Saratoga News

Sports

Nguyen third at CCS, wins state berth

By Mike Barnhart

Saratoga sophomore Nathan Nguyen, one of the most improved wrestlers in the Central Coast Section, earned a trip to Bakersfield last Saturday.

Nguyen, who placed fourth in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League junior varsity finals as a freshman in 2006, then captured the 105-pound title at the SCVAL finals on Feb. 10, captured a third-place medal at the CCS championships last Saturday at Overfelt High in San Jose.

"From fourth in JV league to the third seed in CCS is pretty good improvement," Nguyen had stated softly, but proudly, while waiting around for his quarterfinal match last Friday at Independence Fieldhouse.

Now, after winning four of five bouts at the two-day event and running his overall record to 42-4, Nguyen will do in his first varsity season what many wrestlers do not achieve in four. He will challenge the state's best at the CIF State Wrestling Championships March 2-3 at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.

Joining Nguyen at the state meet will be Westmont senior Roberto Lopez, who place fourth among 121-pounders.

Nguyen was one of five Saratoga wrestlers competing in the two-day event, but he was the only Falcon to earn a medal.

After a first-round bye, Nguyen scored a 19-0 technical fall over Timo Kerachristos of Santa Cruz, then closed out the first day by pinning Andrew Amaya of Independence in the first round of his quarterfinal bout.

In Saturday's semifinal, sophomore Al Quenga of Overfelt became the first CCS wrestler to beat Nguyen this season, scoring a pin with just four seconds left in the first period. Nguyen's other three losses were to wrestlers from other sections at the Newark Memorial Ironman tournament and at Gilroy's Mid Cal event in January.

Nguyen recovered to squeak past Oak Grove junior Michelle Jiminez 2-1 in the consolation semifinal. Then, he outlasted Riordan's Nick Mazza, 9-7, to claim third place.

Senior 137-pounder Doug Macklin was the only other Saratoga wrestler still in contention on the second day. While junior Samir Mathur (154) and sophomores Richard Macklin (121) and Jasper Loren (142) went 0-2 but gained valuable experience on Friday, D. Macklin started strong, posting a 15-6 major decision over Luis Barocio of San Benito and topping Terra Nova's Adam Maddox 6-4. Then, in the quarterfinal, he ran into eventual champion Dominic Kastl of St. Francis and lost by a technical fall. Macklin recovered, though, to pin Gunn's Travis Barney in the third period and qualify for Saturday's consolation wrestle-back. On the second day, Macklin met Barocio again, but lost 15-0.

So, what happened to Nguyen in between seasons?

Well, the guy ahead of him--his older brother, Jeffery--graduated last June and has gone off to college.

"And I wrestled year round with Fremont's Greco-Roman and freestyle clubs," explained Nguyen, who was a part of USA Wrestling's Cadet National Greco-Roman team.

"In Greco, you can't use your legs and can't touch your opponent's," Nguyen continued. "So I got a lot of work with my upper body and hips."

"Nathan has had huge success," praised veteran coach Bobby Soto, who is the associate head coach at West Valley College and the co-head coach at Fremont, as well as the Wrestler Nation club that Nguyen joined.

"He got exposed to a different style and he is applying it here at CCS," Soto added. "Nathan also is getting good training from his coach, Kirk Abe, and he is representing Saratoga very well."

Jiminez, who finished sixth and became just the second girl medalist in CCS tourney history, was one of several athletes that Nguyen sparred against during the off season at an Open Mat program, sponsored by USA Wrestling at San Jose State University. She also became the second girl Nguyen has had to oppose in an official bout.

"We have a girl in our league (Carolyn Nguyen of Milpitas)," the Saratoga standout said. "It was pretty weird, but I tried to just blank out the fact that she was a girl."

Nguyen, who began wrestling as a 70-pound seventh grader at Redwood Middle School, once placed second in the Santa Clara County junior high championships. Now, he will join Westmont's Lopez on the biggest stage for California high school wrestlers.

Lopez, who took third at the Blossom Valley Athletic League finals, entered the CCS event as the No. 7 seed. He scored first-round pins in his first two bouts, then was pinned by Gilroy's Martin Gonzalez in a quarterfinal match. He posted two more pins, before losing the third-place match 4-2 to Gunn's Kiyoshi Kawano.

Junior Abe Matsui wrestled well for the Warriors at 132 pounds. He went 4-2, with the only losses coming to eventual state meet qualifiers Alex Kadokura of Monta Vista and LaQuintin Cathey of Fremont.

Sophomore Chris Sutton, who entered the 137 bracket as the No. 6 seed, wrestled in some tough luck. He won three of five matches, but his losses were one-point decisions. He fell 4-3 in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up Leo Zendejas of King City. Later, he was ousted 6-5 by Fremont's Mark Scandalis, a wrestler Sutton had beaten 5-0 in the first bout.

Westmont senior Cameron Gustafson, the BVAL champ and No. 4 seed, went 2-2 after a first-round bye. His losses included a 5-0 decision to Del Mar's Eric Tilbury, the No. 7 seed who Gustafson had beaten in the BVAL title match, and a major decision to No. 6 seed Trent Sharp of Greenfield.

Josh Militante went 0-2 at 162 pounds.

None of the five Prospect competitors made it through the first day, but Zac Cook (173) reached the quarterfinals before running into Hunter Collins of Gilroy, who went on to win his third straight CCS title. Cook was pinned in the first round by Collins, and then lost his next bout to finish 2-2.

Teammate Zac Elliot (154) had an even tougher draw, getting eventual champion Joey Wilson of Half Moon Bay in the first round. Elliot bounced back from a pin to win his next bout, but then lost a 2-0 decision in overtime. Panthers Janik Santana (132), Jacob Garcia (147) and Brian Santana (191) all went 0-2.

Junior Bobby Esquivel of Lynbrook made it to the second day. 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. Esquivel scored three pins and a major decision to reach the final eight, but lost 11-2 to San Benito senior Ryan Cowell.

Lynbrook's Vincent Huang (121) finished 1-2 and teammate James Kim (137) went 0-2.