Feeling motivated

Nick Cambron has a lot to wrestle with.

The Central Valley High School 103-pounder is the top-ranked Class 4A wrestler in his weight class in Eastern Washington and ranked No. 2 in the state.

But that’s not important right now.

What’s important to Nick Cambron today is a thick, juicy steak.

“I would really love to go home and have a steak,” the junior explained. “But when you’re trying to cut weight, you just can’t afford to eat something like that. I’ll probably have to settle for a piece of toast.”

On an average day, Cambron weighs in at 113 pounds. To make weight for a match or tournament, he must drop about 10 pounds – almost 10 percent of his body weight.

“It’s mostly water weight,” he explained. “But that last night before a match is tough. Your stomach is empty, your hungry and you can’t drink a lot of fluids. It makes it hard to sleep.”

Once Cambron makes weight, watch out.

This season the junior has reached the finals in four tournaments, including Tri-State. He won his first career tournament title last month at University High.

“He raised his arms and celebrated a little when he won that tournament,” Central Valley coach John Owen said. “I kidded with him and told him that we don’t do victory dances in wrestling. Someone told me later that he had never won a tournament before. I was happy for him.”

“Not so much in the tournaments where there are three or four championship matches going at the same time, but the ones where it’s just you out there under the lights made me a little nervous,” Cambron said. “I think you definitely have to learn how to deal with that, how to handle that additional pressure.”

But, the coach explained, he convinced Cambron to change his championship attire.

“I don’t know if people remember, but we used to have white singlets here,” Owen said. “I thought we’d gotten rid of them for good, but the kids asked me if they could wear them if they get to the championship match of a tournament, so we made that little deal.

“I told Nick after he won his tournament that I hoped we’d seen the last of that white singlet.”

It’s officially retired.

“I’m done with it,” Cambron said, smiling. “No more.”

Cambron isn’t making predictions, but folks at www.usaeverett.com, a Web site that maintains statewide rankings, are predicting he will face Puyallup’s Whitney Conder, the first girl to place in a WIAA state wrestling tournament, in the 103-pound finale at Mat Classic.

The Puyallup senior is the No. 2-ranked girl wrestler in the country at 103 pounds and already has posted more than 20 victories this season

It would not be the first time the two have met on a wrestling mat.

A year ago Conder pulled out a last-second, 8-7 victory over Cambron to insure herself a state trophy.

“I don’t think Nick likes to talk about that match,” Owen said. “And I don’t think it would come out the same way if they met again.”

“I was really disappointed with the way I wrestled at state,” Cambron said. “I don’t know that anyone who isn’t a wrestler could really understand what I mean. Any time you lose, you tend to dwell on what you did wrong.”

That Cambron has used last year’s state disappointment to motivate himself this year is a credit to his character, his coach said.

“When a kid loses like that, there are a couple different ways they can go,” Owen said. “In Nick’s case, he’s used that as a motivating factor to make himself better this year.”

In fact, his coach said, the sport of wrestling has motivated Cambron in all areas.

“Nick is a great kid and he’s a determined little guy. He’s the kind of a kid who needs the sport of wrestling,” he said. “The thing about wrestling is that it’s the one sport where a little guy is on equal footing with a big guy. He can walk down the halls of school with his head up and his shoulders back and be proud of what he’s accomplished.”

“I’ve learned a lot from wrestling,” Cambron agreed. “I tried other sports, but I wasn’t very good at them. But wrestling suits me.

“The things I’ve learned in the wrestling room help me in the classroom. The discipline I’ve learned to see something through – like the discipline it takes to cut weight – really helps me be successful in other areas of my life.”