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San Lorenzo Valley High School wrestler Ben Landauer was seeded No.1 in the Central Coast Section wrestling tournament in the 220 pound weight class. But after sweeping his way into the final, Landauer suffered a 7-2 loss to No. 3 Tim Glauninger of Junipero Serra in the final of their weight class at the Central Coast Section Championships on Feb. 25.
The two wrestlers have squared off four times in their careers including twice this season, with Landauer winning all the matches.
“Ben had beat Tim a number of times already,” said Cougar head coach Ken Pollastrini. “That was probably his worst match of the season, but it will be a good place to build from for state. He is set up relatively well for his matches at state and if he does everything right stands a good chance at taking home a title.”
Landauer finished the competition 4-1 and moves on as the only Cougar wrestler to wrestle at the state meet on Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4 at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.
Teammate Michael Kraft finished his junior season in fifth place in the CCS after beating Palo Alto’s Trent Marshall 4-2 in the 5th place match.
Kraft, a junior and three-time SCCAL champion, moved up from 114 pounds last season to wrestling in the 138-pound bracket this year.
“He is really still learning how to wrestle his size,” Pollastrini said. “Michael has an opportunity to be as good as he wants to if he keeps his head screwed on straight. Right now he still needs to master his new found height.”
Pollastrini fielded a small team this season but his wrestlers continue to have success. With Landaur’s success, a wrestler coached by Pollistrini will return to the state meet for the sixth time.
“It is definitely an honor,” he said. “To have the kids show up year-in and year-out and give me their all really speaks powerful words for this area.”
SLV’s other three qualifiers were led by Karl Johnson who won three of his five matches at 182 pounds for the Cougars and finished in the top 12. Elliot Doran and Elijah Schoepp lost both their matches at 132 and 170 pounds, respectively.
Scotts Valley
For Scotts Valley High School, Kevin Eddington won his first two matches before falling in his second two to finish the tournament 2-2.
Grant Margerum and Baldan Dashiev each won one match, each going 1-2 at 128 and 160 pounds respectively.
