Oxnard Might Be on Rise Again, Starting in Fall

The resurrection of the men’s and women’s cross-country programs at Oxnard College might not seem like a big deal to those outside of Ventura County distance-running circles, but it could signal the start of an athletic revival at the school.

Oxnard fielded 12 men’s and women’s sports teams in the mid-1980s, but that number plummeted to five in recent years because of financial constraints.

Bringing back cross-country after a seven-year hiatus raises the number of Oxnard teams to seven, and athletic coordinator Juan Hernandez is optimistic softball and women’s volleyball will be added in a year or two.

“It’s a plus to get cross-country back,” Hernandez said. “Hopefully, we can get one or both of those other sports for the 1999-2000 school year. Our school president, Steven Arbizu, is real progressive, so I’m hoping that will happen.”

Hernandez, Oxnard’s cross-country and track coach from 1975-91, estimates only seven or eight men and five women will comprise the cross-country teams coached by Dale Smith.

But one of those men could make an immediate impact.

Aaron Sharp won the 1997 state Division V cross-country title for Santa Clara High and placed ninth in the 3,200 meters in the state track championships in June.

Earlier this year, Sharp said he would attend classes at Oxnard but run cross-country and track for either Moorpark or Ventura because Oxnard didn’t field a team in either sport.

Oxnard, which officially revived cross-country late in June, still lacks a track program, but Sharp will be running for the Condors when the cross-country season begins at the Ventura Invitational on Sept. 11.

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A desire to be at a school where she could “recruit on level ground” was the biggest reason Candy Roberts joined the track and field coaching staff at Syracuse in June after four successful years at Cal State Northridge.

Roberts, 27, helped Matador athletes to school records in the women’s shotput, discus, hammer throw and javelin during her tenure.

However, many times big-name recruits told her that they wouldn’t come to Northridge because the school lacked name recognition.

“The highest-level recruits want to go to a university with a big name,” Roberts said. “I’m not saying I didn’t work with some good athletes [at Northridge], but the schools like UCLA, USC, Arizona and Arizona State carry a lot more weight out there than Northridge. Those schools have names that mean a lot in the eyes of a recruit’s parents.”

Syracuse finished ninth in the Big East Conference men’s and women’s track championships last season, but Roberts is confident she can turn the Orangemen throws program into the conference’s best.

“Their facilities are tremendous and their athletic department staff is very pro athletics,” Roberts said. “It’s not going to be hard to recruit kids to this school.”

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Cheree Hicks, who set a Northridge record of 188 feet in the discus last season, recently transferred to Syracuse, but she might not compete for the Orangemen until the 1999-2000 school year, Roberts said.

“I’m contemplating using this year as Cheree’s redshirt season,” Roberts said. “It’s going to take time for her to make the transition to attending a new school and she needs to work on some things with her technique. She needs to take it to the next level.”

Hicks, a 1996 graduate of Littlerock High, finished seventh in the discus in the 1997 NCAA championships to earn All-American honors as a freshman, but placed 21st this year.

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Demetrus Patterson of Birmingham High, who finished third in the 100 and 200 meters in the City Section track championships in May, will attend Moorpark College.

Patterson, who set Birmingham records of 10.73 seconds in the 100 and 21.33 in the 200 last season, will play football and run track for the Raiders.

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Former Moorpark College distance runners Eleazar Hernandez, Jesus Villavicencio and Danny Olivia should be quality additions to the cross-country program at Hawaii-Hilo University.

But they won’t be running track for the Vulcans because the NCAA Division II school doesn’t field a track team.

That fact might be most frustrating to Hernandez because the 1996 state junior college cross-country champion appeared to be headed to Division I Texas San Antonio until a shake-up in the school’s coaching staff left him without a scholarship.