The Wildcats pounded the mats with a blizzard of pins--22 to be exact--on their way to a fourth-place finish in the 91-team Sierra Nevada Classic held Dec. 28 and 29 in Reno.

"The last two years we finished 10th," said Los Gatos coach Scott Downs. "This is the best we've ever done."

The Cats started the second day in second place, but ended up fourth behind two Oregon teams and Del Oro of Loomis.

Seniors Jake Schonig (103 pounds) and Jordan France (119) each reached the finals, but both lost decisions to wind up second overall. Sophomore Naveed Bagheri was eighth at 112.

"Those were the first two finalists we've ever had in this tournament," said Downs. Bobby Pease finished third in the tourney last year.

Kevin Gallagher (189) was 5-2 with three pins, but didn't place for the Cats. Mike Wysuph (152) was 4-2 with three pins, Dylan Gavin (125) 4-2 with two pins and James Alva (130) was 4-2. Schonig, France, Adam Nudelman (140) and Eric Chen (171) each had two pins.

The Wildcats were coming off of a team championship in the Silicon Valley Christmas Cup tournament at Santa Clara University. The Cats rolled 69-18 over Menlo-Atherton, 66-18 over Saratoga, 40-25 over California High School, 56-21 over St. Francis and 45-30 over San Benito in the finals.

"The kids did a great job," said Downs. "We won it for the second year in a row, and it was kind of a surprise."

"Our lightweights just dominated," added the coach. "Our first four weights are like a Murderer's Row."

Schonig, Bagheri and France were each 5-0 in the tourney, along with Alva and M. Wysuph.

Pins by M. Wysuph, Jeff Wysuph (160), Schonig, Bagheri, Gavin, Alva and Nudelman helped the Cats ease to the win over the Haybalers. Collin Sanders (145) battled back from a 5-0 deficit to win 10-9, Chen won 9-3 and France posted a 16-4 decision win.

JVs finish second

The Los Gatos junior varsity finished second to Bellarmine for the second year in a row at the Silicon Valley Christmas Cup, held at Bellarmine. The young Cats beat San Benito 42-36, San Mateo 61-16 and Willow Glen 49-24, but lost 42-26 to the Bells in the finals.

Loren Peterson (103), Calvin Hawkes (112), Alan Howard (119), Charlie Denues (125) and Jack Kramer (135) were all unbeaten in the tourney. Hawkes and Howard each finished with three pins and Denues and Kramer had two pins apiece.

Cupertino Memorial

As certain as college football on New Year's Day, there is excellent high school wrestling a few days later at Cupertino High School.

"It's always the first Saturday after the (holiday) break," notes Cupertino co-coach Kristian Barbeau about the Cupertino Memorial Tournament, "and there's always great competition."

This year's event, set for Jan. 8, is no different. Well, except that the team championship is actually up for grabs this year. Turlock, the team champion the past two years, is hosting its own event that day, and Vacaville, an eight-time winner from 1995 to 2002, also has other plans.

"There are no juggernauts this year," explains Barbeau, "teams like Turlock or Vacaville that you knew would just come in and win."

Without a "juggernaut," Barbeau figures longtime local powerhouses Los Gatos and Fremont will challenge Del Oro of Loomis, De La Salle of Concord and Central Catholic of Modesto for the team crown.

Los Gatos features 11 grapplers ranked among the top eight of their weight classes. Third-rated Fremont's line-up includes six wrestlers who are ranked among the top five in the Central Coast Section.

Other top CCS teams entered in the Memorial are St. Francis, San Benito of Hollister, Half Moon Bay, Oak Grove, Monterey, Terra Nova of Pacifica, Silver Creek and Monta Vista.

Three Fremont juniors--Filip Novachkov (112 pounds), Kurtis Ogasawara (140) and Greg Crane (152)--all are ranked No. 1 in the CCS. Three other top-rated CCS wrestlers are entered in this year's Memorial, including Monta Vista senior Dan Montanez (160).

Among local wrestlers Barbeau expects to contend for one of the six places to be honored in each of the 14 weight divisions are Fremont's Borislav Novachkov (103) and Tommy Staats (189), Cupertino's Renato Linares (152), Bronson Farr (215) and Aris Harutyunyun (140), and Schonig, Bagheri, France, M. Wysuph, J. Wysuph, Chen and Gallagher of Los Gatos.

Mike Barnhart contributed to this story.