Photograph by Jeff Kearns
Fremont's Joseph Seo, working over Cupertino's Mitch Conley for a 13-6 win in dual match action last week, finished third at 121 pounds at the league finals last weekend to win a spot in the CCS tournament.
Four Firebirds win wrestling titles
Baza, Osian return to section tourney
By Dick Sparrer
Fremont may not have been the champion at the league wrestling finals held last Saturday at Wilcox. But that doesn't mean that the Firebirds didn't win a championship.
In fact, the Firebirds won four championships when the top wrestlers of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League converged on the Wilcox mats for the league meet last weekend.
Anthony Baza, Chris Osian, Kai Garcia and Alvin Cacdac each won individual titles to lead the Firebirds to a team second at the league tournament, topping a list of nine 'Birds who have qualified for the Central Coast Section finals coming up Feb. 23 and 24 at Independence High School in East San Jose. The top five placers in each weight class at the league finals advance to the section tournament.
Baza, Osian, Garcia and Cacdac qualified for CCS along with teammates Joseph Seo, Bayardo Sanchez, Luke Tran, Jesse Huro and Daniel Atondo.
Baza is a defending CCS champion and Osian finished fourth at the section finals last fall. Both went on to compete at the state tournament, and both are looking for return trips to state this year.
Garcia and Huro are also making a second visit to the section tournament. Both qualified at the league meet a year ago for CCS berths.
Cacdac, Seo, Sanchez, Tran and Atondo will each make their first CCS appearance this year. Sanchez and Atondo are just sophomores at Fremont.
Baza earned his league championship and a place at the section tournament with a win over Andrew Pease of Los Gatos in the finals at 147 pounds. The two wrestlers rank among the best in the state in the weight class.
Osian beat Matthew Nudelman of Gatos in the finals at 114 pounds to claim a league title and clinch a spot at CCS.
Garcia defeated Paul Tsang of Lynbrook in the last match at 127 pounds to win a league crown, and Cacdac was the champion at 132 pounds for the Firebirds.
Sanchez and Huro each made it to the finals at the league meet before losing to wrestlers from Los Gatos. Sanchez ended up second at 137 pounds, losing to Brian Miguel, and Huro was second at 154, falling to Jerry Yuhara in his last match.
Seo was third at 121 pounds for Fremont with Tran fifth at 142 and Atondo fifth at 162.
In other local action, Homestead's Chris Chen and Neal Cornell each placed fourth at the finals to win CCS berths. Chen was fourth at 147 pounds with Cornell fourth at 154.
David Tucker of the King's Academy placed sixth at 127 pounds, but only the top five finishers advance to the section tournament.
Earlier in the week, Fremont had wrapped up a 4-2 dual match record in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL with a solid 44-28 win over Cupertino.
Fremont won nine of the 14 matches, four by fall and two by technical fall.
Garcia pinned in a minute at 127 pounds and Osian pinned with just two seconds left to wrestle in the first round at 121 pounds.
Cacdac won by fall with 49 seconds left in the second round at 132 pounds and Huro pinned 11 seconds into the third round at 154.
Baza rolled his opponent around for a 19-4 technical fall at 145 pounds, and Sanchez blanked his foe 15-0 to win by technical fall at 137.
Seo nailed a 13-6 decision win at 112 pounds for the Firebirds, Tran won 13-4 at 142 and Atondo pulled out a tight 11-10 win at 162.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
