By DICK SPARRER
As tournaments go, this was a tough one.
But you know what they say: When the going gets tough ... well, you know the rest.
So when the going got tough at the annual Gary Bianchini Memorial Wrestling Tournament at Cupertino last weekend, a bunch of tough area wrestlers got going to bring home tournament medals.
Westmont's Tim Heinrich was tough enough to earn a place in the Bianchini finals, and Bobo Do of Cupertino, Charlie LaVerdi of Monta Vista and Alberto Luvian of Fremont made it to the third-place round in of the rugged event.
And make no mistake about it--this was one rugged event.
State powerhouse Vacaville rolled up 195.5 points to win the tournament championship, with Del Oro (149) and Will C. Wood (145.5) fighting it out for second.
Oak Grove was the top finisher from the Central Coast Section. The Eagles ran up 121 points to finish fourth. Bellarmine ended up eighth with Wilcox ninth and Hollister 10th.
Monta Vista came through with the strongest finish among local schools. The Matadors, led by LaVerdi, finished 14th with 52 points and host Cupertino was close behind in 16th with 51 points.
Heinrich helped Westmont to a team 18th and Fremont finished 20th.
Heinrich came through with an outstanding individual performance, finishing second to St. Francis star Jason Olmos at 152 pounds. Heinrich, fifth at 140 pounds at the 1996 Bianchini, lost a 15-8 decision to Olmos in the finals. Heinrich was a CCS finalist last year.
LaVerdi topped a list of three Monta Vista placers to help the Matadors into the top 15 in the team standings.
LaVerdi, a Bianchini finalist at 135 pounds last year, was third at 140 pounds for the Mats, beating Bellarmine's Brian Cobb in his final match. LaVerdi is a defending league champion at Monta Vista.
Cupertino finished right behind Monta Vista on the points list, largely because of the performance of Do.
The Cupertino senior beat Richard Pham of Wilcox to clinch third at 119 pounds.
Seniors Chris Friend and Lewis Mendez each finished sixth for Cupertino.
Luvian was the star of the day for Fremont at the Bianchini. The Fremont sensation finished fourth at heavyweight for the Firebirds.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 15, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.