Keaton Subjeck places first at Tim Brown Memorial

Woods, Camilli place second

SACRAMENTO — In his 160-pound finals match late Saturday afternoon at the Tim Brown Memorial Wrestling Tournament, Oak Ridge High wrestler Keaton Subjeck was more than anxious to get an early start against Oakmont’s Peter Santos.

“I was aggressive throughout the match,” Subjeck said. “He’s a good wrestler.”

Subjeck jumped out to a 5-0 lead within the first minute of the first period on center mat at Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium. Though Santos rallied to cut Subjeck’s lead to 5-3 in the second period and 7-5 in the third, The Trojan junior held on for the county’s only first-place finish.

Winning his weight class was certainly a big deal for Subjeck and the other 13 wrestlers who left the auditorium with bragging rights. More than 700 grapplers in 64-man brackets competed in the two-day tournament, considered by some similar to the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters in terms of competition.

Subjeck, ranked fourth in the state, posted a 4-0 record (two pins) over the weekend and is 31-1 on the season.

“It’s a great feeling,” Subjeck said. “I just kept wrestling and kept the pressure (on Santos).”

Prior to facing Santos, Subjeck posted a 10-2 semifinals victory over Heraldsburg’s Matthew Tsarnas, a wrestler he defeated at the Doc Buchanan tournament.

Teamwise, Ponderosa finished ninth with 114.5 points while Oak Ridge took 16th with 96 points. Fellow Delta River League foe Folsom, the Bruins’ opponent Wednesday, took first with 199 points.

Ponderosa heavyweight Jeff Camilli had a solid tournament but lost to Foothill’s Michael Lowman in the finals. Camilli, ranked second in the state, was behind 1-0 going into the third round but two costly errors paved the way for Lowman to register the 3-1 victory.

“He was tough,” Camilli said of Lowman. “He had great control. I had a stupid bad shot and he capitalized on it. In the end, when it came to crunch time, I choked, made a little mistake and he capitalized. I’ll see him in (the section’s) Masters and I’ll get him next time.”

Camilli had a tough semifinal match against Folsom’s Jordan Aleva but prevailed 4-3 in quadruple overtime. The Bruin went 3-1 overall.

Union Mine’s Mitchell Woods was the third county wrestler to reach the finals. In his 170-pound championship bout against Elk Grove’s Scott Votino, Woods avoided a few close calls before Votino’s escape of Woods’ grasp produced a 5-4 win over the D’back.

“I definitely wanted to get a first take down in the match,” Woods said. “(In the second period) if he picks bottom, I hope to be able to ride around top, but he got toward the edge of the mat.

“It’s a tough tournament,” Woods added. “No one on our team had (placed) first; I was shooting for that.”

Woods finished with a 3-1 mark in the tourney and improves to 20-2 for the season. Prior to reaching meeting Votino, Woods won by an 11-0 decision over Orland’s Tyler Gil. He won his earlier matches by an 8-4 decision and pin.

Woods came close to meeting Ponderosa’s Nick Troquato (sixth place). Troquato won his first three matches, including two by pin, but lost to Gil by a 13-4 decision in the quarterfinals.

Other county wrestlers who placed in the tournament were Ponderosa’s Sean Melton (126) who took fourth, and Trojans Taylor Ellerman (138) and Hugh Ellerman, both of whom finished eighth.

Mike Bush

Mike Bush has been working at the Mountain Democrat since August 2011. Mike is the Sports Writer and Features Writer.

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