By Dick Sparrer
Hard work has its rewards.
And no one knows that better than Westmont's Ruben Rodrigues and Tim Heinrich.
The two wrestlers have been working hard this season, and the hard work has been paying off in victories ... and titles.
Both Rodrigues and Heinrich have worked their way through their individual divisions to place in tournaments in each of the last three weekends.
But they did more than just place at the Jim Root Classic at West Valley Community College last weekend.
Rodrigues was the individual champ at 103 pounds, and Heinrich came through with a title at 135 to lead the Westmont effort at the tourney held at West Valley's Saratoga campus. The tournament is named for the West Valley coach who so successfully guided the Westmont program as the head coach there for many years.
For Rodrigues, the title was his second straight at the Root. He had won the 103-pound crown a year earlier.
Heinrich beat Monta Vista standout Charlie LaVerdi in the finals to claim his Root title.
The efforts of Rodrigues and Heinrich helped Westmont claim a top-10 finish at the Root. Palma ran up 159 points to win the team title with Silver Creek second at 153. Westmont was ninth overall with 81 points.
Tony Chen was a champ at 119 pounts to lead Lynbrook to a team 12th at the Root. Gordon Kwan supported with a third at 112 and David Ramirez was fourth at 145 for the Vikings.
Dave McKell and LaVerdi were each second to lead Monta Vista to seventh place in the tourney. McKell was second at 171 and LaVerdi was second at 135. Jeffrey Lum added a fourth at 103.
A week earlier, LaVerdi topped a list of four Monta Vista placers in Cupertino High's 11th annual Gary Bianchini Memorial Wrestling Tournament. The Matador senior finished second at 135 pounds.
Lum added a fifth at 103 for the Mats and McKell was fifth at 171. Brian Woo was the consolation "B" champ at 130.
Lynbrook's Chen came through with a fifth at 119 pounds for the Vikings.
Rodrigues led the Westmont effort with a second-place finish at 103 pounds and Heinrich came through with a fifth at 140.
Vacaville ran up 191 points to win the tournament crown with Del Oro second at 184. But Cupertino finished with 74 points to nail 10th overall and lead the list of local Santa Clara Valley Athletic League entries in the event.
Wilcox was 11th with 70 points, followed by Fremont (69) in 12th, Monta Vista (61) in 15th, Los Gatos (46) in 16th, Palo Alto (37.5) in 19th and Lynbrook (18) in 25th. Westmont finished 21st overall with 35 points and Prospect was 27th.
Heinrich was coming off of an outstanding showing at the Lynn Dyche Tournament at James Lick. The talented Warrior won the title at 140 pounds, and was picked the most valuable wrestler in the lower weights.
Rodrigues added a second at 112 for the Warriors and Tien Dihn was third at 118 pounds.
In recent dual match action, Westmont pounded Lincoln 42-28 to open the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League with a victory.
Heinrich led the way with a quick pin at 1:10 of the first at 140 pounds, and Duc Vuong pinned at 1:35 of the first at 103 pounds.
Shantez Sumler capped the day by nailing a fall with 36 seconds remaining in the second round at 275 pounds, and Sang Pham pinned at 3:40 of the second round at 125.
Rodrigues pulled out a tight 10-8 win at 112 pounds, and Jose Barajas had to go into overtime to pull out a 4-2 win at 215.
Kevin Walker won on a second-round disqualification at 145 pounds and Mat Meade was a forfeit winner at 189.
In other local action, Lynbrook sandwiched a dual match win between the two recent tournaments, beating Palo Alto 44-27 in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL.
Pins by Gary Chen, Paul Choi, T. Chen, Brian White and Fred Ramirez sparked the Vikings to the win.
The younger Chen pinned 20 seconds into the second round at 103 pounds and Choi won by fall after a minute of action at 112.
Kwan roughed up his foe at 119 for a 13-3 victory and T. Chen, a defending league champ for Lynbrook, pinned with just 20 seconds left to wrestle at 125.
D. Ramirez nailed a 10-1 win at 145 pounds for the Vikes and White pinned in a quick 55 seconds at 160. Steve Horner walked off with a forfeit win at 189 and F. Ramirez capped the day with a 40-second pin at 215 pounds.
Monta Vista lost a De Anza Division decision to Wilcox, falling 50-17. Lum was a 6-2 winner at 103, P.J. Meitl won 10-5 at 125, Brian Woo took a 13-4 decision at 130 and LaVerdi won by injury default at 135 for the Matadors' only victories of the day.
Monta Vista slipped to 2-1 in the division with the loss.
Sophomore Jason Webster won by fall at 112 pounds, but the Saratoga wrestling team lost a tough 47-31 decision to Milpitas in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL.
Webster pinned at 3:43 of the second round to top a list of six Saratoga winners in the match.
Pat Miranda started things off with a forfeit win at 103 and Webster pinned at 112.
Atef Noori nailed a 10-1 victory at 119 pounds for the Falcons. Ismail Chaudry followed with a 4-1 win at 125 pounds, and Chris Stanley gave the Falcons a commanding lead in the match with a 14-10 win at 130.
That was the last win of the day for Saratoga, though, and the Falcons dropped their second decision of the league season.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, Wednesday, January 17, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.