High School Official Named Athletic Director at Irvine Valley

Aracely Mora, an assistant principal at Millikan High School, has been selected as the athletic director at Irvine Valley College, the college announced Tuesday at a press conference.

Mora, 37, comes to Irvine Valley with coaching and administrative experience only on the high school level. She coached girls’ volleyball (1983-87) and girls’ basketball (1981-83), and was the girls’ athletic director (1981-86) and activities director (1987-89) at Millikan. She was an assistant principal at the school from September, 1986, until last Friday.

Her primary role at Irvine Valley will be to help establish the college’s athletic program, which is entering its second year.

“The program is new and the community is tremendous,” Mora said. “I see the potential for having a truly class athletic program. . . . It’s a tremendous opportunity for me to come in on the ground floor.”

Men’s soccer was Irvine Valley’s only varsity program last fall, but the team was the co-Orange Empire Conference champion with Orange Coast. Irvine Valley reached the semifinal round of the state playoffs.

“It set a standard for us and we will give it our best shot to equal it in other sports,” Mora said.

Irvine Valley will compete in men’s and women’s cross-country and soccer this fall. The college has announced plans to add softball and men’s volleyball in the spring. Mora cited building awareness in local high schools and generating community support as her primary goals.

“We had a very extensive search,” said John Andrews, Irvine Valley’s vice president of student services. “She has a very high energy level, is creative and personalble and that was important to us. She is also a quality educator and that was also a primary concern.”

Mora replaces Phil Stanley, who was hired in June, 1989, but requested to return to teaching full time at the college.

Mora earned bachelor of arts and master’s degrees from Cal State Long Beach. She is a competitive water skier but is taking the summer off because of a broken right foot she suffered two weeks ago in training.

Rancho Santiago recently announced the hiring of two coaches.

Fran Cummings, who has coached the past two seasons at Saddleback College and a Cal State Fullerton for nine seasons before that, will take over the women’s volleyball program. Kim Nutter has been selected to head the softball program. Both will be full-time teachers in the physical education division at the college.

Cummings replaces Kip Yoshimura, who left after one season to become an assistant at Weber College in Ogden, Utah.

Nutter, a graduate of Marina High School and Golden West College, coached at Narbonne High School in Harbor City last season. She also coached at Rio Hondo College for three seasons before that. Nutter replaces Alani Silva, who was a walk-on coach the past two seasons but wasn’t hired when the job became full time.

Sue Brown, the dean of Admissions and Records at Orange Coast, will be inducted into the California Community College Sports Hall of Fame in October.

Brown was a teacher at Corona del Mar High School for two years before she started at Orange Coast in 1964. She has coached women’s swimming, softball, field hockey, basketball and volleyball at various times at Orange Coast.

She was the dean of the Health and Physical Education Division for nine years before taking over in admissions and records in 1987.

The awards continue to come in for Rancho Santiago men’s basketball Coach Dana Pagett and forward Corie Blount.

Pagett, who was the Orange Empire Conference basketball coach of the year, added the conference’s male coach of the year award to his mantel. Pagett has a record of 200-94 since becoming coach in 1982 and his teams have won the past two state titles.

Blount recently was selected the 1991 national community college player of the year by the Basketball Times, a St. Louis-based publication. Blount, a 6-foot-9 forward from Monrovia High School, already has been selected the state’s co-most valuable player and Southern California player of the year. He averaged 19.5 points and nine rebounds for the Dons last season. Blount will attend Cincinnati this fall.

Community College Notes

Charles Lockard of Cypress and Jason Vaughan of Golden West will play basketball at Christ College Irvine this season, CCI Coach Greg Marshall said. Lockard, a guard, averaged almost five assists and helped Cypress to the state semifinals. Vaughan, a 6-5 forward, averaged 13 points for Golden West.