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Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Kashitani among top prospects in Bianchini

By Dick Sparrer

Kurt Lorenzo is trying to do something only one wrestler has done before--win four straight titles at the rugged Gary Bianchini Memorial Wrestling Tournament in Cupertino.

Only Aki Yoshikawa has done it before. The Cupertino wrestling sensation won Bianchini crowns from 1988 to 1991, then went on to win state and national championships for the Pioneers.

And now Lorenzo has an opportunity to match that accomplishment that Cupertino wrestling coach Jay Lawson thought could never be matched.

Well, not quite yet.

Lorenzo will be chasing just his third Bianchini title when the rugged tourney returns to Cupertino on Jan. 12. But then the Oak Grove mat star is just a junior.

"I thought that was a record that would never be equaled," said Lawson of Yoshikawa's feat.

Lorenzo has won Bianchini titles as a freshman and sophomore and will go for No. 3 as a junior. But it won't be easy, because Lawson expects the toughest field ever for the powerful invitational that includes all of the top teams from the Central Coast Section and other state powers.

"This tournament will be tougher for guys to place in than CCS," said the veteran Cupertino coach.

Vacaville returns to go for its fifth straight team crown, and Lawson sees the Bulldogs as the title favorites in the 29-team tourney. The Dogs are coming off a dual match victory over the state's No. 1 ranked team, Buchanan of Fresno.

"They have a very good team," said Lawson of Buchanan. "They're my favorite to win it."

Lawson also looks for Bellarmine, Will C. Wood and Del Oro to be top teams in the tournament that will feature the top five ranked teams in CCS (Bellarmine, Santa Teresa, Hollister, Oak Grove and Santa Clara) and 10 of the top 15 ranked teams in CCS (also Cupertino, James Lick, Los Gatos, Wilcox and Monta Vista).

"But only about four of those 10 CCS teams will have a shot at the top 10 in this tournament," he added. "It's going to be very competitive this year. And that's good, because it gives our local boys a chance to see some very good wrestling."

Some of the local boys should be right in the thick of that very good wrestling, too, including Rohner Segnitz (171 pounds) and Fred Luminoso (189) of Los Gatos, Eric Hawkins (103) and Billy Hershey (140) of Cupertino, Jamie Kashitani (103) of Fremont, and Jarrod Rothman (112) and Ken Montanez (152) of Monta Vista.

Lawson expects a great match in the 171-pound finals that should pit Segnitz against Ken Webber of Del Oro. Webber is the defending Bianchini champion in the weight class, and he and Segnitz are currently ranked third and fourth in the state in the division.

Lawson also expects a battle at 130 pounds with last year's 125- and 130-pound Bianchini champs entered in the division. Making the weight class even tougher is the addition of Bellarmine standout Kenji Arai.

Fremont's Kashitani will make his bid for a Bianchini medal, having won a title at the Santa Clara Tournament earlier in the year.

Wrestling begins Saturday at 10 a.m. with the finals set to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Cupertino will host the Danny Ruppel Second Man Tournament a day earlier, Jan. 9, 3:30 p.m. with finals at 6:30 p.m.

"This is one of the toughest JV tournaments there is," said Lawson of the Ruppel tourney. "Even seniors are eligible, but they have to be their school's second man in their weight."

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 7, 1998.
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