1978 Track: Dokie Does It For State Champion El Camino

El Camino High, three years removed from opening its doors and splitting from Oceanside High (taking many outstanding athletes and football coach Herb Meyer), became the first San Diego County team since San Diego High in 1938 to win a state team championship.

The Wildcats scored 16 points, edging Gardena and Pasadena, which had 15 each.

Dokie Williams completed a brilliant career with victories in the long jump (25-1 ¼) and triple jump (50-4 ¼), but it was Williams’ fourth place in the 100-yard dash and a late-in-the-competition fourth in the triple jump by Craig Montgomery which pushed the Wildcats over the top.

ELECTRONIC WAYS TO DO IT

San Diego Section track was awash with great marks, with multiple outstanding performances in many events, some not noted.

But races in which times were by stopwatches and the human hand were on their way out.  Fully electronic times were used for most races in the state meet since 1976 and would be favored in big events in the years to come.

Even blazing wind-aided efforts by Williams, Patrick Henry’s Kipper Bell and Point Loma’s Milton Weaver, and the girls’ Judy Reed in the local meets did not carry over to the state meet in Bakersfield (results below).

But it still was a banner year for the boys and girls.

5/5/78

Matt Gauthier of Valhalla concluded the dual meet season with a 61-foot, 10 ½-inch shot put and 170-11 ½ discus throw in the Norsemen’s 75-41 win over Santana.

–McFadden of Crawford turned a :49.9 440, Mike Durden of Helix a :50, Mike (Ace) Adkins of Bonita Vista a :50.4, and Tony Banks of Morse a :50.6.

—La Jolla’s Jeff Woodland doubled with a 2:00.0 half mile and 9:20.9 two-mile in La Jolla’s 91-44 win over Mira Mesa.

–San Diego, trailing, 67-66, won the final event mile relay in 3:24.3 for a 71-67 squeaker over Madison.

—Point Loma’s Milton Weaver doubled in :09.9 and :21.8 in the 100 and 220 and Kipper bell of Patrick Henry doubled in :10 and :21.9.

5/9/78

EASTERN LEAGUE TRIALS, @PATRICK HENRY

Point Loma’s Milton Weaver and Patrick Henry’s Kipper Bell each raced to :09.8 clockings in the 100-yard dash and Morse’s Tony Banks ran :09.9.

All three also won heats in the 220 and Banks added a :49.7 victory in the 440.  Morse’s Ron Roberts doubled with a 1:59.5 in the 880 and 4:24.9 in the mile.

WESTERN LEAGUE TRIALS, @SERRA

Hoover’s Jeff Mays raced to a :21.6, the County’s fastest in the 220; his best had been :22.2.  Mays also won a heat in the 100 in :9.9.

GROSSMONT LEAGUE TRIALS, @HELIX

Matt Gauthier of Valhalla and Ken Pole of El Capitan wowed a mob of spectators in the shot put area, where Gauthier went 61 feet, 4 ¼ inches, and Pole 61-4.

Helix’ Mike Durden ran :49.5 in the 440 and Marc Keller 4:19.2 in the mile.

Helix led Valhalla in qualifiers 25-17.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE TRIALS, @CASTLE PARK.

Bonita Vista’s Mike (Ace) Adkins won a 100 heat in :10.3 and a 440 try in :51.5.

Hilltop’s Randy Wagner (:14.9, :39.4) and Castle Park’s Jon Wilford (:15.0, :39.6) set up an anticipated duel later in the week in finals of the 120-yard high hurdles and 330 lows.

5/12/78

EASTERN LEAGUE FINALS, @PATRICK HENRY

Kipper Bell of the host school was a double winner, :09.6 in the 100 and :21.7 in the 220.  The 100 time was wind-aided, also reflected in the :09.6 by runner-up Milton Weaver of Point Loma and the :09.7 by third-place Tony Banks of Morse.

Judy Reed of Crawford smoked a windy :10.6 in the 100, with teammate Danita Young posting :10.8.  Reed and Young teamed with Kari Alexander and Vanessa Williams for a blazing :47.2, reported fastest time in the country, to Morse’s :48.1 in the 440 relay.

GROSSMONT LEAGUE FINALS, @HELIX

Ken Pole and Matt Gauthier engaged in another outstanding shot put competition, Pole winning at 63 feet, 4 inches, second best in California this season.  Gauthier was close at 62-7 ¼.

—Mike Durden led a 1-2-3 Helix finish in the 440 at :49.0, followed by Green and Bartzak at :50.2 each.  The Highlanders won the mile relay in 3:23.2.

—Butch Schroll of Granite Hills high jumped 6-6 and Cameron Gary of Helix reached 23-4 ½ in the long jump. Tim Nash of Santana won the 880 in 1:56.7.

—Valhalla’s Cheryl Flowers won her third consecutive mile championship in 5:00.2 and added the two-mile in 11:13.2.

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE FINALS, @CHULA VISTA

Mike Adkins doubled with a :10.1 100 and :49.8 440 for Bonita Vista.  Teammate Fred Doane set a record of 9:30.2 in the two-mile and came back later to take the mile in 4:28.8.

Randy Wagner, running without competition from Castle Park’s Jon Wilford, who was byed into the CIF trials, was a :15.0 and :38.4 winner in the 120 highs and 330 low hurdles.  Kenny Blinsman of Mar Vista won the 880 in 1:56.7.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE FINALS

All races were measured in meters, a preview of what would take place when state track and field fully embraced the metric system in 1983.

Covington of La Jolla Country Day won the high jump at 6-6 and pole vault at 11 feet.

AVOCADO WEST TRIALS, @VISTA
El Camino’s Dokie Williams turned in a seemingly routine triple, winning his 100 heat in :09.8 and leading in the long jump (23 feet, 6 inches) and triple jump (48-2 ½).

AVOCADO EAST TRIALS, @MT. CARMEL

Poway’s Dave Brown and Escondido’s Pat Nash previewed a battle in the 300 hurdles.  Brown ran :39 in his heat and Nash rambled to the same clocking a few minutes later.

5/20/78

SAN DIEGO SECTION TRIALS, @MT. CARMEL

BOYS

El Camino’s Darrell (Dokie) Williams was frustrated.

“It seems like every time I do something good it’s followed by a little ‘w’,” Williams told Steve Brand of The San Diego Union after winning a 100-yard dash heat in :09.4 with a 7.60 wind, over the allowable 04.47 miles per hour.

Patrick Henry’s Kipper Bell equaled Williams’ run with another :09.4, aided by a 5.59 breeze. Morse’s Tony Banks had a push of 10.28 m.p.h. in his :09.6 heat win.

Point Loma’s Milton Weaver was timed in :09.5 in Williams’ race, followed by Sam Jackson of Lincoln in :09.7.

“The :09.4 felt the same as a :09.7 and having Milton right there helped, but it was wind-aided,” said Williams.  “I just hate W’s.”

Bell weighed in: “I’d rather it be legit, but it’s hard to push yourself when there’s no one with you. It might have been a :09.2 if Dokie had been in my heat.”

—Weaver’s :21.2 in the 220 was fastest in the state this season, but also was trailed by excessive wind.

—Williams also paced the field with a 23-8 1/4w long jump and 48-11 3/4w triple jump, plus anchoring the Wildcats to :42.5, the day’s fastest 440 relay.

Jim Brennan of El Camino ran the season’s fastest 880 in 1:54.5.

—El Captain’s Ken Pole, one of the favorites, did not qualify in the discus but hit a career high 62-4 ½ in the shot put.  Nine others competitors did at least 52 feet.

El Camino, quietly positive/hopeful of its team chances in the upcoming state meet, sustained a big loss when Dokie’’s brother, Alex Williams, failed to qualify in the high jump at 6 feet 6 inches, below his best of 6-10 as Williams labored with a sore heel.

El Camino (16), Morse (10), Helix (9), Lincoln (7), and San Diego (6) led qualifiers.

GIRLS

Morse’s Judy Reed blazed to wind-aided :10.7 and :23.6 100 and 220 victories. Reed also was a member of the Colts’ winning 440 (:48.2) and mile (4:00.6) relays.

Morse led qualifiers with 12, followed by Crawford (10), Vista (8), and Mt. Carmel (7).

5/26/78

BOYS SAN DIEGO SECTION CHAMPIONSHIPS, @MT. CARMEL

Dokie Williams had a hand in 22 of the 41 points El Camino scored as the Wildcats survived a scary moment. before rolling to the team title.

Williams fouled on his first two attempts in the triple jump.  One more misstep and he would be out. Competitors get three jumps in the trials and three more if they move to the finals.

Williams stared down the long, asphalt approach as he stepped on the runway for a third and final try to be one of six finalists.

“All I thought about was hitting the line. I told myself, ‘Just don’t foul,’ “ said Williams who soared a state-leading 51 feet, ¾ inch on his last try to qualify, breaking the Section record of 50-4½ he set the season before.

Williams also won the long jump at 24-6 ½ and emerged after a tense duel with Patrick Henry’s Kipper Bell in the 100. There were three false starts, including one by Bell, before Williams, sitting patiently in his blocks, exploded for a :09.4 victory which was aided by a 6.71 wind, over the allowable 4.447.

Bell returned and had no wind as he tied the meet record of :21.0 in the 220.

Anchor man Williams also almost made up eight yards on winning Morse in the 440 relay, with both teams timed in :41.9.

Overshadowed was a second place in the triple jump at 47-4 1/2 by El Camino’s Craig Montgomery.  Craig’s effort would prove important the following week as the Wildcats geared for a state team championship bid.

GIRLS SAN DIEGO SECTION CHAMPIONSHIPS, @MT, CARMEL

Judy Reed’s spectacular :10.5 win in the 100 was aided by an 8.95 miles an hour wind, short circuiting a record, but Reed and her teammates won the team title with 35 points to Morse’s 30.

Reed set a meet record of :24 in the 220 and Crawford’s Kari Alexander set a meet record of :14.4 in the 110 low hurdles and the duo teamed with Danita Young and Vanessa Williams for a :47.4 in the short relay to Morse’s :47.8 and a winning 3:57.2 in the mile relay to Morse’s 3:57.6.

6/2/78

60^TH STATE TRACK TRIALS, MEMORIAL STADIUM, BAKERSFIELD

BOYS

GIRLS

6/3/78

60^TH BOYS STATE TRACK FINALS, MEMORIAL STADIUM, BAKERSFIELD

60^TH GIRLS STATE TRACK FINALS, MEMORIAL STADIUM, BAKERSFIELD

Print