The Cupertino Courier
Sports
Harutyunyan 'outstanding' at mat finals
By Mike Barnhart
Two days after reclaiming the De Anza Division dual match title from Fremont, Los Gatos wrestlers dominated the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League championship meet at Santa Clara High School on Saturday night.
Led by repeat winner Geoff Doss, five Wildcats earned personal crowns last Saturday and Los Gatos claimed its eighth SCVAL team title in nine seasons. With all 14 of its competitors qualifying for the upcoming Central Coast Section championships, Los Gatos scored 239 points and finished well ahead of runner-up Gunn (160.5).
Cupertino, boasting three league champions and four finalists, scored 127 points and shared third place with Palo Alto. Fremont finished fifth with 126. Saratoga, paced by sophomore 103 champ Nathan Nguyen, placed eighth with 82 points, six more than ninth-place Monta Vista. Wilcox took 10th, followed by Santa Clara, The King's Academy (36.5), Homestead (36) and Lynbrook.
Fremont's Boris Novachkov was named Outstanding Wrestler of the lower weights, after holding off Wildcat senior Naveed Bagheri, 5-4, in the 125-pound final. Other Outstanding Wrestler award winners were Cupertino's Aris Harutyunyan (145) and Palo Alto's John Hall (189). The three seniors, along with junior Doss (140), will take No. 1 section rankings into the CCS meet. The SCVAL's top seven finishers in each weight class advanced to the event, Feb. 23 at Independence and Feb. 24 at Overfelt.
Harutyunyan, senior Paul Kim (160) and junior Shameer Erfanian (112) claimed league titles for Cupertino. Junior Kirby Haraguchi, an accomplished ice hockey player in the Junior Sharks program, reached the 140-pound finale, where he was pinned by Doss in the first round.
Harutyunyan opened with pins against Saratoga senior Danny Gold of and Los Gatos junior Victor Gonzalez, before beating Gunn junior Nic Giaccia, 17-7, for the league crown.
Kim, ranked No. 3 in the CCS, pinned Lynbrook senior Nick Walters and edged Los Gatos junior Josh Curtis, 10-9, before beating Quan Cao of Milpitas, 2-1, for the 160 title.
Both Harutyunyan and Kim credit assistant coach Mark Bertron, a West Valley College wrestler, with their progress this season.
"He's about our weight and he has picked on us all year and I still haven't scored a point against him," Harutyunyan laughed about the many sparring sessions with his mentor. "He teaches us by doing a crazy move on us, then explaining it later."
Erfanian pinned three opponents to claim the 112 title. Monta Vista senior Ray Wakiyama beat Fremont freshman Joe Johnson in the third-place bout, and Homestead junior Andy Chin placed seventh.
Other Cupertino qualifiers were sophomore Mohammed Sharfi (103) and juniors Scott Marvin (215) and David Hernandez (171). Sharfi and Marvin placed fourth, while Hernandez took seventh. Freshman Gurmukh Singh placed eighth in the tough 119 class.
Monta Vista senior Alex Kadokura reached the 130 finals, before bowing 10-0 to Los Gatos senior Alan Howard. Grant Kadokura (119), Alex's twin brother and a state meet participant in 2006, missed the SCVAL meet because of an injury. However, because of his record and No. 4 CCS ranking, he could receive a hardship entry into the section meet.
A trio of Matadors qualified fourth from the league meet, senior Nate Fung (135), junior Daniel Lu (140) and sophomore Graham Paterson (275).
Senior Matt Ott was the top Homestead qualifer, finishing third in the 152 division. Other Mustangs that advanced were Chin, seniors Paul Newswanger (125) and John DaSilva (145) and junior Krzys Brozek (215). Newswanger and DaSilva both placed sixth and Brozek was seventh.
Fifth-place finishers Vincent Huang (119) and James Kim (135), both juniors, and Walters will represent Lynbrook at CCS. Walters placed seventh at 160. Another Viking, senior Darrin Weng, placed eighth at 125.
