of the match." |
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| John Middlestead, a 134-pounder, started off slow in his match with John Vega, but came on to win 13-5. |
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| "The Fresno State coach was pretty high on their 134-pounder," Kerr said, "who was pretty tough
for the first round, but John came on in the second and broke it open." |
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| Kerr also said that junior Al Perez (126) did a very good job against Bulldog Cliff Gosse, beating Gosse 10-2.
"Perez dominated his guy," Kerr said. "He was very intense this week in practice." |
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| Sophomore Dave Ciprian (118) beat Abric Libley 5-3 in a match that had nostalgic overtones for both wrestlers.
According to Kerr, the two have an old high school rivalry that has carried on into college. |
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| Freshman Darryl Pope dominated Gene Allison at 158 pounds, winning the match 9-3. Kerr said that Pope has continued
to improve through the season. |
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| Heavyweight Jerry Morrison, junior, pinned Tom Neville with only 1:09 elapsed in the match. |
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| "Jerry's on a roll right now," Kerr said. |
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| "It's taken him a long time to round himself into shape and to work on his technique, but he has rounded himself
out at the right time of the year," Kerr added with a laugh, in reference to the upcoming championships. |
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| Kerr has decided on the team that will go to the PCAA championships at Long Beach tomorrow. |
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| The team will be: Dave Ciprian (118), Al Perez (126), John Middlestead (134), Dave Barnes (142), Jay Slivkoff (150),
Pat Huyck (158), Jack Norton (167), Mike Hairston (177), Andy Tsarnas (190), and Jerry Morrison (hwt). |
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| Kerr said that it was hard to pick the team, especially when he had to choose not to send freshman Darryl Pope
(158) and sophomore Marvin Jones (177). |
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| "That was a tough choice," Kerr said. "They both deserve to go, they are team-oriented wrestlers." |
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| Jones will be forced to sit out the championships due to a knee problem. And Pope is "just a little inexperienced
when it comes to post-season matches," Kerr said. Pope and Jones will make the trip in order to get a taste
of post-season competition. |
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| Kerr's goal is to place as many wrestlers in the NCAA finals as possible. He says that if they place as many as
they can, the team championship will follow. |
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| "Utah State will probably be the team to beat," Kerr said, "but we're not too concerned about them
since we don't know what their line-up will be." |
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| "We're just trying to keep the intensity at the same level that it has been for the last couple of weeks,"
Kerr said. |
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