Summer Notebook / Steve Henson : Soviet Union Puts a Hold on Visiting U. S. Wrestlers

M. T. Merickel’s most vivid memories of a recent wrestling and cultural exchange trip to the Soviet Union and the Netherlands have to do with events off the mat.

One evening in particular made the visit worthwhile for Merickel of Channel Islands and Chris Kilbane of Newbury Park. On a midnight stroll through Moscow, the they happened upon a Soviet citizen, and the three became engaged in a conversation that lasted nearly two hours. The discussion moved to the porch of a floating restaurant on the Moscow River, where their new comrade was a waiter.

“He spoke English,” Merickel said, “and he told us how he wanted to move to America. He was asking Chris and me a whole bunch of questions about the United States.”

The Americans were VIPs at many of the venues at which they wrestled. “We were just like celebrities,” Merickel said. “Little kids wanted to shake our hands.”

So did others, who were a bit more shady. Black marketeers induced many of the wrestlers into surrendering their shaving cream, razors and deodorant.

“They wanted anything to do with cleaning,” Merickel said.

Add exchange: Rio Mesa’s Robby Cook was forced to leave the exchange early when he suffered a severly sprained right ankle during his fifth match in the Soviet Union.

Cook’s ankle has been placed in a cast, but the injury should heal by the time the high school wrestling season begins. Although he regretted missing the remainder of the trip, Cook was not sorry to find home cooking waiting for him.

“I liked it,” he said, “but I didn’t like the food.” And what did they feed him? “I don’t know,” he said. “I couldn’t tell.”

Falling short of Seoul: Kevin Craig, a 23-year-old former Buena High swimmer, finished 40th in the 200-meter backstroke at the U. S. National Swim Meet and Olympic Trials in Austin, Texas, and failed to make the U. S. Olympic Team.

Craig, an Oak View resident, had a time of 2:11.48.

Skeels honored: Mark Skeels, the Times All-Ventura County catcher this year, has been awarded the Bernie Milligan Scholarship for excellence in academics, athletics and citizenship.

Skeels graduated from Thousand Oaks High with a 4.0 grade-point average and will attend Stanford on an academic scholarship. He batted .421 for the Lancers and played in the Bernie Milligan and Ventura County all-star games.

Eliminated: The District 13 Big League team, which represented the Conejo Valley and Oxnard areas, was eliminated from the state division playoffs after losing, 4-3, to West Covina.

District 13 won the section championship, finished tournament play with a 6-2 record and outscored its opponents, 65-33.

The team was led by Moorpark College first baseman Kris Kaelin. Other top players included Mark Skeels, Dan Chergey, James Waldroup, Don Smith and Rob Teasdale.

Award time: Chris Gaston was selected Most Valuable Player of the Ventura American Legion baseball team and David Lewis was given the Sportsmanship Award.

Steve Albiston, Chris Bargsten and Jason Secor were selected tri-Rookies of the Year.

Season-ender: The Ventura-Santa Barbara Sharks concluded a successful summer basketball season on a down note, as the girls’ team failed to defend their title at the Class of the Field tournament in Oregon City, Ore.

The Sharks opened the tournament by defeating the Portland (Ore.) Young Americans, 51-21. The Sharks were sent into the elimination bracket after losing to Eugene (Ore.) in the second round, and defeated Auburn, (Wa.). Top players on the Sharks were point guard Tami Adkins of Santa Clara High, Karry Wagoner of Ventura and Kristin Knapp and Janelle Thompson of Santa Barbara.

Junior openings: Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley has openings for its junior invitational tournament, to be played Aug. 29-30. The tournament is limited to 250 entrants. Openings remain in four age groups for both boys and girls.

Information: 805-522-7262.

New coach at CLU: Carla DuPuis has been hired as women’s volleyball coach at Cal Lutheran, replacing Carey Snyder.

DuPuis, 37, was assistant men’s volleyball coach at Brigham Young from 1976-79. In addition to coaching, she will assist Bob Doering, CLU’s athletic director.

Falling short: Two swimmers from the Class Aquatics of Thousand Oaks finished 12th in the Junior National Championships at Arizona State University, but neither swimmer qualified for this week’s Olympic Trials in Austin, Texas. Eric Weitz finished 12th in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:11.04. Mike Litter was 12th in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:07.41.

Staff writer Tim Brown contributed to this notebook.