By Dick Sparrer
Cupertino and Monta Vista may have dominated the lower weights at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League wrestling finals last weekend.
But the upper weights? That was all Los Gatos.
The Wildcats placed five wrestlers in the top three positions in the final five weight classes at the league tournament--four of them reaching the finals.
Individual champions Rohner Segnitz and Fred Luminoso topped a list of eight placers overall for Los Gatos as the Wildcats cruised to a team fourth at the league tourney held at Cupertino on Saturday.
Cupertino, dual match champions with a 5-1 record, ran up 170 1/2 points to finish well ahead of runnerup Santa Clara (158 1/2) in the team standings at the tournament. Wilcox (157) ended up third with Los Gatos (132 1/2) fourth and Monta Vista (124) fifth.
The Pioneers dominated the tournament they hosted with 10 placers in the 14 weight classes. The top five placers in each division advance to the Central Coast Section tournament Feb. 21-22 at Santa Clara.
But it was Los Gatos dominating the upper weights, with Segnitz and Luminoso leading the way.
Segnitz, just a junior, won the 171-pound crown at the finals, and Luminoso, a senior, was a champ at 189 pounds.
Dan Barber and Kyle Smith reached the finals in their respective weight classes. Barber ended up second at 160 pounds, and Smith was second at 215.
Freshman Mike Belsheim came through with an impressive third-place finish at heavyweight for the Wildcats.
Jeff Chestnut was fourth at 152 pounds, with Jeff Ouellet fifth at 130 and Phillip Allen sixth at 135.
All eight Wildcats have qualified for the CCS tournament.
Leigh's Kevin Krall and Steven Seaburg will join the eight Cats at the Section tourney. The two qualified for CCS by placing in the Blossom Valley Athletic League tournament on Friday night.
Krall nailed a third at 189 pounds for the Longhorns and Seaburg added a seventh at 215 pounds.
The top seven placers in the BVAL tournament move on to CCS.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 19, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.