Pirate alumna Melody Axtell enters her fifth season assisting with the Ventura College track and field teams in 2019. She also just completed her third season as the women's cross country head coach for the Pirates last fall.

In 2018, Axtell helped lead the Pirates to their best season in at least 20 years with the men and women both finishing in the top-10 in the state. The Pirate men ended with a 6th place award in the CCCAA State Championships after coming in fourth at both the Western State Conference and Southern California finals. Meanwhile, the VC women were 10th at the state finals after seventh and second place awards at SoCal's and in the WSC.

Axtell has also directed the Pirates' women's cross country team to three consecutive Top-10 finishes in the state.

Melody received her Associates Degree from VC  in 2013 where she was a two-year standout in both cross country and track and field.  She competed in the heptathlon on the track and was the Pirates' high point scorer as a sophomore. She also earned a Western State Conference Scholar-Athlete Award in cross country.

Melody transferred with a scholarship to compete in the heptathlon for Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. She graduated with honors from PLNU in 2015 with a degree in Exercise Sciences.  She is currently completing her masters degree at Azusa Pacific University.