El Camino’s Mitchell and Martin Have a Jump on the Competition

Curtis Mitchell and Ron Martin might appear to be exact opposites away from track and field competition, but the El Camino College athletes share a common experience--and, they hope, a common future.

Mitchell, an electrical engineering major and high school valedictorian, spends his spare time studying and practicing track. Martin, a speech communication major, enjoys dancing.

But the two have brought notoriety to the El Camino men’s track team, Martin in the long jump and Mitchell in the triple jump.

Mitchell is the state’s best triple jumper and Martin, who leads Southern California in the long jump, is ranked third in the state.

Both expect to qualify for the state meet May 18 at Santa Barbara City College, but they must place in the top six at the Southern California Regional final Saturday at Cerritos College.

El Camino Coach Bill Moreno, who has coached the Warriors since 1981, said he hasn’t seen better jumpers than Mitchell and Martin.

Moreno, a former collegiate long jumper, compares Mitchell and Martin to Jerome Hendrix and Charles Smith. Hendrix placed second in the triple jump (51 feet, 4 inches) at the 1982 state meet and in 1984 Smith went 26-5 in the long jump.

“They’re definitely the best kids I’ve had here,” he said. “Curtis is three inches off the school record and Ron is five inches off. I think they can both break them.”

Martin, a football, basketball and track standout at Chatsworth High, wants to beat the national community college long jump record (26-9) set this season by Taft’s Keith Holly.

It’s not as far-fetched as it seems. Martin (6-foot-1, 165 pounds) had a personal best 25-1 at the South Coast Conference meet April 28 at Mt. San Antonio College. The jump set a 1988 SCC meet record.

“I’ve worked and I’ve sacrificed,” Martin said. “I started off this year with a goal and that’s to set the (community college) national record.”

After holding the state’s second-best long jump mark last season, Martin fouled all three jumps at the Southern California preliminaries, preventing him from qualifying for the state meet.

“It was a mental downfall,” Martin said. “I was very upset with my performance. Now I’m more concentrated. During the summer I watched videos (of other athletes jumping) and worked on my concentration. I studied a lot of technique.”

Martin has also improved his diet and cut down on late-night social activities. Moreno sees the difference.

“I really think he has a shot for the state title,” Moreno said. “He’s a great competitor and he’s got a great attitude.”

Mitchell (5-10, 170) is healthy and ready to make his run at a state title. A nagging hamstring injury, which originated at the end of his senior season at Verbum Dei, kept him out of last season’s state meet and the high school state meet the previous season.

He said he competed in pain last season.

“It hurt all the time, but it got so bad at the end of the season that I couldn’t walk,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell won the SCC triple jump title at 52-5 1/2, he won the community college division at the Mt. SAC Invitational and the Fresno Invitational.

Mitchell’s high school coach, Lalo Mendoza, isn’t surprised. After all, he saw the Mitchell go from “mediocre at best” to school record-holder (48-6).

“He was always quiet, but he’s very intelligent,” said Mendoza, currently the athletic director at Compton College. “He knows what he has to do. Some kids take short cuts and he didn’t. He always did his work and he put quality into it.”

Before Martin and Mitchell were teammates, they had similar stories. Both broke high school records in their events and neither was highly recruited.

Both ended up at El Camino and both are being recruited by UCLA, USC and Louisiana State University. They might be opposites off the track, but in competition, they form a 1-2 punch for El Camino.