Ventura County Track Championships Moved From Camarillo High to Rio Mesa

The site of Friday’s Ventura County track and field championship meet was shifted Tuesday from Camarillo High to Rio Mesa because the meet conflicts with a baseball game at Camarillo.

The baseball outfield at Camarillo is the designated warm-up area for track athletes, but the Scorpions will play host to Channel Islands on Friday in a key Marmonte League game.

Baseball games and track meets have been held simultaneously at Camarillo in the past but the Ventura County meet routinely draws 2,000 to 3,000 athletes and spectators compared to about 200 at a dual meet. “(The baseball coaches) felt the crowd was so big that we decided to switch the meet (to Rio Mesa),” said Carl Thompson, Camarillo’s athletic director.

Camarillo’s baseball team was reluctant to surrender its home-field advantage and move the game to Channel Islands, even though that would have been more practical than changing the site of the 22-team Ventura County meet.

“(Camarillo baseball Coach Jack Willard) does not want to play it at any other time or place and I agree with him,” Camarillo track Coach Mike Smith said. “As a former baseball coach, I know how important it is to have a home-field advantage.”

Smith believed the scheduling snafu was the result of an administrative error. “The people who made the schedules should have caught it months ago,” he said.

Brian FitzGerald, Rio Mesa’s athletic director and track coach, moved the Spartans’ home Channel League softball game against Santa Barbara High to Santa Barbara in order to facilitate the track meet.