April 18, 2007

Fullerton, Calif. - Five California high school seniors and one community college transfer have signed national letters of intent to continue their track and field careers next year at Cal State Fullerton.

Three hurdlers, two distances runners and one sprinter comprise the first group of Titans' signees during this recruiting period. Hurdler Tracy Sanchez of Golden West Community College in Huntington Beach will be joined in Fullerton next year by hurdlers Lauren Williams of Chino Hills High School and RaNee Woods of Otay Ranch High School in Chula Vista, distance runners Brent Handa of Fall River High School in McArthur, California, and Sean Laurino of El Toro High School and sprinter Ciara Short of Madison High School in San Diego.

Sanchez has a best time of 64.64 in the 400 intermediate hurdles. Williams has a personal best of 14.68 in the low hurdles and Woods runs the 300 and 110 hurdles with a best time of 14.40 in the latter event.

"Tracy will be an immediate impact hurdler for our program," said Kenny McDaniel, the Titans' sprints and hurdles coach. "She will bring experience and the overall maturity from the community college level to help our program.

"Lauren is an up and coming hurdler who just had a break-through meet several weeks ago. She has the potential to contend for a few top spots at our conference championship meet.

"RaNee is a developing hurdler -- tall, standing at 6 foot 6, with huge gaps in his overall potential. RaNee is still learning the event so his learning curve will dictate his overall result. We're expecting great things from him once he finds his groove over the 42 inch barriers."

Short is one of the top 400 meter runners in San Diego with a personal best of 57.06.

"Ciara is a dynamic sprinter who has the ability to compete in all sprint events from the 100 through the 400," said McDaniel.

Handa was the CIF Northern Section champion in cross country and placed third in the CIF Div. V state meet. He placed second in the individual sweepstakes race at the Mt. Sac Invitational with a time of 15:18. Laurino was the No. 2 runner on an El Toro team that placed fourth at the CIF Div. I state cross country championships, running the Woodward Park course in 15:48.

"I'm very excited to have Brent join our program," said Head Coach John Elders, who handles the distance runners. "He comes from a very small high school northeast of Redding where he was the only member of the cross country team. With the competition and training at the NCAA Div. I level, he has the potential to be an excellent college distance runner.

"What I really like about Sean is that he is a late bloomer. He made huge improvements at the end of his senior cross country season and I think as he continues to mature as a runner he is going to get better and better."

"We as a coaching staff are very excited about this class we're bringing in next Fall," concluded McDaniel. "This group will add depth and quality experience to the current Titan track and field program.