Moorpark on Map All Over the Place

Moorpark College is in a major groove.

This weekend, the school will be involved in two state championships and a bowl game.

On Friday, the women’s volleyball squad meets San Joaquin Delta at Stockton in a first-round match of the state Final Eight tournament and the wrestling team starts action in the two-day state championships at Victor Valley.

The next night, Moorpark’s football team plays Cerritos in the Strawberry Bowl.

All of which comes on the wake of Moorpark’s first state team title in cross-country that was sparked by men’s champion Eleazar Hernandez.

The volleyball team has surpassed expectations by a country mile--all right, light years--and it’s not given a realistic chance of winning it all, but one spike here and a dig there, and you never know.

“We’ve been a fairy tale all year,” Coach Steve Burkhart said.

More like a sob story in the beginning, with little potential for a happy ending.

“We were struggling to get kids to come out and play,” said Burkhart, in his fifth season with the Raiders. “We never thought we would be in the playoffs, never mind the state championships.”

The Raiders, with only one sophomore on the roster, started 0-2. But returning outside hitter Kristen Lee led Moorpark (17-3) to the Western State Conference North Division title with a 7-1 record. Lee, who will play at Pepperdine next year, was named the division’s player of the year and selected to the all-state team.

“We went to her as our main hitter almost exclusively the first part of the year,” said Burkhart, the WSC North coach of the year. “Then some of the other players started to carry more of the load because [opposing] teams started to key on Kristen.”

Middle hitters Michelle Capuano and Crystal Crawford made the All-WSC team.

Moorpark’s five-game upset of San Bernardino Valley in the Southern California Regional final last Saturday sent the Raiders to their first state championships.

When last seen, Athletic Director John Keever was clicking his heels all over campus.

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Burkhart had to handle the team by himself in the San Bernardino Valley match because assistant Shelly Swalec was out of town.

“Early in the season,” Burkhart said, “she asked me about getting time off to go to New Orleans for Thanksgiving, and I told her to make the plans.

“As the season went on, she said, ‘Steve, you told me I could buy this ticket to New Orleans.’ I said, ‘Go, go.’ The kids were so excited to call her and tell her we won.”

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If Dave Baldwin of Cal State Northridge is hired at San Jose State or New Mexico State, where he has been interviewed for the head coaching jobs, the Matadors should look no farther than Valley College for their next leader.

In six seasons at Valley, Jim Fenwick has built a nationally prominent program that is 48-14-1 in that span and has appeared in three consecutive bowl games.

The Monarchs (9-1) are ranked fifth in one national poll and third in the state going into the Western State Bowl against Hancock (9-1) on Saturday night at Valley.

Fenwick is a proven recruiter with connections at area high schools and, obviously, junior colleges. He is a former Northridge assistant and was a candidate for the school’s head coaching job that eventually went to Baldwin.

Is there a more sensible recourse if Baldwin leaves?

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The talk before the season was that the Antelope Valley men’s basketball team had state Final Eight stamped all over it, that it might be the best yet in Coach Newton Chelette’s eight seasons with the Marauders.

But Antelope Valley (6-2) has hit a couple of potholes.

Most surprising was a 93-70 loss to Moorpark last weekend at the Ventura tournament, not because of the outcome--the Raiders are 6-1--but because the Marauders were never in the game.

Antelope Valley and Moorpark play in the Antelope Valley tournament today through Sunday.