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SJSU Wrestling Archives The Spartan Daily 2-28-84 |
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Spartans Claim Fifth Straight PCAA Title |
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by Joe Roderick |
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| First the good: The Spartans won their fifth straight PCAA wrestling title, while sending five individuals to next
month's NCAA championships. The bad: SJSU's Jay Slivkoff failed to defend his championship. He won't be one of those Spartans going to the nationals. And the ugly: For the second year in a row, a coach got fed up with the "wildcard" selection process and basically told every other coach to shove it. The wrestling was also wild Friday in Las Vegas. Only four of the 10 No. 1 seeded wrestlers won their weight classes. "There was so much pressure out there," Spartan coach T.J. Kerr said. "There were all kinds of upsets. Usually the finals are boring and lopsided, but you didn't know what was going to happen out there." Two of those top seeds,the Spartans' David Barnes (142) and Andy Tsarnas (190), were taken to the limit in the finals, before both prevailed. Another Spartan, Marvin Jones (177), who wasn't seeded first but should have been, thrashed Fresno State's Gene Allison 13-3 in the finals. SJSU's Darryl Pope, who only recently moved down a weight from 167 to 158, pulled perhaps the biggest upset of the tournament, beating Utah State's Steve Ross in the finals 8-7. But the Spartans' Albert Perez, a defending champion, was upset by Fresno State's Joe Ismay in the 126-pound championship bout 14-5. Perez lucked out, though, qualifying for the NCAAs as one of the wildcard wrestlers. Kerr would have liked to have seen Slivkoff, who lost to Tim Draper in the 150-pound finals 8-4, also qualified as a wildcard. But one wildcard per team is enough. Anyway, Kerr didn't want to steal the show from Utah State coach Bob Carlson, who didn't hide his disapproval of the wildcard procedure. Any wrestler who finished in second or third is eligible for a wildcard berth. At the end of the meet, the coaches hold a vote. Because it's a subjective process, feelings will inevitably be hurt, according to Kerr. Besides Perez, the three other wildcards chosen were Fresno State's Pablo Saenz (118), Utah State's Greg Williams (167), and Las Vegas' Bob Kopecky (190). Carlson was upset that his heavyweight, J.L. Coon, who was runnerup, didn't get picked, while Saenz, who finished third, did. "The coaches felt that Saenz had a great year (37-5), but messed up in one match," Kerr said. "The Utah State coach is taking it personally that Coon didn't get picked. He shouldn't be that upset. He got one guy in. It's not like he was slighted altogether." If anybody had reason to complain, it was Kerr. Slivkoff was certainly worthy of wildcard status, despite losing in the finals to Draper. Slivkoff, a defending champion, was 25-10 this year and had beaten Draper 6-0 earlier this season. But Kerr wasn't making alibis. "I was disappointed," he said. "Jay was in control. The guy got him in a headlock and he lost four points. He couldn't catch up after that. He just lost his edge for a couple of seconds and it cost him." Perez seemed to have lost his mental edge when a rib injury kept him out of two big duals. He had to fight his way back into the lineup, beating Tim Porter in a challenge match last Tuesday. Despite this, Perez was 23-4 this year and seeded first. The wrestler he lost to Friday, Fresno State's Joe Ismay, had only recently moved up a notch from 126 to 134. "He didn't come in with the right mental attitude," Kerr said of Perez. "He could have done a better job against Ismay." A couple of matches of later, Barnes, 29-5 this year, survived a tough battle with Utah State's Todd Stiedley 4-3, and claiming his third PCAA title. The two got into a brawl early in the match before Barnes began concentrating on techniques. Pope, just a sophomore, used tact to tick off Ross, who entered with a 31-7-1 record. "Pope took control and rode Ross a little," Kerr said. "That pissed Ross off. He was thrashing the rest of the match." If anybody deserves the comeback wrestler award, it's Jones, who lost a couple of matches at the end of season and was suddenly written off by many. Despite his record and a high national ranking, Jones was bumped to second seed by Allison, the same wrestler who had beaten Jones two weeks ago. But Jones had no problems disposing of Allison this time. Tsarnas, two-time champion, had some problems against Kopecky in the finals before winning 7-4. "It was a little touchy for a round or so," Kerr said. Tsarnas, 33-4 this year, impressed enough coaches to win the PCAA Wrestler of the Year award. Notes-- Anthony Palomino, the Spartans' tough freshman, lost in the 134-pound finals to Fresno State's John Vega 8-4...Other Spartans weren't as fortunate. Brian Canali (118) lost in the opening round to Utah State's Alfred Castro 12-5; Chuck Gibbons (167) lost to eventual champion Sylvester (The Cat) Carver 12-4 in an opening round match; and heavyweight Mike Monroe also lost his first-round bout to Utah State's Coon. |
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