The Throws of Greatness : Basketball Came First for Dolores Tuimoloau, but She Grew to Love Another Field

Four years ago Dolores Tuimoloau turned to track and field only as a way to stay active between basketball seasons.

Now the Channel Islands High senior has turned in some of the state’s best performances in the shotput and the discus.

Tuimoloau, who holds the state’s best shotput mark, 49 feet 2 inches, and the Ventura County record in the discus, 145 feet, ends her high school athletic career today and Saturday in the State meet at Cerritos College.

To think she once thought that career would end in a gym.

Tuimoloau excelled at basketball since she was 9, partly because she was big for her age. She became better as she grew bigger. This season, at 6-foot-1 and 285 pounds, Tuimoloau averaged 11 points and seven rebounds a game and earned Times’ All-Ventura County honors.

How to spend the time between bouncing basketballs was settled during her freshman year, after her cousin suggested she try the shotput.

“I never even thought of track,” Tuimoloau said. “I was ready to play softball. Then I did so well in track that people said I could get a scholarship. So I really started to like it, even though basketball will always be my first love.”

That first heave of the shotput traveled 39 feet. By the time the season was over, she ranked ninth among Southern Section 3-A Division shotputters. Tuimoloau threw the discus, too, and ranked fourth with a best of 126-2 as a freshman.

Tuimoloau made steady progress through the years. As a sophomore, her best mark in the shotput was 42 feet and 133-6 in the discus.

As a junior, she improved her best to 44 feet in the shotput and 142 in the discus, which ranked fourth and second, respectively, among Southern Section Division I marks.

This season her best shotput of 49-2 came at the Ventura County Championships at the end of April and her best discus mark (145) came in an invitational in March.

“She’s thrown well all four years but this year she has gone above and beyond the other three,” Channel Islands Coach Myra Beemis said. “She’s always had a lot of strength, but technique improvement has made the biggest difference this year.

“Another thing about her is that she is really mature and she handles pressure well because she remains calm. A lot of kids would crack under the pressure.”

And the pressure doesn’t subside when competition ends.

Tuimoloau says life away from sports isn’t always easy because many people make snap judgments based on her commanding physical appearance and aggressive play.

“People look at me and I’m such a big girl that they say, ‘There’s a bully right there.’ But I’m very nice and caring. I’m also a very friendly person,” Tuimoloau said.

Beemis agrees.

“People are intimidated by her size,” she said. “It’s just her presence. She really is a sweet girl and she is liked around school.”

She draws much of her strength from her family, which has a rich background in athletics.

Dolores’ father, Junior, played football at Channel Islands and is the school’s defensive coordinator. Her 14-year-old sister, Judy, is expected to be one of the school’s top basketball players next season and her 11-year-old sister, Chenne, is also a promising basketball talent.

Tuimoloau’s two cousins, Peka and Mickie Liufau, also played basketball for Channel Islands last season.

“On the average we have about 20 relatives at our games,” Tuimoloau said. “They’ll probably be there at Cerritos.”

The only athlete from Channel Islands to qualify for the state meet, Tuimoloau must place among the top nine in each event today to advance to Saturday’s finals. Family support will help a great deal, she said.

“It seems almost unreal because I didn’t make it to the state meet the last three years,” Tuimoloau said. “But I’m just going to take it like any other meet. I mean, I really like performing under pressure.”

Those performances have attracted major colleges. Arkansas, California, Cal State Northridge and USC are among the schools recruiting Tuimoloau for track.

“She has had so many calls from so many schools,” Beemis said. “I lost track.”

Tuimoloau said USC has offered a full scholarship providing she passes the Scholastic Aptitude Test, which she took early last month.

If she doesn’t get the minimum 700 required by the NCAA to receive a Division I scholarship, Tuimoloau probably will attend a junior college next season.

“I liked USC right away because they offered me a scholarship first and they have been watching me since my sophomore year,” Tuimoloau said. “They also have a great criminal justice program and that’s my major.”

If she attends USC, she also plans to play basketball as a walk-on. Tuimoloau probably will hold her own in Division I collegiate basketball. An aggressive and powerful center, she was a two-time All-Marmonte League pick at Channel Islands.

As a senior she led the Raiders to a 24-4 record and helped them win the Marmonte League title and reach the second round of the playoffs.

“She was very dominating, both offensively and defensively,” Channel Islands Coach Don Salado said. “She just bangs them around. They respected her. She is very intimidating.”

But that’s only during competition, according to Tuimoloau. She says she is just a regular teen-ager.

“Even my voice is bulky but I’m pretty kicked back,” Tuimoloau said. “I’m just another high school student.”