Publication Date: Friday, February 25, 2005
PREP ROUNDUP
Pinning
Pinning
(February 25, 2005)down
a crown
That's the goal
for Gunn's Juratovac
in CCS wrestling
by Keith Peters
For Gunn High senior Adam Juratovac, this wrestling season has seen a reversal of fortune.
A year ago, Juratovac was only the second-best wrestler at 275 pounds in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. This season, he's the best.
A year ago, Juratovac won three matches and lost two at the Central Coast Section Championships and failed to qualify for the state meet. This season, he's seeded No. 3 and favored to advance to the next level.
Whether that happens will be determined this weekend at Independence High in San Jose, where the section's best wrestlers will grapple for honors and the three state meet berths available in each weight division.
Action begins today at 9 a.m. and runs through 3 p.m., for weight classes 140 pounds and under. For all other weight divisions, first-round matches run from 3-9 p.m.
Third-round championship matches begin Saturday at 9 a.m. Third- and fifth-place matches start at 5:45 p.m., with championship finals scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Juratovac, the highest-seeded athlete among local entrants, is seeded behind Tommy James of Independence and Raymond Romero of Silver Creek. Juratovac didn't face either competitor last season, but brings a sparkling 19-0 record (featuring nine pins) into the tournament.
Juratovac won two matches by pin at last year's CCS tourney, losing twice by pin. One defeat came in the second round to eventual runnerup Alex Balogh of Watsonville. James McCluskey of Palo Alto won the 275-pound crown with a 4-1 decision.
Juratovac, who watched the CCS finals last season and the state finals two years ago, is tired of watching. He has made it his goal to win a CCS title.
"Adam is a much better wrestler than he was last year," said Gunn coach Chris Horpel. "He's sharper and makes fewer mistakes. He has learned more techniques. He's in great shape."
Even though Juratovac won many of his league dual-match bouts by forfeit.
"It's too bad Adam did not get a chance to wrestle more often," Horpel said. "That could hurt him at CCS and, if he makes it that far, as state. However, he has had three great workout partners to push him almost every day - Matt Struckmeyer, Matt McGinn and Tom Mullen (my large assistant coaches)."
Juratovac is one of nine Gunn wrestlers competing this weekend. Also entered are Justin Reyes (105), Kiyoshi Kawano (114), Nic Giaccia (132), Cory Babbington (137), Seth Danielson (147), Nadav Perl (173) and Juan Cativo (217). Jay Villafana (160), who was eighth at the league meet and didn't officially qualify for CCS, likely will compete because one of the qualifiers from league was injured.
Palo Alto sends seven wrestlers, including Jon Leape (114), Fernando Shahpouri (127), Gianni Rosas (137), Richard Nole (142), Amir Shahhoseini (147), Eric Sundheim (154) and John Hall (191).
Menlo-Atherton has five wrestlers entered: Philip So (105), Mark Toguchi (121), Ignacio Flores (127), Edwin Pech (132) and Samuel Pech (142).
Basketball
Top-seeded Palo Alto (26-1) took the first step toward a possible CCS Division II title by crushing visiting Lincoln (San Jose) on Wednesday night, 78-34.
The Vikings next will face No. 9 Evergreen Valley, a 66-63 winner over No. 8 South San Francisco, in the quarterfinals Saturday at Santa Clara High at 6:15 p.m.
Paly is favored to reach Tuesday's semifinals, against either Westmont or Sequoia. The finals are March 4 at the San Jose State Events Center at 4:45 p.m.
"There's no question we're the best team," said Paly coach Peter Diepenbrock. "The question is, if we're not up by 20, will we do what we do best?"
Many of Paly's victories have been blowouts this season and Wednesday's game was no exception. The Vikings wrapped up its opener quickly, racing to a 20-0 lead and extending it to 55-21 at the half. Every Paly player saw time, including four members of the JV squad.
Senior forward Brian Baskauskas led Paly with 19 points while junior guard Jeremy Lin added 12 points, eight assists, seven steals and three rebounds. Juniors Cooper Miller and Martin Mouton split 20 points and combined for 14 rebounds with junior Steven Brown contributing seven points and a team-high nine boards.
In other Division II opener, No. 11 Gunn (11-15) saw its season end in a frustrating 53-46 loss at No. 6 Overfelt. After jumping to a 19-11 lead, the Titans scored only 10 points over the next two quarters and trailed by 46-29 just into the fourth quarter.
Gunn then went on a 17-4 run to close to within 50-46. With 19 seconds left, sophomore Peter Jordan missed the front end of a one-and-one situation and the Titans' hopes died. Jordan finished with a team-high 23 points, but no other Gunn player scored more than seven. The Titans, however lose only three seniors and will return the bulk of their offense next season.
Elsewhere, Eastside Prep girls' basketball coach and school athletic director Gretchen Seeley has been selected by USA Basketball to serve as the NFHS representative on the U.S. Basketball Women's Cadet & Youth Committee for the 2005-2008 quadrennium.
Responsibilities include selection of players and coaches for national events and teams and other duties as assigned by the Board of USA Basketball.
Baseball
Defending CCS Division III champion Menlo opened its season this week with a pair of victories over San Lorenzo Valley in the Coast Classic.
On Tuesday, UCLA-bound senior Andy Suiter pitched five innings of one-hit ball in a 10-0 victory. Suiter struck out six and walked none. Senior Ryan Cavan had two hits and two RBI while junior Andy Gregg made his varsity debut with three RBI.
On Wednesday, junior righthander John Liu and Cavan combined on a three-hitter to pace the Knights to a 5-1 win. Liu, in his first start, was solid over six innings. Sami Morgan keyed the offense and defense, getting two hits and two RBI along with making a backhand diving stop and putout in the fifth.
On Monday, Menlo-Atherton opened its season with a 14-1 nonleague rout of host Homestead. Clark Hagman led a 15-hit attack with four hits in addition to driving in four. Domenic Di Ricco had two hits, four RBI and picked up the pitching win with four strong innings. The Bears play host to St. Francis on Monday at Flood Park (3:30 p.m.) in the opening round of the Bellarmine Tournament. The Lancers are ranked among the top 35 teams in the nation.
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
