Athletic recruiting underway
By Danny Ornelas

The three sports offered at EPCC: baseball, softball and cross country, are busy recruiting athletes from over 30 high schools in El Paso alone and from out-of-state schools for the up-coming season, but there are limitations and potential hurdles.

The process is a tricky one. Not only do EPCC coaches look for great athletes, but they also want great students as well.

Students who choose EPCC can transfer to other schools or can be lost via poor academic performance.
“It is a given that one or two scholarship players will flunk or fail and not make the roster or one quits,” said Dana Eisenga, athletic coordinator.

Members of the 2007 NJCAA half-marathon team,
recruited from El Paso-area high schools.

File photo

EPCC athletes are required to be full-time students and maintain a 2.5 GPA or higher, according to Eisenga.

“The coaches like to recruit in El Paso first, then the region which is West Texas, then East, and finally New Mexico,” he said. “Not having dorms also affects recruiting.”

Unlike division-1, where colleges and universities across the country have dead periods in recruiting, EPCC can recruit year-round.

However, no one can sign up for cross country until the first of December, and January 15 for baseball and softball.

Eisenga said that recruiting for cross country is much simpler than evaluating baseball or softball athletes, but at the same time, it is somewhat challenging on the coaches.

“Cross country has it tough, because you’re only as good as your last race,” said Eisenga. “The best runner could be your freshman or your sophomore. It is more on the individual than in baseball and softball.”

Not only does the college have athletes who have been recruited, but many of them are walk-ons. There is a limit for athletes coming from outside the country. Baseball and softball can allow six, while cross country only allows two.

Baseball has had a large number of players come from Canada. A total of 12 Canadian students have been recruited to EPCC since its athletic inception back in 1995-96.

Softball has had a similar number of recruits from Arizona and New Mexico.

Coach Shannon Hunt has been with the Tejanos baseball team for the past three seasons. He said that his philosophy on recruiting is as much of trying to get great athletes as it is getting great students.

“I believe I want to recruit the best local athlete that I can recruit. First, that athlete has to be academically sound. If he can’t go to class, or isn’t willing to go to class, then we can’t use him,” said Hunt. “We can have the best player on the planet, but if he’s not achieving anything academically, where can we send him? A four-year school won’t take him.”

However, Hunt said that he realized that most El Paso graduating high school athletes do not want to remain in El Paso.

“The problem is to get them to stay home. The second problem is if they’re pretty good, a four-year school or division-1 school will try and sign them; we miss out on those kids,” Hunt said.

Hunt is traveling across the country not only evaluating potential Tejanos, but opponents as well.

“I’m on the road recruiting and looking at high school sophomores and juniors for the future. I want to be sure I’m not missing out on anything,” he said. “We sign four or five of the best kids in town … nine to 10 guys altogether are from El Paso. I’ve been blessed to be in El Paso. It is the best baseball town I’ve ever been in.”

Cross country on the other hand, only focuses on El Paso athletes. Very seldom do they recruit outside of the El Paso region. A large number of their recruits have come from Austin High School and Jefferson/Silva High School.

“This past Saturday July 5th, EPCC signed a pair of Horizon High School runners, both who qualified to the state finals. Jesus Garcia and Aaron Granados will be attending this fall on cross country scholarships. Garcia placed 16th at the Class 4A cross country championships and was awarded the all-city runner of the year honors.

Cross country head coach Felix Hinojosa recruits in El Paso only, and doing so has proven positive since the women won the National Junior College Athletic Association championship in the half-marathon in 2007.

“We want in-town and area high school talent,” said Hinojosa. “Once we contact all interested athletes, it usually comes down to eight men and eight women for the team.”

Although Hinojosa hardly recruits outside the area, there is an individual by the name of Robert Menjo, who is from Kenya and is returning to the Tejanos as an all-American runner.

“He [Menjo] came to us. He’s a relative of one of the UTEP runners … we said yes, and we signed him up,” said Hinojosa. “As far as other Kenya runners go, it’s out of the question. It’s too expensive.”

Hinojosa said that he’s very excited about the next group of kids that he’ll be coaching in the up-coming season.

“The next crop of kids are really talented and pretty sharp as well. There is a girl by the name of Vivian Contreras out of Riverside who placed third in state,” said Hinojosa. “We want the total package: good grades and good athletes.”