Rothman wins second CCS crown

Puder, Conley each pin section mat championships

By DICK SPARRER

Winning a championship at the Central Coast Section wrestling finals last Saturday night was quite a prize for Monta Vista's Jarrod Rothman.

But it wasn't quite the prize Rothman was shooting for when the 1999-2000 season began.

Sure, Rothman's goal was to win a section title. But the Monta Vista senior had set his sights a little higher than that.

And he'll be going after that prize March 3-4 when he competes at the state tournament to be held at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

Rothman, 43-1 this season, enters the tourney ranked No. 2 in the state. His only loss is to the wrestler ranked No. 1.

Rothman is one of 10 wrestlers from the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League ready to make the trip to state, and he is one of five SCVAL wrestlers who won CCS championships last weekend.

Joey Conley of Cupertino, Anthony Baza of Fremont, Daniel Puder of Monta Vista and Josh Lam of Wilcox each won section titles at the tournament held last Friday and Saturday at Independence.

The champs will be joined on the state trip by Robert Lee of Lynbrook, Andrew Pease of Los Gatos, Chris Osian and Chris Healy of Fremont and Greg Catton of Wilcox, who each placed in the top four at the CCS finals.

"Our league's actually looking pretty good," said Cupertino coach Jay Lawson of the SCVAL, that will send five CCS champions into state competition.

The coach is expecting big things from his own wrestler, Conley, but he is also optimistic about the chances for Rothman, Puder and Baza.

"Joey's goal is to place in the top six at state and qualify for the nationals [that will be held the following week in Pittsburgh, Pa.]," said Lawson.

But placing at state is no easy task.

"It's a huge tournament," said Lawson of the state event.

Conley, 32-1 for the year, won four straight bouts at CCS to claim a title at 162 pounds.

"He was the No. 1 seed, so that's what we expected," said Lawson of Conley. "But he made it happen on Saturday."

Conley won by forfeit in the first round of the tournament, then strung together four decision wins in a row, beating Timi Wusu of Palo Alto 9-5, John Melert of Live Oak 8-4, Marc Alquiza of Independence 8-6 and Catton of Wilcox 7-0 in the finals.

Rothman followed a similar path to his title at 127 pounds. The Monta Vista sensation had a first-round bye, then won four straight matches to claim his second straight CCS title.

Rothman pounded Adam Antolin of Westmont and Andres Mendoza of Watsonville, winning on back-to-back third-round technical falls. He blanked Robert Pacheco of Palma 6-0 before whipping Gabe Fierro-Fine of Soquel 12-2 in the title match.

Puder gave Monta Vista a second section title when he cruised through the field at 217 pounds.

Puder, 42-3, pinned Spencer Cross of Soquel at 1:14 of the first round and won by fall at 1:33 of the first against Alfredo Brenavid of Riordan. Puder edged Adam Beltran of North Monterey County 3-1, before crushing Josh Visperas of Gunderson 10-1 in the semifinals. Puder pulled out a tight 6-5 win over Apollo Johnson of Oak Grove to clinch the championship.

Osian opened with a pair of technical falls over Ash Smith of NMC and Chris Nguyen of Mt. Pleasant, then beat Jamil Miller of San Benito 10-4 before losing to Lam, the ultimate champion in the division.

Osian handled Justin Owens of Monterey 10-4 in the consolation bracket, but then ended up fourth when he lost a 4-2 heartbreaker in a rematch against Miller.

Healy was a solid fourth at 147 pounds for the Firebirds. He opened with a forfeit win before beating Alexis Lara of Gilroy 4-0. But he lost a tight 3-2 nod to Jesse Padilla of Monterey, then, after winning, lost against to settle for fourth.

Robert Lee of Lynbrook joined Fremont wrestlers Osian and Healy as an SCVAL entrant who finished fourth in the tournament. Lee was fourth at 132 pounds for the Vikings.

Lee rolled to a 10-2 win over Minh Chuong of Silver Creek before pinning Jon Vineyard of Mitty 43 seconds into the third round. But he lost a close 7-4 nod to Chris Chames of Watsonville to slip into the consolation bracket. Lee split in his last two bouts to wind up fourth overall.

Rothman and Puder led Monta Vista to the top-10 finish at the finals.

Monta Vista's Lawrence Tsang (114), Nima Nejat (132), Billy Bybee (142), Paul Montanez (147), Norman Hsieh (154), David Sproule (162), Matt Krieger (173), Tryg Koren (191) and Kyle Kingsbury (277) also competed for the eighth place Matadors.

Conley's effort sparked Cupertino to a 19th-place finish in the team standings. Also competing for the Pioneers were Rory Conley (105), Anthony Nguyen (121), Daniel Lebus (137), Greg Oleynik (142), Nick Iden (173), Perry Matthew (191) and Josh Goldstein (277).

Lynbrook's Eugene Baik (114), Gabe Tseng (127) and Calvin Ling (137) joined Lee in the CCS field.

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