FRIDAY WEB UPDATE: For Lewis and Phan, state championships could be one win away
SORENSEN/ADVANCE
Other Novato-area wrestlers eliminated
By Mark Dittmer Sports Editor
When the North Coast Section wrestling championships began on Friday, the buzz in the San Marin camp centered around two wrestlers who didn t make the trip. But by day s end, two other Mustangs had made their presence felt in such a big way that the absence of the former duo became an afterthought.
Marc Lewis and Theo Phan each went 3-0 on Day 1 of the NCS Championships, putting them each in the semifinals of their respective weight classes.
The tournament is double elimination, so their paths from here on out remain complicated: however, each has clinched a placing no lower than sixth which will be the best finish by any San Marin wrestler since 2003 (Bret Pughe, 4th).
#8220I haven t treaded these waters before, said San Marin wrestling coach Dan Donaldson, who took over the team in 2006. And neither have Phan nor Lewis, both of whom went 1-2 on opening day in last year s NCS, earning only an early trip home.
This year, the duo have both earned their way into the semifinals of the winners bracket, two wins away from a weight-class championship, last won by a Marin wrestler in 2002 (Peter Gladish, Marin Catholic).
#8220Last year, it was my first time here, so I was nervous, explained Phan in between his second and third victories of the day. #8220I was messing up my shots, my takedown moves.
And this year appeared like it would be equally difficult for Phan, a 103-pounder who won the MCAL championship with ease last week. He drew fourth-seeded Dominic Scillitani (Dublin High) in the second round (there are 32-plus wrestlers in each bracket, with the top eight being seeded). But unseeded Phan won by decision, 9-3, and went on to win 14-7 in the quarterfinals over Dominic Dimercurio (Freedom High).
#8220He was going to be seeded seventh or eighth at the seeding meeting, said Mustangs assistant Dino Maioriello, #8220so I just pulled him out of the seeding altogether. I thought it would be better for him to be unseeded, hoping he d draw a No. 4 or a 5, and he did.
Meanwhile, Lewis (seeded fifth) won with three consecutive pins, two of them coming in the first round. He pinned fourth-seeded Stephen Bringuel of Granada High around 7 p.m.
to join Phan in the quarterfinals. The pair of Mustangs are the only wrestlers from the MCAL to make it through the first day undefeated. While a number of Marin wrestlers remain in the consolation bracket, none of them are from Novato: the rest of the Novato contingent each picked up two losses apiece and are out of the tournament.
That contingent included three Novato High wrestlers: Ian Curzon, Anthony Giordani and Tyler Iwanicki each of whom went 0-2 on Friday to end their wrestling season. Curzon, the MCAL champion at 162 lbs. after missing weight at 154, lost two close decisions: 3-0 in the first match, and then 11-9 (OT) in the second.
It also included Joey Lydon from San Marin, who reinjured his shoulder in his first match and lost a 15-2 decision. According to Lydon, he lost twice, although his name is not listed anywhere in the consolation bracket (which you can view on-line at ). The same is true of Marin Catholic s Mark Barry, who also hails from Novato and who also lost in the first round.
Also not anywhere to be seen on the bracket were Marin Catholic s Ross Sevy (presumably injured) and San Marin s Alvarado brothers, Lawrence and Richard. On Monday, Lawrence was injured while practicing for NCS, making him unable to wrestle. Days later, Richard Alvarado opted out of NCS as well, although in this case there was no physical injury.
The move struck the team by surprise, given that Alvarado had won an MCAL championship just days before. It represents the third time Alvarado has left the team abruptly. He quit the team after wrestling for a couple of weeks as a freshman.
And he left a January tournament midmatch, pulling off his headgear, after his brother Lawrence had gone to the hospital with a neck injury.
"I just didn't really want to be there," Richard Alvarado said in a phone interview. "A lot of people really wanted to be there, and I wasn't that excited about it, so I figured some of those other people should go.
"I like to have fun with wrestling. I don't want to be forced into it or pressured into it. But my coaches do tell me to have fun with it.
That's what made me lose sleep over it: letting down my coaches. I didn't want to let my team down, but it's just something I had to do. (Maioriello) was really mad at me; he talked about my not being (welcome back) to wrestle next year.
"
#8220It puts us in a moral dilemma, said Maioriello, at NCS. #8220On the one hand, I think that he doesn t have the easiest life, and wrestling has really helped him. On the other hand, by quitting on the team, he lets down the team.
#8220What bothers me is that Nick (Roth) could have had his spot, Donaldson said. #8220But Richard outwrestled him, so Richard got the spot, but now he s not here to take it. He s a great kid and I love him, but mentally he has some things he s going to need to work on.
According to Donaldson, if Richard Alvarado s departure was meant to be a gesture of solidarity with his brother, then it was lost on Lawrence.
#8220Lawrence says he s crazy, Donaldson said. #8220Lawrence wanted him to be here.
Lawrence Alvarado tore his meniscus at practice on Monday, thus losing his own spot in the NCS brackets. Lawrence had as of this writing not yet returned a phone message left for him by the Advance.
The brackets which Lewis and Phan have advanced through so successfully.
Lewis and Phan next wrestle no earlier than noon on Saturday, and each starts off with the top seed in his respective weight class. Phan will face Paul Gomez of Liberty High, while Lewis faces Matt Zonfrello of College Park.
The top four wrestlers in each bracket advance to the state championships (held next Friday and Saturday in beautiful Bakersfield, CA).
Should Phan and Lewis lose their first matches on Sunday, they would then drop into the consolation bracket semifinals. A win there would put them in the third-place match, while a second consecutive loss would put them in the fifth-place match.
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