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SJSU Wrestling Archives The Spartan Daily 3-12-80 |
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Four Spartans Wrestler Eye NCAA Meet |
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by Dave Meltzer |
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| Survival of the fittest. That is how the collegiate wrestling quest for All-America honors can be described. Each year, more than 5,000 wrestlers begin the season with dreams of national recognition in possibly the physically demanding NCAA sport. Injuries eliminate a few. Most are weeded out in tournaments around the country. Only a handful remain, and they will gather later this week in Corvallis, Oregon, to determine who will be the All-Americans and NCAA champions in 10 weight divisions. A quartet of SJSU wrestlers has survived so far. Now Dave Brouhard, Eddie Baza, Jerry Morrison, and Casey Gulliford attempt to survive the toughest mat competition in the nation and earn All-American honors. "A country boy from Prunedale" is how the press book described Dave Brouhard. Prunedale, about halfway between Salinas and Watsonville, is so small it doesn't have its own post office. Brouhard, a 21-year-old junior, began wrestling during his freshman year at Salinas High School. "I began right after football season my freshman year," Brouhard recalls. "I'd been interested in wrestling from watching big-time wrestling on tv, so i guess that's why i first started." The theme of Brouhard's wrestling career can be described as hard luck when it comes to picking up major honors. "My senior year in high school, i finished second in CCS (Central Coast Section). In the state meet i lost 4-3 in overtime to the eventual champion and didn't end up placing. After the state meet i was recruited by Colorado State, Utah, Humboldt State, Indiana, and San Jose State," Brouhard said. "I'd gone to T.J. Kerr's summer camps and i think that helped influence me to come here. I was league champion my freshman year in college, but missed going to the NCAAs because i lost my final match in the Western Regionals." Brouhard missed qualifying for the NCAAs las year due to nagging injuries, which caused him redshirt the season. Brouhard has come on strong this season posting a 29-4 record, and is currently ranked fourth nationally in the 167-pound division by National Mat News. "I don't really know about the future. After my eligibility is up i'd like to assistant coach a year," he said. "I'd like to stay active to go to a few open tournaments also." The future for Brouhard right now is the NCAA tournament. "I'm confident i can place in the top eight and be an All-American," he said. "I'm shooting for the top four." Dave feels this tournament will be to his and the Spartans' advantage because of superior conditioning. "Most of the schools we wrestled, the guys were dying at the end of the matches," he claimed. Eddie Baza, 19, said he grew into wrestling. "I had five older bothers who wrestled and since i liked all the sports i got involved in back in junior high," he said. Baza admits having a problem keeping his weight down to 126 pounds. "I'll have to diet on a lot of fruit and maybe one full meal the last two or three days," he said. "I've been wrestling at the same weight for three years, but this is the first year i've been having real trouble making weight," he said. Baza, now a sophomore, feels he made great strides his first year of wrestling at SJSU under Kerr. After Baza placed third in CCS his senior year at Sunnyvale High, Kerr was the only college coach to contact him. It's doubtful Kerr has regretted the move, because Baza has won the PCAA championship in both his seasons at SJSU. With a 26-5-1 record going into the NCAAs, Baza can almost taste All-America honors. Baza looks forward to the season ending, "so i can eat," he joked. Jerry Morrison, 19, said he got involved in wrestling "because my brother used to beat me up all the time." An all-around athlete at Leland High School in San Jose, Morrison had a hard time deciding whether to wrestle or play basketball during his first year in high school. "I'm glad i chose wrestling because basketball makes you too skinny," Morrison jokingly remarked. "After my sophomore year when i was JV league champion in wrestling i decided to stick with one sport rather than switch between basketball and wrestling each year," he said. But wrestling was not Morrison's only sport in high school, as he was a three time all-leaguer in baseball and football along with wrestling. After winning the high school wrestling state championship last year, Kerr was the only coach who really showed an interest in Morrison. It hasn't been an easy year adjusting from high school to college competition for the freshman. "I was getting thrashed at the beginning of the year," he related. As the season came to a close, however, it was the improving Morrison who was doing most of the thrashing in the 190-pound bracket. Heavyweight Casey Gulliford is a rare two-sport competitor at SJSU. Originally from Anderson, California (near Redding), this is his first year living in an urban environment. "Anderson has about 6,000 people and i used to hunt and fish a lot," Gulliford said. "This is my first year away and i knew i'd get a little homesick, so i moved down during the summer," he continued. Being both a wrestler and a football player (a nose-guard on the SJSU football team) presents its problems. "Football gets you out of shape for wrestling," he said. "I didn't have the endurance when football ended." Gulliford chose SJSU after two years at Shasta JC because it was the only college contacted him that would let him wrestle and play football. "I've played both sports since my freshman year at Anderson High School and i wanted to continue that way, so i decided to go to school here," he said. |
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