Torres Easily Takes Down Another Title

Victory came easily for Ray Torres of Royal High.

But then, doesn’t it always?

“The truth?” Torres said. “Yeah.”

Indeed, Torres breezed to a third consecutive Marmonte League title at 160 pounds with a 26-11 technical-fall victory over Mike Safran of Camarillo in the league finals Saturday at Channel Islands High.

Torres (35-1), defending Southern Section Division II champion and a state qualifier as a junior, quickly recorded 13 easy takedowns before the bout was halted with 10 seconds left in the second period. Torres played cat and mouse with Safran (26-11), repeatedly dropping him before conceding escapes, which accounted for Safran’s only points.

“They’ve all gone like that, except for a couple of matches,” Torres said. “That’s just my style. I don’t have too many pins.”

Torres was one of three wrestlers to repeat as champion but the only one to enter the meet as a two-time champion.

Heavyweight Chad Troxler of Simi Valley, who pinned Steve Juaregui of Thousand Oaks in 1:39, and J.P. Cappalonga of Agoura, who defeated Josh Berman of Camarillo, 11-7, in the 152-pound final, successfully defended their titles.

The top three wrestlers from each of 14 weight classes advanced to the Division II finals Feb. 22 at Westlake.

Torres may have found the going predictable, but the third time was the charm for Justin Holt of Simi Valley.

Holt, defeated in the finals each of the past two seasons, piled up a 13-3 lead over Jason Blakeman of Channel Islands before pinning him with four seconds remaining in the 145-pound final. Holt improved to 32-3.

“I’ve gained a lot of experience,” said Holt, who notched his 20th pin. “This was my goal this year. I had the mental edge.”

Pins against seniors proved most surprising and earned outstanding wrestler awards for sophomore Wes Lobos of Thousand Oaks and junior Dylan Hull of Agoura.

Lobos (28-3) pinned Randy Gilbert of Camarillo in 1:53 in the 135-pound match and Hull (31-4) pinned Charles Sandlin of Camarillo in 1:40 to win at 189.

Lobos was one of three sophomores to win a title but the only one to do so with a pin, his 14th.

“Just rolled him into a cradle,” Lobos said. “I was just trying to wrestle, but I fell into it.”

In the 119-pound match, David Zeman of Royal, leading Daniel Omoto of Newbury Park, 12-8, with two seconds remaining in the bout, was disqualified for a third technical violation for locking hands. Zeman (19-8), a senior, was penalized twice for a total of three points before the match was stopped.

“The referee said I locked my hands, but I only touched them [together] and they call that locking,” Zeman said.

Chris Crites of Newbury Park recorded a three-point near-fall with 12 seconds remaining to break a scoreless tie with Matt Greding of Thousand Oaks and win at 125.

Moises Urena of Royal defeated Ryan Bart of Simi Valley, 15-6, at 112 pounds and Dave Omoto of Newbury Park (25-7) defeated Mike Lischke of Simi Valley, 8-2, at 103.