Camarillo Goes Deep and Wins

With three regulars missing, Camarillo High’s depth and versatility paid off Thursday.

The Scorpions won five of the first seven weight classes and defeated Rio Mesa, 35-23, in a Pacific View South League dual wrestling meet at Rio Mesa.

Camarillo, ranked No. 5 in the region by The Times, was without starters Mike Martinez at 135 pounds, Jeff Nice at 215 and Eric Kanter at 125. Martinez and Nice were suspended from school and Kanter failed to make weight during the weigh-in.

But Camarillo (12-1, 2-0 league) did not seem affected by the absences. Coach Ron Wilson moved several of his wrestlers up a weight class and put Jake Nishimura, normally a junior varsity wrestler, at 103 pounds.

Nishimura got the Scorpions started by pinning Charles Sevier in 1:16.

Hank Robles, normally at 103 pounds, followed with a 28-8 major decision over Daniel Spencer at 112.

“We did have to do some juggling but the kids decided they were going to go for it,” Wilson said.

“They never doubted themselves.”

No. 7 Rio Mesa (11-9-1, 1-1) never led.

Scott Speakman, at 145 pounds, provided one of the few highlights for the Spartans when he pinned Jeff Carter in 56 seconds.

Speakman stared several times at the Camarillo bench during his match but his theatrics did little to wrestle the momentum from the Scorpions.

“I really would have liked to wrestle [Camarillo’s] Isaac Medina but they gave me somebody really weak,” Speakman said. “Camarillo was a big match for us and our team just wrestled weak.”

Medina, who normally competes at 145 pounds, was moved down to 140 and pinned Juan Jimenez in 1:11.

Rio Mesa’s Carlos Anaya let a match slip away when he missed an opportunity to score a two-point takedown during the opening seconds against Jason Moore and then failed to score in the closing seconds of regulation. Moore won 12-10 in overtime.

Also making key contributions in substitute roles for the Scorpions were Rex Hook at 130 pounds and Brent Cantrell at 215.

Hook won a 16-0 decision over Steve Arevalo. Cantrell, who weighs just over 175 pounds, did not win his bout at 215 but in losing an 11-6 decision to Mike Dominguez, he prevented Rio Mesa from earning key pin points.

Camarillo’s only loss was to No. 3 El Camino Real during the Camarillo dual meet tournament in the opening week of the season and its victory on Thursday was its first against Rio Mesa in three years.

Thousand Oaks 40, Simi Valley 38--John Hudgens of Thousand Oaks pinned Eric Conger in the third period for a key victory as the two-time defending league-champion Lancers (9-3, 3-0) beat Simi Valley, The Times’ No. 4-ranked team, in a battle of the Marmonte League teams at Thousand Oaks.