THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 10, 1995 TAG: 9512100222
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
``California Dreamin' '' may be fine if you're a Beach Boy, but evidently it had no place in the minds of the Western Branch wrestlers this weekend.
The Bruins, who are heading to Oxnard, Calif., next week for the Los Mesa Invitational, made sure to take care of business on the home front first Saturday by winning the Western Branch Invitational for the fourth time in as many years.
The Bruins racked up 191.5 points and had the title clinched before the finals began.
``We know we're going to California, but we pretty much put that out of our minds,'' Bruins 152-pounder Sean Sanderlin said. ``We don't know what the competition's like out there. But we know what the guys around here are like, so we knew we'd really have to focus.
Sanderlin, who pinned Deep Creek's Joe Verdi in 45 seconds in the 152-pound final, was one of three individual champions for the Bruins. Matt Viola won by pin at 103, and Corey Bauswell decisioned Cox's Doug Dolenti at 160.
Tenth-ranked First Colonial rallied past defending champion Cox to take second place. The Patriots crowned a tournament-high four champions, including twin brothers Jason (119) and Jeff Bernd (130).
``Jeff advanced further in the state tournament (fifth) than I did last year, so I worked really hard last summer to catch up,'' said Jason Bernd, the 16-year-old junior who is 40 seconds older than Jeff.
Pierre Pryor, another Patriot reaping the dividends of a summer of hard work, rolled to the 135-pound title by pinning Maury's Xavier Bell. Pryor, 5-0 this season, was eliminated on the first day of this tournament a year ago.
Kyle Magyar also won for the Patriots by fall over Gloucester's Trey McGlohn.
Third-place Cox entered the day with 10 semifinalists but got only two through the the finals. Jason Timberlake, who tranferred from Fairfield High near Cincinnati, got the Falcons' lone title at 140.
Timberlake, who pinned Western Branch's Jose Mendez in the final, is unbeaten this season, with six of his seven victories coming by fall.
``My partner (at Fairfield) was a four-time state champion who's now at Purdue,'' Timberlake said. ``And my partner last year was also a state champion. I had a lot of good competition in the room every day.''
Gloucester, led by champions Joey Legg (119), Martainn Lunhardt (171) and Jason Beach (189), finished fourth.
In other final-round bouts, Indian River's Antwain Britt held off Deep Creek's Nick Cuffee 10-9 at 189; Granby state runner-up Chris Martin scored a first-period pin over Deep Creek's Joe Verdi at 152; and Maury's Steve Bruner pinned Western Branch freshman Marvin Urquhart at 275. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
L. TODD SPENCER
Trey McGlohn of Gloucester, front, and Kyle Magyar of First Colonial
lock up in the 112-pound match at the Western Branch Invitational on
Saturday. Magyar won the match by fall.
by CNB