The most decorated player in Irvine Valley men's tennis history has signed with a four-year school.
Two-time California Community College Athletic Association state singles champion Javier Callejo is headed to NAIA William Woods University in Fulton, Mo.
Callejo will join the Owls team for the 2018 spring season.
Callejo heads to William Woods after a star-studded two years at Irvine Valley.
He helped the Lasers win their second and third straight state team titles in a row.
And Callejo, from Madrid, Spain, won two straight state singles championships and one state doubles title as a Laser.
"Javier comes to our program with tremendous accomplishments on the court," said William Woods men's tennis coach Justin Stuckey. "He will add experience and depth to our already talented team. Javier is talented enough to be able to find himself as one the top players in all of NAIA Tennis. What was even more impressive during the recruiting process is his enthusiasm and passion for our university and tennis program. We are happy he is an Owl and look forward to seeing him compete as a student athlete at William Woods."
William Woods men's tennis team is coming off a season where it advanced to the NAIA Men's Tennis National Championship quarterfinals and finished the season as the No. 8 ranked team in the NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
In his two years at Irvine Valley, Callejo helped Irvine Valley's team to a record of 40-2 overall. The Lasers' only two losses during that time were to four-year schools.
IVC went 20-0 in Orange Empire Conference play.
Callejo recorded a Triple Crown at the CCCAA State Championship in Ojai in late April after a 6-2, 6-4 state men's doubles championship with sophomore teammate Lucas Lesoeur at Libbey Park.
A few hours earlier, Callejo won the State singles championship with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph.
A week earlier, Callejo and his teammates opened the 117th Ojai Tournament with a 5-1 win in the State Dual Team final over American River, which was the top seed from Northern California.
Callejo, the No. 9 seed, won his second straight state singles title by sweeping No. 6 Vincent Reynaud of Cypress in an All-Orange Empire Conference final. He became the first repeat State champion since Dan Omaboe of Marymount in 1994-95 and only the third back-to-back winner all time.
He became the first Triple Crown winner since Adriano Biasella of Desert in 2002 and the 10th Triple Crown winner since the State Championships began in 1960.
Callejo, who played No. 3 singles for the Lasers all season, broke Reynaud's serve in the first and third games to take a 2-1 lead. After taking a medical timeout to tend to an ankle injury, Callejo won two straight games to take the first set 6-3.
"It was kind of crazy with me having an injury and then he had to see the trainer between sets (for a shoulder injury)," said Callejo. "Vince played amazing the whole tournament. He plays everything offensive and that's different because normally people from France and Spain and even all of Europe, they tend to play defensively.
"We were both aggressive and I thought it was a beautiful match. I was happy to play the doubles semifinal this morning because I'm always more nervous for the first match of the day. In the singles final, I was playing pretty deep with a lot of spin on the ball and I think that hurt him a little bit."
Callejo wasn't sure he'd be able to pull off back-to-back State singles titles.
"It's amazing," he declared. "After all the injuries I've had this year, I didn't even know if I would play Ojai. I have no idea where I'm going to college next year but I'd love to keep playing."
Callejo and Lesoeur were seeded No. 2 in doubles. They beat No. 10 Thomas Kyle and Ingmar Remmerswaal of Cypress, 6-2, 6-2 in the early morning semifinals, then swept past top-seeded Nikita Katsnelson and Sasha Krasnov of Cerritos, 6-2, 6-4 in the afternoon final.