Notebook : Sean Waters : Dunlap Gets a Leg Up on Recruiting

Mike Dunlap has been on the run since being selected as new the Cal Lutheran basketball coach. If he’s not busy recruiting out-of-state athletes, he’s busy competing in across-the-state athletics.

Dunlap recently added two more names to his list of recruits--Matt Wilkins of Lathrop High in Fairbanks, Alaska and Brenden Dillion of Melbourne High in Melbourne Australia. Earlier, he signed Adan Valencia of Buena High.

To relieve the tension associated with recruiting, Dunlap decided to take a break and compete in the 100-mile Western States Endurance run June 24th and 25th.

The course serpentines to the top of Squaw Valley, an altitude of 8,700 feet, then down to the city of Auburn, an altitude of approximately 1,000 feet.

Dunlap, who has been running ultra-marathons for nearly three years, completed the race in 23 hours and 4 seconds and finished 55th out of 375 runners. Any time under 24 hours is considered impressive and the winner had a time 16 1/2 hours, according to event directors Norman and Helen Klein.

Dunlap, who previously coached at Lathrop and was an assistant at Loyola Marymount, expended less energy tracking down his new recruits. Wilkins, a 6-4 forward, played for Dunlap last season at Lathrop and averaged 17.3 points and 10.6 rebounds a game. Dillion, also a 6-4 forward, was recommended by his coach Brian Goorjian, the son of former Loyola Marymount Coach Ed Goorjian. He averaged 17 points and 8 rebounds last season.

You might say this summer has been a runaway victory for Dunlap.

Never can say goodby: Reg Welker, who resigned as Hueneme High baseball coach in early July, said Monday he will return as the Vikings’ baseball coach.

Welker, who is also the school’s athletic director, met with principal Terry Taylor and assistant baseball coach and prospective successor Dennis King last Thursday.

“We met for an hour and they asked whether I would reconsider coming back as coach,” Welker said. “It’s not that Dennis or any of my other assistants don’t want the job. They felt I would miss coaching too much if I didn’t give it another chance.

“I’m excited about it. I want to finish my career here.”

Welker resigned as Hueneme’s baseball coach after nine seasons to accept the coaching position at Oxnard College. He backed out one week later for personal reasons.

Rolling along: After winding through the loser’s bracket to capture the sectional championship last week at El Rio Field in Oxnard, the Conejo Valley Little League Senior Division (15-year-old) all-star team won its first two games of the state divisional tournament this week in Hacienda Heights.

Conejo Valley defeated Rowland Heights, 4-3, in nine innings Sunday behind the three-hit pitching of Chris Loll. Two years ago, Rowland Heights eliminated Conejo Valley from the Junior Division (13-year-old) divisional tournament, 2-1, and went on to win the Junior World Series.

Trailing, 3-1, in the seventh inning, Conejo Valley used a walk to Trent Martin, a double by Bryan Corey and a single by Jeff Olin to tie the score and force extra innings. Adam West drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth for the winning run.

Conejo Valley defeated University City, the representative from San Diego County, 8-0, in a first-round divisional game behind a two-hitter by West. Shortstop Brian Capella drove in four runs on two hits.

To reach the divisional tournament, Conejo Valley had to win three games in as many days last week after losing to Northridge, 15-2, in a second-round sectional game. After defeating Goleta Valley, 12-7, behind a triple and double by catcher Cory Bowen, Conejo Valley trounced Northridge, 16-2 and 11-4, as Loll and Jeff Naster pitched complete games.

Conejo Valley (10-1), which reached the sectional by winning the District 13 championship, has scored 109 runs and is batting .333 as a team. Second baseman Ryan Kritscher is batting .510 (25 for 49) with a team-leading 17 runs scored and 14 runs batted in. West is batting .500 with five doubles and two home runs.

Loll, a 6-foot-5 left-hander, and Andy Bushart, 6-foot-2 right-hander, are each 3-0. West (2-1) has struck out 29 in 20 1/3 innings and Naster is 2-0.

Add Little League: Todd River struck out 17 to lead Southside to an 8-2 victory over Northside and win the District 13 Little League (12-year-old) championship. Johnny Oliveras, who had three home runs in the tournament, hit a three-run shot in the final.

Southside also took the District 13 Junior Division title.

Around the horn: John Bushart, a left-handed pitcher from Thousand Oaks High, is playing on a baseball team that left Wednesday for a two-week tour of the Soviet Union and Northern Europe.

The team, called the Baseball Ambassadors and coached by John Meiers of Arcadia High, will play five games at Moscow University, including one against the Red Army Sports Club. The team will also conduct clinics and play games in Leningrad, U.S.S.R.; Helsinki, Finland; and Stockholm.

Ineligible list: A low turnout is expected when Fillmore High begins preseason football. To make matters worse, four players have been declared academically ineligible, second-year Coach Curtis Garner said.

Garner, who would not disclose names, said the players won’t be able to regain eligibility until the next grading period, nine weeks into the football season.

“We had 37 players last season and I would be surprised if we had 30 this year,” Garner said. “I don’t expect any new upperclassmen to come out for the team and we haven’t had any transfers either.”

New Coach: The Vikings have hired a pilot to navigate their girls’ volleyball program. Dorene Cowart, who gives flying lessons in the Ventura area, has been selected to become the varsity coach.

Cowart has been the girls’ freshman coach at Buena High for the past two seasons.

Prior to coaching, Cowart was an outside hitter at Cal State Long Beach, which won women’s Division I national championships in 1973 and 1974.

Cowart began her coaching career at UC Irvine when she became the school’s first women’s basketball coach in 1974. She remained through 1976 before leaving to pursue business interests.

“Hueneme had a volleyball dynasty in the past and I hope we can achieve the same status again,” Cowart said. “We have five returning players and we’ll have to go through a transitional period.”