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Spartan Wrestlers Impressive; Injured Jones Out For Season?
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by Mike McGuire
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| The Spartan wrestling team, ranked 15th in the nation, continues to pile up impressive victories in the wake of
last week's matches. |
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| However, with the future of Marvin Jones in jeopardy, the Spartans face some tough challenges ahead. Jones injured
his knee last weekend and could be out for the season. The verdict on him will be in later in the week. |
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| Last week's action included a dual meet with Washington State at Portland and two invitational tournaments at San
Francisco State and Portland State. |
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| At Washington, the Spartans "dominated the meet," according to coach T.J. Kerr. The grapplers lost just
one match on the way to their 40-3 victory. The loss, by freshman Darryl Pope (158) was tough. However, Kerr had
nothing but praise for Pope. |
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| "Although he lost, he is really starting to come on. He's going to be a good one." |
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| Kerr also mentioned that John Middlestead had a good match in his victory over Ted Parker, the brother of Washington
State's wrestling coach. |
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| Albert Perez (126) did very well in both the Washington State meet and the Portland State tournament, garnering
a first at both meets. |
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| At Portland State, the team was able to take third place overall out of 14 teams. |
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| Kerr was disappointed with the results. |
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| "We didn't wrestle as well as we are capable," Kerr said. "We had a couple people let down on us." |
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| "I don't know if doing really well the night before in the dual meet and then slacking off had anything to
do with it or not...those things are kind of hard to tell," he said. |
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| If that was the case at Portland State, Kerr was pleased with the performance of the second team at the San Francisco
State invitational tourney Saturday. |
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| The Spartan team, predominantly freshmen, place third overall, losing second place by three-quarters of a point.
The team place all but two men in the standings. |
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| "We had a lot of freshmen in the line-up and we had a good finish," Kerr said. "I was very please
with the team's effort." |
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| Kerr thinks the season is progressing well. However, with challenges from Utah State, Bakersfield and Cal Poly,
the Spartans are going to have to push hard if they are to take the conference. |
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| Even though Bakersfield is a Division II school, SJSU competes with Bakersfield in the recruiting department also.
In addition to this, the Spartans are trying to qualify as many wrestlers as possible for the NCAA championships. |
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| The Spartans beat Bakersfield earlier this year so the prospects for a tightly-fought match Friday night are good. |
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| When SJSU faces the San Luis Obispo team Feb. 16, the Spartans will be trying to avenge an earlier loss. |
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| "We almost upset them earlier and they're on a roll now," Kerr said. "They've been blowing people
away, but i think wrestling at home will help us out." |
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