Baza wins a Bianchini crown

Fremont splits bouts with Gatos, Milpitas

By Dick Sparrer

There was no wrestler better than Jarrod Rothman of Monta Vista at the 15th annual Gary Bianchini Memorial Tournament last Saturday.

Or was it Peter Le of Santa Teresa?

Or was David Galant of Del Mar the best?

The questions are impossible to answer, because all three wrestlers were outstanding when the best teams in Northern California converged on the mats at Cupertino High School for what is considered to be the best one-day high school tournament in the state.

And all three have the plaques to prove it.

Rothman, Le and Galant each won individual titles, and each one was named as an outstanding wrestler award winner at the Saturday tournament.

Rothman was the champion at 125 pounds, securing the outstanding wrestler award in the lower weights. Le was best in the middle weights with a title at 145 pounds, and Galant was tops in the upper weights with an individual crown at 189 pounds.

Rothman helped the Mats to a third-place finish in the team standings behind Vacaville and Bellarmine. Vacaville won the team crown with 159 1/2 points with the Bells second at 155 1/2 and Monta Vista third at 142.

Daniel Puder finished second at 215 pounds and Matt Krieger was third at 160 to help the Mats to one of their best ever finishes at the Bianchini.

Galant and Cody Wilkinson each won titles for Del Mar in the rugged tournament. Galant took the 189-pound championship and Wilkinson was the winner at 130 pounds.

Anthony Baza of Fremont was another area winner at the Bianchini.

Baza was first at 135 pounds to top a list of three Firebirds to place at the event. Steven Knight was second at 119 pounds for Fremont and Gilbert Sanchez was third at 152.

Host Cupertino failed to have a champ of its own, but the Pioneers did have a wrestler reach the finals and had two competitors finish in the top four.

Joey Conley was second at 160 pounds for the Pioneers and Anthony Nguyen came through with a third at 119.

Rothman, a perennial superstar for the Matadors, won four straight matches to claim the title at 125 pounds and claimed an outstanding wrestler award for a second straight year.

The Monta Vista senior has had an outstanding career for the Matadors, and the Bianchini offers a snapshot of those great high school years.

He started his career with a sixth-place finish at 103 pounds at the 1997 Bianchini. A year later, as just a sophomore, he gave notice of the big things that would follow with an individual title at 112 pounds.

Last year, Rothman won a title at 119 pounds and was selected as the outstanding wrestler in the lower weights. He matched that achievement this year, but at 125 pounds.

Le came through with the prestigious outstanding wrestler award in the middle weights by defending the 145-pound title he had won the year before. Le and Rothman were the only wrestlers to repeat as Bianchini champions this year.

Galant was second at 171 pounds last year and returned to win a title and an outstanding wrestler award this season.

Wilkinson joined his Del Mar teammate as a comeback Bianchini placer. Wilkinson was third at 125 pounds last year and won the 130-pound crown last weekend.

Baza matched Wilkinson's effort. The Fremont star was third at 130 in '99 and finished first at 135 this year.

Firebirds split

The Fremont wrestling team split in its first two matches of the year in the tough De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

The Firebirds crushed Milpitas 53-24, but dropped a tight 35-27 decision to Los Gatos last week.

"That was a very big win for us," said LG coach Jeff Garlick of the victory over the Firebirds. "We wrestled very well as a team."

Each team won seven bouts in the match, "but we did not get pinned once, and we pinned four of their guys."

Los Gatos lost five of the first six matches, but the Wildcats finished with a blaze of glory to pull out the team win.

Gatos trailed Fremont 25-17 heading into the last three bouts, but the Cats won all three by fall.

Fremont opened the match in grand fashion with four straight victories. Gilbert Osian rolled to a 15-1 victory at 103 pounds and Arturo Galano won by technical fall at 112. Knight pulled out a tough 6-3 win at 119 and Kai Garcia cruised to a 13-2 victory at 126.

The Cats won by fall at 130, but Baza responded with an impressive win over A. Pease at 135.

Pease had dropped a weight to challenge Baza, but the Fremont sensation nailed a 5-2 victory to help build the team lead for the Firebirds.

Chris Healy won 5-4 at 145 and Leo Saenz won 12-9 at 171, but it wasn't enough to help Fremont offset the late surge by the Wildcats.

Osian, Knight, Garcia, Baza, Healy and Saenz had also posted wins a week earlier in the win over Milpitas.

Public Safety

Nicknames, even cheesy ones, serve a purpose

Sports Briefs

High school wrestling

Little League registration