"It's always the first Saturday after the (holiday) break," notes Cupertino co-coach Kristian Barbeau about the Cupertino Memorial Tournament, "and there's always great competition."

This year's event, set for Jan. 8, is no different. Well, except that the team championship is actually up for grabs this year. Turlock, the team champion the past two years, is hosting its own event that day, and Vacaville, an eight-time winner from 1995 to 2002, also has other plans.

"There are no juggernauts this year," explains Barbeau, "teams like Turlock or Vacaville that you knew would just come in and win."

Without a "juggernaut," Barbeau figures longtime local powerhouses Los Gatos and Fremont will challenge Del Oro of Loomis, De La Salle of Concord and Central Catholic of Modesto for the team crown.

Los Gatos features 11 grapplers ranked among the top eight of their weight classes. Third-rated Fremont's line-up includes six wrestlers who are ranked among the top five in the Central Coast Section.

Other top CCS teams entered in the Memorial are St. Francis, San Benito of Hollister, Half Moon Bay, Oak Grove, Monterey, Terra Nova of Pacifica, Silver Creek and Monta Vista.

First-round action begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday, and the finals are set for 6 p.m. There will be simultaneous action on three mats for the championship, third-place and fifth-place bouts.

Three Fremont juniors--Filip Novachkov (112 pounds), Kurtis Ogasawara (140) and Greg Crane (152)--all are ranked No. 1 in the CCS. Three other top-rated CCS wrestlers are entered in this year's Memorial, including Monta Vista senior Dan Montanez (160). Others are Monterey senior Travis Edwards (171) and Independence senior Tommy James (275).

Perhaps the most touted individual entrant is Del Oro senior Micah Ferguson, the reigning state champion at 119 pounds. Ferguson will wrestle in the 125-pound class at Cupertino. Another Del Oro athlete, Josh Summers, handed Montanez a 1-0 setback in the 160-pound finale of the Coast Classic in December.

Among local wrestlers contending for one of the six places to be honored in each of the 14 weight divisions are Fremont's Borislav Novachkov (103) and Tommy Staats (189), Cupertino's Renato Linares (152), Bronson Farr (215) and Aris Harutyunyun (140), Monta Vista's Grant Kadokura (112) and Alex Kadokura (119), The King's Academy's Stephen Thalin (135), Josh Montoro (160) and Paul Montoro (189), and Los Gatos's Jake Schonig (103), Naveed Bagheri (112), Jordan France (119), Mike Wysuph (152), Jeff Wysuph (160), Eric Chen (171) and Kevin Gallagher (189).

This year's Memorial tourney is dedicated to Dr. Buff Greider, who has donated his time and services to the event for many years, Barbeau said.

Gilroy and Bellarmine are not entered in Saturday's event, but will be among the 22 teams competing a day earlier in Cupertino's "second-man" tournament.