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State-ranked Escobar leads LG's hopes at Bianchini
By Dick Sparrer
The best teams in the Central Coast Section will compete in the 16th annual Gary Bianchini Memorial Wrestling Tournament at Cupertino High on Jan. 12--and they may not even be able to get into the top four in the team standings.
That's how tough the competition is each year at the Bianchini Tournament, and Saturday's 26-team event figures to be no different.
"It's going to be very tough," said Jay Lawson of the host Cupertino Pioneers. "It's the toughest one-day tournament in the state."
"The best teams in the CCS will be here," added the coach. "But I don't expect any of them to even finish in the top four."
Lawson figures the tourney title will go to Vacaville, but he's not climbing too far out on a limb to make that prediction. The Bulldogs have won the Bianchini crown for seven straight years, and they're coming off of an 11th-place finish at the Reno Tournament of Champions--a tourney Lawson calls the nation's toughest.
Vacaville is currently ranked second in the state and 13th in the nation.
The coach expects the 'Dogs to get their toughest competition from Del Oro, another state-ranked team. Turlock, De La Salle and Dos Pueblos are other teams from out of the area expected to contend for the tourney top spots.
The Central Coast Section will be well represented at the tourney, with Cupertino and league mates Los Gatos and Fremont among the best. The three teams from the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League are all ranked among the top five in CCS.
"I expect some great wrestling in the finals," said Lawson. "Even some of the consolation matches will be outstanding. I expect to see at least 30 of these wrestlers competing in the state tournament in March."
Mitch Conley of Cupertino, Patrick Gacagayan of Wilcox, Jimmy Mar of Lynbrook and Kevin Cho of Los Gatos rank among the local favorites at 112 pounds.
Fremont's Chris Osian, ranked eighth in the state, is a title favorite at 119 pounds. Matt Nudelman of Los Gatos is another top contender in the division.
Joseph Seo of Fremont, Gabriel Tseng of Lynbrook and Adam Morgenthaler of Los Gatos figure among the local best at 125 pounds, and Brian Miguel of Los Gatos, Alvin Cacdac of Fremont, Brett Haraguchi of Cupertino and Jason Yago of Bellarmine are top local contenders at 130.
Teddy Ross of Los Gatos could finish among the placers at 135 pounds, and Bayardo Sanchez of Fremont and Bobby Pease of Los Gatos look good at 140.
Luke Tran of Fremont, Kayn Ramirez-Baker of Cupertino and Tyler Donnelly of Los Gatos are among the local favorites at 152 pounds.
Richard Escobar of Los Gatos is ranked eighth in the state at 171 pounds and is a title favorite in his weight class. Chris Smith of Los Gatos and Ben Reynolds of Cupertino are among the top local wrestlers at 189 pounds.
Cats crush Mats
Los Gatos opened the De Anza Division season with a lopsided 63-12 win over Monta Vista.
Pease pinned at 1:11 of the first round at 140 pounds, and Nudelman pinned at 1:28 of the first at 119.
Morgenthaler (125), Ross (135), Escobar (171) and Evan McDonald (215) also won by fall against Monta Vista.
The Cats face a tough time early this week when they travel to Wilcox on Jan. 9, 6:30 p.m., for a league match.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
