Cupertino coach Jay Lawson isn't worried, though. Despite the warning, Lawson invites Vacaville back to the Cupertino Memorial Tournament every year.

But he does it for a reason—he wants the Cupertino tournament to be the best around. And with teams like Vacaville, Turlock and Gilroy in the 27-team field, it promises to be one of the best again this year.

"It's probably the toughest one-day tournament in the state," said Lawson of the Jan. 11 Cupertino Memorial. "There is going to be some great competition. Every weight class has at least two state-ranked wrestlers, so that should make it pretty fun."

Vacaville is the odds-on favorite to win it all. The Bulldogs just finished third in a tough tourney in Minnesota, beating the state's 10th-ranked team in the process, and they competed in the Beast of the East tourney in New York.

"Vacaville has one of the strongest teams in the nation," said Lawson. "They're favored to win again this year."

Vacaville won the Cupertino tourney for eight straight years, but the 'Dogs figure to get some stiff competition from perennial powerhouse Turlock and from Gilroy, a winner in the rugged 90-team Sierra-Nevada Classic in Reno over the Dec. 27­28 weekend.

"It will be another great tournament," added Lawson. "We have some very good teams coming in from out of the area."

There are also some solid local teams competing in the event. The coach rates Los Gatos, Fremont, Bellarmine, St. Francis and his own Cupertino Pioneers as squads that "could be in the top five or six," he said. "Each team has three or four wrestlers who should be able to medal."

Ben Reynolds, who finished third at 189 pounds at the Sierra-Nevada Classic, is a top contender for the Pioneers. Alex Wu (103 pounds, sixth at the Sierra-Nevada), Andrew Reese (215, eighth at the Sierra-Nevada), Mitch Conley (112), David Kullmann (160) and Jaime Mejia-Beher (171) are other medal contenders for the Pioneers.

Sophomore Dan Montanez of Monta Vista is another local wrestler Lawson considers as a medal contender.

Wrestling begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday, with the finals to get under way at 6 p.m. A day earlier, the Cupertino Second-Man Tournament begins at 3:30 p.m., with the finals at 7:30 p.m.

A night before the Cupertino tournaments, the Pioneers will visit Fremont for a key match in the dual match season in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. Cupertino opened league competition with a win over Los Gatos, and Fremont beat Monta Vista. The two powers will square off at 6:30 p.m.