The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Harutyunyan third at CCS, wins state berth

By Mike Barnhart

Although Cupertino High senior Aris Harutyunyan had beaten Nic Giaccia three times before, he never felt like he had an edge. Even after defeating Giaccia 17-7 for the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League championship, he expressed relief.

"I was glad to get that over with," Harutyunyan said after beating Giaccia for the third time. "The first match at the Memorial Tournament went into overtime, then in the dual meet, it was close until I pinned him. It just seems strange when I face him."

Haruyunyan, the No. 1 seed, must have been on to something, as it was Giaccia that kept him from advancing to the 147-pound finale at the Central Coast Section championships last Saturday at Overfelt High in San Jose.

Giaccia beat Harutyunyan in the semifinals 6-2, but lost in the finals to Watsonville's Matthew Martinez, the No. 2 seed. Harutyunyan, who had beaten Martinez 9-6 earlier in the season, recovered to finish third and earn his first trip to the CIF State Wrestling Championships.

Senior teammate Paul Kim and Monta Vista senior Alex Kadokura also qualified for their first trip to state March 2-3 at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.

Other state qualifiers from the SCVAL included 142-pound champ Geoff Doss of Los Gatos and three of his teammates, Naveed Bagheri, Alan Howard and Nick Kalpin. Bagheri finished second to Fremont's Boris Novachkov at 127. Howard, Kadokura and Fremont's LaQuintin Cathey placed 2-3-4 at 132, and Kalpin was fourth at 217. Saratoga sophomore Nathan Nguyen, who placed third at 105, also will make the trip.

Gilroy, with six state qualifiers and four other medallists, claimed its fifth consecutive CCS team championship by racking up 237.5 points. Los Gatos placed second with 157.

Harutyunyan bounced back after his semifinal loss. He beat No. 6 seed Austin Gubrud of Gilroy 7-0 in the consolation semifinals, then he beat the No. 3 seed, Independence senior Danny Gonzales, 7-3.

Kim, who has been sparring with Harutyunyan for four seasons now, also had to rebound from a semifinal loss at 162. After bowing 4-2 to eventual winner Jonathan Garcia of Andrew Hill, Kim beat Santa Clara's Max Hourigan 5-3 to earn his ticket to Bakersfield.

Kim, seeded No. 7, lost the third-place bout 6-0 to junior Max Panzeira of Palma. Kim had beaten Panzeira, the No. 2 seed in Friday's quarterfinals.

Kadokura won six of seven matches in the 132-pound bracket, losing only to the eventual champion, Dane Stevens of Scotts Valley. After the 2-0 quarterfinal loss, he won four in a row, including a 13-3 major decision in the third-place match against Cathey.

Kadokura's twin brother, Grant, was a state meet participant last season, but a knee injury in a dual meet with Gunn sidelined him for the rest of the season.

Juniors Bobby Esquivel of Lynbrook and Shameer Erfanian of Cupertino also made it to the second day. Unfortunately, their bids for state berths ended quickly.

Esquivel, who missed the SCVAL finals but was a hardship qualifier at 217 pounds, lost his first match 11-7, but powered through the consolation bracket on Friday. Esquivel scored three pins and a major decision to reach the final eight, but lost 11-2 to San Benito senior Ryan Cowell.

Erfanian, a No. 6 seed who had placed fifth at 105 last year, was kept out of the medal rounds by No. 7 Tyler Naman of Harbor. After disappointing Erfanian 2-1, Naman went on to place fourth.

Although they had first-round byes on the first day of competition, Cupertino's Harutyunyan and Kim paid for them with lots of anxious wait time prior to their first bouts at Independence Fieldhouse.

"I was able to pin the guy, but I started out terribly," Harutyunyan said of the second-round fall he scored against Alex Tai of Bellarmine. "You get here pretty early for weigh-ins, then just have to wait your turn."

Weigh-ins for the 393 athletes from 74 schools started at 8 a.m., two hours before competition in the 14 weight classes began on seven mats at 10 a.m. It was past 1 p.m. before Harutyunyan and Kim saw their first action.

Harutyunyan, the top seed in the 147-pound class, beat Greenfield's Joe Herrera 9-2 to reach the semifinals. Kim did not start well in his first bout either, but managed a 7-4 decision over Raul Rauda of South San Francisco. Then he dumped Panziera in the quarterfinals.

Erfanian did not wait around to make his presence felt at 114, as he pinned his first two foes. After a 6-1 quarterfinal loss to No. 3 Rey Mendoza of Watsonville, Erfanian reached the final eight with a 7-1 decision over Palma's Jarron Ramirez.

Five other Pioneers competed on day one, but were ousted from the double-elimination event. Junior David Hernandez (173) and sophomore Mohammed Sharfi (105) both went 2-2, and freshman Gurmukh Singh (121) won his first CCS match, then lost two straight. Juniors Kirby Haraguchi (142) and Scott Marvin (217) got some valuable experience, but went 0-2.

After getting pinned by defending champion Hunter Collins of Gilroy, Hernandez wrestled back for a decision and a pin in the consolation bracket, but bowed out with a 5-0 loss. Sharfi started his day with a 9-3 decision, but lost by pin in his next bout. He stayed alive with a 16-0 technical fall, then lost 11-1.

Monta Vista junior Daniel Lu went 2-2 at 142, including a 7-3 win over 'Tino's Haraguchi. Matador sophomore heavyweight Graham Paterson was 1-2 in his first trip to CCS. Paterson scored a first-round pin during a consolation match against Los Gatos freshman Wes Bolliger.

Two other Matadors, seniors Ray Wakiyama (114) and Nate Fung (137), went 0-2.

Homestead seniors John Da Silva (147) and Matt Ott (154) claimed major decisions in their opening bouts, but lost two in a row to go out 1-2. Junior teammate Andy Chin (114) went 0-2.

Esquivel was not the only Lynbrook junior to compete. Vincent Huang (121) finished 1-2 and James Kim (137) went 0-2.