Depth Gives Moorpark a Good Running Start

MOORPARK —  While some junior college cross-country coaches in California might be hard-pressed to field quality teams because of a lack of depth, Moorpark’s Manny Trevino finds himself with an enviable problem.

Trevino has 12 quality runners on this year’s squad, but teams will be limited to seven individuals when the championship meets are held at the end of the season.

“Eleazar is our top guy, but I can’t tell you who the next six are after him,” said Trevino, in his 26th season at Moorpark. “We have so many kids who are running well in practice.”

Eleazar’s last name is Hernandez.

He is the former Camarillo High standout who won the 10,000 meters in the State junior college track championships in May and who finished second in the State cross-country championships last year.

“I think [Hernandez] has put a lot of pressure on himself to win this year,” Trevino said.

Hernandez is one of five returning runners from a Moorpark squad that finished 10th in the State meet.

The others are Chadd Aldrich, Juan Cortes, Sabino Beltran and Rene Gonzales.

Those four, along with last year’s No. 8 man, Ben Hill, seemed like good bets last November to make this year’s top seven, but a lot has happened since.

First, Jesus Villavicencio, a freshman from Bakersfield South High, enrolled at Moorpark in the spring and went on to finish fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the Southern California championships.

Then, Francisco Sandoval transferred to Moorpark from UC Davis and he was followed by freshmen T.W. Burchmore from Morro Bay High, Uzziel Gray from Poly, William Anderson from Kennedy and Danny Oliva from Monroe.

Sandoval ran 9 minutes 21.55 seconds in the 3,200 for Channel Islands High in 1994 and Burchmore won the Southern Section Division III title in the 1,600 in May.

Gray placed third in the 1995 City Section cross-country championships and Anderson was seventh.

All of this talent makes the Raiders the preseason pick to win their first Western State Conference title since 1981but Trevino is not discounting defending state and conference champion Glendale.

The Vaqueros’ top seven runners were sophomores last year, but Coach Eddie Lopez has a solid group of freshmen, led by Ilmar Rodriguez from Taft, Apolonio Ruiz from Chatsworth and Julio Serratos from San Gabriel.

Serratos is the brother of Ramon Serratos, Glendale’s top runner last year.

Moorpark also appears to have the top women’s team in the region as three of the top seven runners return from last year’s squad that won the WSC championships and placed fifth in the State meet.

Bridget Roy, who finished 23rd in the State championships, is expected to be the Raiders’ No. 1 runner and former Thousand Oaks High teammate Katie Scherrei is the top freshman.