Photograph by Aaron Suozzi
Westmont's Tim Heinrich nailed a second-place finish at the rugged Gary Bianchini tournament last weekend.
By Dick Sparrer
As tournaments go, this was a tough one. But you know what they say: When the going gets tough... well, you know the rest.
So when the going got tough at the annual Gary Bianchini Memorial Wrestling Tournament at Cupertino last weekend, a bunch of tough area wrestlers got going to bring home tournament medals.
Westmont's Tim Heinrich was tough enough to earn a place in the Bianchini finals, and Bobo Do of Cupertino, Charlie LaVerdi of Monta Vista and Alberto Luvian of Fremont made it to third-place round in the rugged event.
And make no mistake about it--this was one rugged event.
State powerhouse Vacaville rolled up 195.5 points to win the tournament championship, with Del Oro (149) and Will C. Wood (145.5) fighting it out for second.
Oak Grove was the top finisher from the Central Coast Section. The Eagles ran up 121 points to finish fourth. Bellarmine ended up eighth, with Wilcox ninth and Hollister 10th.
Monta Vista came through with the strongest finish among local schools. The Matadors, led by LaVerdi, finished 14th with 52 points, and host Cupertino was close behind in 16th with 51 points.
Heinrich helped Westmont to a team 18th, and Fremont finished 20th.
Heinrich came through with an outstanding individual performance, finishing second to St. Francis star Jason Olmos at 152 pounds. Heinrich, fifth at 140 pounds at the 1996 Bianchini, lost a 15-8 decision to Olmos in the finals. Heinrich was a CCS finalist last year.
Westmont sophomore Phat Dinh supported Heinrich's effort with a fifth-place finish at 119 pounds.
LaVerdi topped a list of three Monta Vista placers to help the Matadors into the top 15 in the team standings.
LaVerdi, a Bianchini finalist at 135 pounds last year, was third at 140 pounds for the Mats, beating Bellarmine's Brian Cobb in his final match. LaVerdi is a defending league champion at Monta Vista.
Freshman Jarrod Rothman finished sixth at 103 pounds for the Matadors, and senior Brian Woo was a consolation "B" champion at 135 pounds. Woo won the same title at the tourney a year ago.
Cupertino finished right behind Monta Vista on the points list, largely because of the performance of Do.
The Cupertino senior beat Richard Pham of Wilcox to clinch third at 119 pounds. Do, a defending league champion for the Pioneers, was fourth at 112 pounds in the '96 Bianchini.
Seniors Chris Friend and Lewis Mendez each finished sixth for Cupertino. Mendez was a 125-pound champ at the tourney a year ago and is a defending league champ.
Senior Peter Boyer came through with a consolation "B" championship at 160 pounds for the Pioneers.
Luvian was the star of the day for Fremont at the Bianchini. The Fremont sensation finished fourth at heavyweight for the Firebirds.
Leigh's Kevin Krall ended up fifth at 189 pounds and Prospect senior Son Nguyen finished sixth at 119 pounds.
Tough loss for Westmont
In dual match action last week, Westmont lost a 40-37 heartbreaker to Pioneer in a key battle in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
Heinrich and Dinh topped a list of four Warriors who won by fall against Pioneer, but the Mustangs countered with five pins of their own.
Heinrich moved up two weights to 171 pounds, but he still came through with a second-round fall for the Warriors.
Dinh pinned in the second round at 125, and Aaron Garcia (119) and Tony Oka (140) each won on first-round falls. Senior Andrew Wadler won by decision at 160 pounds, and Greg Woodland pulled out a tight 6-5 victory over Mike Roman at 189.
But despite the efforts of the Warriors, the final decision went down to the heavyweight division.
Westmont led 37-34 and needed a win to clinch the team victory. But Pioneer heavyweight Daryl Evans pinned in the first round to give the win to the Mustangs.
Sam Swantko (152), Ricky Hobson (130), Chris Olsen (135) and James Ho (112) each pinned for the Mustangs, and Chris Hammel (145) won 11-7 to set up Evans for the win-clinching fall.
The loss was a severe blow for the Warriors, who had figured to contend for the league title this season.
Westmont head coach Mitch Vierra figured it would be his Warriors and Del Mar fighting it out for the league championship this year, just as they did a year ago. Westmont lost 35-31 to the Dons in the league title match last season.
The Warriors last won a league title in 1995. Strangely enough, it was a key win over Pioneer that lifted Westmont to the championship.
Despite the most recent loss, Vierra is still looking for big things from this Warriors this season. In fact, he figures that Heinrich (152), Wadler (145), Dinh (119) and Luong Vuong (103) will all be possible CCS placers.
Heinrich was a league champ last season who went on to place second in CCS. Dinh was fourth in the 21-team BVAL finals a year ago, and Wadler is third-year varsity wrestler coming off of two 20-win seasons.
Junior Jeff Innamorato (160) is another top returner for the Warriors this winter.
Freshmen Oka (135) and Danh Nguyen (112) join Aaron Garcia (112), Greg Woodland (189) and Brodie Gorman (140) as top newcomers for the Warriors.
Panthers lose
Prospect dropped a 66-12 decision to Leland in Santa Teresa Division action. Sophomore Joe Mannina pinned in the second round at 135 pounds for Prospect's only win on the mat. Idin Salkonovic won by forfeit at 189.
"We're young and inexperienced," said head coach Ron Dominguez. "We have a team comprised mostly of sophomores."
Nguyen is one of the few seniors on the Prospect squad and will wrestle at 119 pounds for the Panthers.
Juniors Salkonovic (189) and Justin Bryant (152) and sophs Mannina (130), Karl Chin and Aaron Stanley are other top prospects for the Panthers this winter.
Vikes plan to contend
Over in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, Lynbrook hopes to contend for a title this winter, despite a season-opening 33-33 tie with Saratoga.
Comeback league champion Paul Choi heads up Lynbrook's hope for a solid season. Choi was the 112-pound champion in the league a year ago and is a favorite to repeat in his senior year.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, January 15, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.