A.V. RELYING ON A HACK WITH A KNACK AT 17-1, HE'S SHOWING TEAM IT CAN EXCEL BY EXAMPLE.

Byline: Gideon Rubin Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Meet the new face of Antelope Valley High wrestling.

Jordan Hack just returned to the area before the start of the school year after spending 2 1/2 years on the outskirts of Oklahoma City, and the junior 189-pounder already has made a name for himself in local circles.

He's done it by compiling a 17-1 record, including first-place finishes at the Quartz Hill and Littlerock tournaments, and by impacting a program that's been in a freefall for several years. The Antelopes, who last season won their first Golden League match in seven years, are 5-8 overall, 0-1 in league.

His older brother, Bryan Hack, wrestled at Antelope Valley as a freshman before their father, Russell Hack, who works in the aerospace industry, was moved to rural Oklahoma.

Jordan Hack spent two years at McCloud High (Okla.), a perennial wrestling power in an area where the sport is enormously popular. After one full year on the freshman team, he made the varsity as a sophomore before suffering a season-ending back injury in one of his first matches. His backup finished sixth in the state.

Now he's healthy and is starting to change attitudes in his first year at Antelope Valley, an area where he's met some resistance.

``They don't believe in themselves as much as they need to,'' Hack said. ``If they just believed in themselves, they could do a lot better. A lot of the time, they beat themselves before they go on the mat.''

He seems to be getting through.

``We've been waiting for years to get somebody like Jordan,'' Antelope Valley junior LeMark Hollenshed said. ``He wants us to have fun, but he realizes how far we can go. He doesn't push us too hard, but he gives us that little edge.''

Having a wrestler of Hack's caliber has brought credibility to a program that's struggled since the mid-1990s, when former standout Larry Johnson dominated league play and went to the state championships.

The timing of Hack's arrival couldn't have been better for a young team that has just three seniors - one of whom is a first-year wrestler.

``He's not a senior wrestling on a team that's rebuilding,'' Antelope Valley coach Ron Coleman said. ``He's a junior wrestling on a team that's ready for next year.''

Hack also has been instrumental in demonstrating what coaches sometimes have had difficulty getting across to the less-experienced wrestlers in practices. And according to Coleman, he does it in a mature fashion that epitomizes the program's emphasis on character-building.

``I've learned a lot from him,'' freshman Eric Timson said. ``I watch how he wrestles and I try to do the same thing.''

Hollenshed said: ``He's like a coach.''

Perhaps more importantly, Hack has instilled the program with a sense of pride that has been lacking for several years.

``He pumps us up,'' Timson said. ``Just watching him makes us want to try harder because we want to be that good.''

A prohibitive favorite to win the league title, Hack is aspiring to make his mark beyond the High Desert. A strong showing next month in the Southern Section individual championships, and the possibility of going to the Masters and state championships, means more to him because he understands how much it would mean to the program.

``It would be such a great feeling,'' he said. ``This is pretty much my school now, so people that I don't even know would probably know me because I turned around the program.''

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Newcomer Jordan Hack has instilled some much-needed confidence in the Antelope Valley wrestling program, which has struggled in recent years.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer