COMMUNITY COLLEGES / IRENE GARCIA : El Camino Women Run Away From Taft for Track Title

Even cold and windy conditions in Sacramento last week failed to slow the El Camino College women’s track team.

The Warriors won four events and the state community college track title by 10 points over Taft.

“We drove 400 miles to play in the rain,” El Camino Coach Terry McFate said. “In the eight years I’ve been at El Camino, we’ve never had weather that bad at the state meet. It was overcast and breezy and obnoxious.”

El Camino scored 90 points, Taft had 80 and San Diego Mesa was third with 47.

The Warriors’ performance was not surprising considering they swept the Southern California Championships at Bakersfield the previous week. El Camino also was undefeated in South Coast Conference play.

Under McFate, the Warriors have won three state championships and five Southern California titles. El Camino has never placed lower than third at the state meet since McFate became coach in 1984.

“We were in the hole for the early part of the meet,” McFate said of this year’s championship at Sacramento City College. “We fell behind early, but we came back at the end. Taft was ahead by 12 points at first.”

Freshman LaToya Polk played a big role in the Warriors’ success. She won two state titles and ran the first leg of El Camino’s state championship 1,600-meter relay team. Polk won the 800 meters at 2 minutes 12.89 seconds and the 1,500 at 4:41.62. She also won both events at the Southern California Championships.

“I expected to win the 800, but the rest was like icing on the cake,” said Polk, who also competed on El Camino’s state champion cross-country team last fall. “Winning the 1,500 was really a surprise. What a great way to end the season.”

Shena Mills, Noelle Ragland and Debra Hamilton were also part of El Camino’s undefeated 1,600-meter relay team. Hamilton also finished second in the 400 meters (55.26) and fourth in the 200 (24.95). Mills, who competed on El Camino’s 1989 state championship team, placed second in the 800 (2:15.59). She sat out last year because of academic reasons.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Mills who is being recruited by Nevada Las Vegas and Arizona. “This year it was kind of hard though, because it was real cold. We’ve only competed in hot or lukewarm weather. My muscles got pretty tight.”

Teisha Holmes had little trouble winning the long jump title with a leap of 19-3 1/4.

The El Camino men’s team finished 10th. David Haskell finished third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:09.9). The sophomore broke his own school record (9:10.64) set at last year’s state meet.

Aaron Craver, the former El Camino standout running back, has already impressed his new coach in the NFL.

Craver, who finished his collegiate career at Fresno State, was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the third round of this year’s draft.

Dolphin Coach Don Shula said the 5-foot-11, 214-pound Craver was impressive during a three-day camp earlier this month.

“He’s a big guy,” Shula told the Miami Herald. “He runs well. He can catch the ball. He’s doing everything we thought he could do. We couldn’t believe he was still out there after three rounds. That’s why we grabbed him.”

Craver played on El Camino’s 1987 national championship team and 1988 Pony Bowl championship team. At Fresno, he was a two-time All-Big West selection.

He is second on the school’s career rushing list with 2,316 yards in 22 games. Last year he broke a Fresno record for most rushing touchdowns (17). He also caught 59 passes for 427 yards.

El Camino’s baseball team placed fourth in the five-member SCC, but four players made the All-SCC first team and three made the second team. The Warriors finished 13-27 overall and 8-16 in SCC play in Coach Glen LeVier’s second season.

Catcher Jose Sanchez, second baseman Tom Gordon, center fielder Mike Aguallo and right fielder Rich Barrett were selected to the first team. First baseman Brian Wixom and outfielder Tony Pruett were second-team selections.

Former El Camino standout Frank Dolce was named starting quarterback at the University of Utah earlier this week.

In 1989 Dolce was a JC Grid-Wire All-American and the Mission Conference most valuable player. He led the Warriors to a 10-1 record and completed 60% of his passes. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Dolce red-shirted at Utah last season.