So if that's true, what's that make Bobby Pease of Los Gatos, Daniel Atondo of Fremont and Ben Reynolds of Cupertino? Because all three of the local wrestlers won titles last weekend at the rugged Cupertino Memorial Tournament.

And where does that leave Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division powerhouses Los Gatos, Fremont and Cupertino? Because the three placed among top 11 teams in the tough Jan. 11 field.

Turlock won the team title in the tourney that featured many of the state's top mat squads. Gilroy was second with nationally-ranked Vacaville third and Bellarmine fourth.

Five individual placers sparked Los Gatos to a team fifth at the tough tourney and Fremont, with four placers, finished seventh overall. Host Cupertino, also with four placers, nailed 11th on the team list.

Pease led the Los Gatos effort with his championship at 145 pounds. Matt Nudelman was third at 135 pounds with Brian Miguel fourth at 140, Adam Morgenthaler fifth at 130 and Bryan Ceglio sixth at 103.

Atondo starred for Fremont in the tourney, winning a title at 160 pounds. Josh Dersherlia was third at 145 pounds for the Firebirds with Ernesto Ancona fourth at 215 and Baiardo Sanchez sixth at 152.

Reynolds was the Cupertino leader, taking the 189-pound crown. David Kullmann was third at 160, Mitch Conley was sixth at 112 and Jaime Mejia-Beher was sixth at 171.

Monta Vista sophomore Dan Montanez was another tournament standout. The Matador finished second at 152 pounds in the tourney.

It was a great showing for the De Anza Division in the tournament. And in regular season competition last week, it was Cupertino coming through with a great showing in a hard-earned 39-31 win over Fremont.

The Pioneers improved to 2-0 in the dual match season with the win, and the two wins have come against powers Los Gatos and Fremont.

Pins by Alex Wu at 103, Conley at 112 and Kullmann at 160 sparked Cupertino to the impressive win.

Key wins for the Pioneers came at 125, 171 and 189 pounds where Cupertino won close decisions.

The closest match of the day came at 189 pounds where Nykola Ramirez-Baker pulled out a tough 6-3 victory over Fremont's Demar Mills.

Byron Chan won 10-5 over Ronny Loreta at 125 pounds and Mejia-Beher beat Michael Silva 10-5 at 171 in a couple of other close Cupertino wins.

Reynolds picked up a forfeit win at 215 pounds and Brett Haraguchi won by forfeit at 140.

Fremont countered with three pins—by Sanchez is just 55 seconds at 152, by Luke Tran at 130 pounds and by Jeff Crane at 135. Dersherlia nailed a 13-2 decision win at 145 pounds for the Firebirds.

The closest match of the night came at 275 pounds where Ancona pulled out a tight 6-5 win over Cupertino's Andrew Reese.

The Pioneers face another tough league test this week when they visit Palo Alto on Jan. 16, 6:30 p.m.

In other local action last week, Los Gatos pounded Monta Vista 56-8. The only wins for the Matadors came at 152 pounds, where Montanez won 15-0 on a technical fall, and at 160 pounds, where Taylor Oberhelman took a tight 6-5 decision.

The Matadors slipped to 0-2 in the division with the loss. Monta Vista will be back in action on Jan. 16 when the Matadors host Santa Clara at 6:30 p.m. The Monta Vista varsity heads to the Jim Root Classic at West Valley College on Jan. 18. The same day, the school's junior varsity will compete in a tournament at Los Gatos.

In El Camino Division competition, Lynbrook improved to 2-0 with a 50-30 win over Gunn last week.

Pins by Josh Wang at 103 pounds, Daniel Kim at 125, Taoran Liu at 130 and Teck Liew at 160 sparked the Vikings to the victory. Eugene Berson won 18-2 at 145 pounds for the Vikes and Daniel Sukomoto won 8-2 at 140.


Mustangs win two

Jenelle Kitasoe poured in 40 points and Mandy Wald tossed in 29 in back-to-back games to lead the Homestead girls basketball team to wins over Lynbrook and Wilcox to open the year in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL.

Kitasoe buried 28 points, including four three-pointers, and Wald added 12 points to lead the Mustangs to a 49-32 win over Wilcox on Jan. 10. Earlier in the week, Wald tossed in 16 points and Kitasoe had 12 in Homestead's 40-34 win over Lynbrook.

The wins left the Mustangs 2-0 in league play and 10-5 for the year.

Kitasoe had the hot hand as Homestead opened up an early lead and never looked back on the road to the win over the Chargers.

Wald supported with four goals and five free throws to join Kitasoe in double digits with 12 points. Shelly Baxter added three points, Joanna Harris and Melissa Manuel hit two apiece and Innie Kim added one.

Earlier in the week, Wald hit five buckets from the field and added six points at the free-throw line to lead the Mustangs past the Vikings. Kitasoe pitched in with 12 points.

Baxter added six points for Homestead and Elham Mirshafiei, Elyse Maru and Manuel had two each.

The Mustangs will try to continue their winning ways with two league games this week. They were to visit Cupertino on Jan. 14 and they will host Fremont on Jan. 17, 6 p.m.