The Cupertino Courier

Awesome field for Bianchini

Top wrestlers battle in Cupertino tourney

By Dick Sparrer

Kurt Lorenzo is trying to do something only one wrestler has done before--win four straight titles at the rugged Gary Bianchini Memorial Wrestling Tournament in Cupertino.

Only Aki Yoshikawa has done it before. The Cupertino wrestling sensation won Bianchini crowns from 1988 to 1991, then went on to win state and national championships for the Pioneers.

And now Lorenzo has an opportunity to match that accomplishment that Cupertino wrestling coach Jay Lawson thought could never be matched.

Well, not quite yet.

Lorenzo will be chasing just his third Bianchini title when the rugged tourney returns to Cupertino on Jan. 12. But then the Oak Grove mat star is just a junior.

"I thought that was a record that would never be equaled," said Lawson of Yoshikawa's feat.

Lorenzo has won Bianchini titles as a freshman and sophomore and will go for No. 3 as a junior. But it won't be easy, because Lawson expects the toughest field ever for the powerful invitational that includes all of the top teams from the Central Coast Section and other state powers.

"This tournament will be tougher for guys to place in than CCS," said the veteran Cupertino coach.

Vacaville returns to go for its fifth straight team crown, and Lawson sees the Bulldogs as the title favorites in the 29-team tourney. The Dogs are coming off a dual match victory over the state's No. 1 ranked team, Buchanan of Fresno.

"They have a very good team," said Lawson of Buchanan. "They're my favorite to win it."

Lawson also looks for Bellarmine, Will C. Wood and Del Oro to be top teams in the tournament that will feature the top five ranked teams in CCS (Bellarmine, Santa Teresa, Hollister, Oak Grove and Santa Clara) and 10 of the top 15 ranked teams in CCS (also Cupertino, James Lick, Los Gatos, Wilcox and Monta Vista).

"But only about four of those 10 CCS teams will have a shot at the top 10 in this tournament," he added. "It's going to be very competitive this year. And that's good, because it gives our local boys a chance to see some very good wrestling."

Some of the local boys should be right in the thick of that very good wrestling, too, including Rohner Segnitz (171 pounds) and Fred Luminoso (189) of Los Gatos, Eric Hawkins (103) and Billy Hershey (140) of Cupertino, Jamie Kashitani (103) of Fremont, and Jarrod Rothman (112) and Ken Montanez (152) of Monta Vista.

Lawson expects a great match in the 171-pound finals that should pit Segnitz against Ken Webber of Del Oro. Webber is the defending Bianchini champion in the weight class, and he and Segnitz are currently ranked third and fourth in the state in the division.

Lawson also expects a battle at 130 pounds with last year's 125- and 130-pound Bianchini champs entered in the division. Making the weight class even tougher is the addition of Bellarmine standout Kenji Arai.

In all, there are seven champions returning to defend their Bianchini titles this weekend.

Wrestling begins Saturday at 10 a.m. with the finals set to begin at 6:30 p.m.

"I'm really excited about it," said Lawson of the tourney. "We're going to be watching some good wrestling in the evening, that's for sure."

Westmont, St. Francis, Prospect, Lynbrook, Lincoln, Palo Alto and Serra are other local teams entered in the tournament, and Gonzales, Dos Pueblos, Palma, Monterey, Turlock, Mills, Amador Valley and San Lorenzo Valley will travel to take part in the tourney.

Cupertino will host the Danny Ruppel Second Man Tournament a day earlier, Jan. 9, 3:30 p.m. with finals at 6:30 p.m.

"This is one of the toughest JV tournaments there is," said Lawson of the Ruppel tourney. "Even seniors are eligible, but they have to be their school's second man in their weight."

Lawson expects Bellarmine to be the team title favorite in the Ruppel tourney.

Pioneers tame Lions

In local basketball action, Cupertino will take an impressive 9-4 season record into league play this week after pounding Lincoln 47-26 last week.

Drew McGhie poured in 15 points, including three three-pointers, to lead the Pioneers to the easy win over the Lions. Johnny Morales supported with 12 points for Cupertino, and Aryan Davachi finished with 10 points.

Jimmy Dickerson added four points, Ben Donaldson three and Matt Suehiro two.

The Pioneers took control of the game early, outscoring Lincoln 19-1 in the first period. Cupertino held a commanding 35-6 lead at the half and coasted from there to the victory.

Cupertino will open play in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this week when they host Gunn on Jan. 7, 7 p.m., and visit Homestead on Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m.

'Tino will take that outstanding 9-4 record into the league season. The only significant setback the Pioneers suffered in that outstanding preseason came at the Tim Cole Tournament, where they lost three straight games.

Cupertino fell 60-54 to Granada in the tourney's seventh-place game. McGhie and Dickerson led the Pioneers with 16 points apiece in the loss. McGhie drilled three threes in the game.

Morales added eight points, Davachi seven, Donaldson six and Suehiro one.

Matadors fall

Mas Astar tossed in 13 points and Ryan North added 10, but the Monta Vista boys dropped a 62-45 decision to Willow Glen to slip to 5-9 in the nonleague season.

Astar canned three threes among his five field goals to finish with 13 points for the Matadors. Damien Chalsant supported with eight points and Kevin Coolidge had five.

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