5/20/12: Women’s T&F has best finish in 26 years
 The Saddleback women’s track & field team picked a great time to get hot, saving their best for last in finishing in sixth place at the California Community College State Track & Field Meet on Friday and Saturday at Cerritos College. The Gauchos had a number of top-6 performances at the state meet after finishing ninth in Southern California a week earlier.
Saddleback once again picked up big points in the hammer throw, as Liz Tepe, Tawnya Turton and Julia Reedy finished 3-4-5 in giving Saddleback 15 points in one event. The Gauchos also received a third place performance from Ashley Hatcher in the triple-jump (11.54 meters), a fifth place performance from Michelle Wicker in the 100-meter hurdles (14.67), a fifth place finish from Jerrilynn Stanwood in the discus (42.57 meters) and a sixth place finish from Kelli Gibson in the pole vault (3.5 meters).
Saddleback finished in a tie with Golden West for sixth place overall, just six points out of a top-5 finish in the entire state. It was the best finish for a Saddleback women’s program since finishing fifth at the state meet in 1986 and the second best finish ever for a program that started competing in 1980.
5/14/12: Women’s T&F finishes 9th at SoCal Finals
 The women’s track & field team had a solid finish at the Southern California Track & Field Championships over the weekend, finishing in ninth place overall. The Gauchos had a number of outstanding individual performances, led by a dominating team effort in the hammer throw.
Saddleback finished 2-3-4 in the hammer throw, as Liz Tepe finished second, Tawnya Turton third and Julia Reedy fourth, totaling 19 points in the one event. The Gauchos finished with 40 points as a team, just four points out of seventh place and nine points out of a top-5 performance.
Tepe threw the hammer 53.05 meters, roughly eight inches off of the top throw of the day. Turton had a toss of 48.9 meters and Reedy 48.07 as all three head to the state meet with a shot at a top-5 finish.
Other great performances were turned in by Ashley Hatcher, Michelle Wicker, Kelli Gibson and Jerrilynn Stanwood, who all qualified for the state meet next weekend. Hatcher finished second in the triple jump with a personal-best leap of 11.66 meters. Wicker was a fifth place finisher in the 100-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 14.46 seconds. Gibson finished in a tie for fifth place in the pole vault (3.35 meters) while Stanwood finished in fourth place in the discus (41.53 meters).
4/15/12: Tepe sets new national JC record in hammer
Saddleback women’s hammer thrower Elizabeth Tepe was out to set the record straight on Saturday at the 54th annual Mt. SAC Relays after tying the national JC record in the hammer a month ago but being denied recognition due to officials not measuring the throw with a steel measuring tape. Tepe made it official on Saturday, breaking the record by one inch in winning the competition, as the metal tape stretched 56.92 meters, or 186’-8”.
 Tepe’s toss was nearly two inches farther than the old record set by Michelle Amete of Mesa College in Arizona in 2006. Officially it will go in the books as a record by one inch, as the official record books rounds down to the nearest inch, and her throw on Saturday was registered at 186’-8.92”.
“We made sure they got it right this time around,” head coach Mark Blethen said. “I have all the paperwork officially filled out and she will now be in the record books.”
Saddleback throwers completely dominated the event, as Tawnya Turton finished second in the event and Julia Reedy finished fourth. Turton’s toss of 52.15 meters was easily her best throw of her career, and would have set the Saddleback program record a year ago had it not been for Tepe. At 171’-1”, it made her the third best performer in the state this year behind Tepe and one other thrower from Riverside City College. Reedy’s toss of 152’-1” makes her the No. 8 performer in the state in 2012.
3/12/12:
Tepe ties American JC hammer record
In what turned out to be a tremendous day for Saddleback athletes at the annual Ben Brown Meet at Cal State Fullerton on Friday, sophomore Elizabeth Tepe tied an American junior college/community college record in the hammer throw. Tepe’s toss of 186’-7” tied a record set back in 2006 and helped her to finish fifth overall in a field filled with NCAA Division-1 and club athletes.
Tepe tied a record set by Michelle Amete of Mesa College in Arizona, set back in 2006. Her throw was a personal best by more than 12 feet and, comfortably, gives her the longest throw of any California community college thrower in the state this season.
Tepe was a graduate of Ponderosa High School (CO) and spent four years in the Marines in the Combat Logistics Regiment 15. She had no experience in throwing the hammer until she arrived at Saddleback College.
“I got out of the Marine Corps and my husband was redeployed,” Tepe said. “I took up track & field to stay fit and have some fun. Needless to say, it is still fun.”
Tepe is hearing from a number of four-year universities who now want her to be a part of their respective programs once she finishes up at Saddleback.
“I have been talking to USC, LSU, Hawaii, Georgia and Long Beach State,” Tepe said. “Hawaii has offered me 100%. Long Beach State has offered. My husband and I are trying to make a sound decision. It is a big choice to make.”
Throws coach Shawn McGinley says Tepe has what it takes to throw at a high level.
“She is a very gifted athlete,” McGinley said. “I think she could be an Olympic hopeful. Liz was running hurdles and had never thrown. We thought she had some (lower body) leverage gifts for throwing.”
Indeed Mr. McGinley was right, as Tepe is now the heavy favorite to win a state title in the hammer. Of the four competitors that finished ahead of her on Friday, three were from USC and another was a club thrower from the Greater Boston Club Team.
3/3/12: Women’s T&F finishes third at AVC
 The Saddleback women’s track & field team received three first place finishes in finishing third out of five teams at the Antelope Valley College meet on Friday. Kelli Gibson, Jerrilynn Stanwood and Julia Reedy all won events as 17 competitors finished in the top five in various events on the day.
Gibson dominated the pole vault with a vault of 3.2 meters (10’ 5.98”), good enough to become the seventh best performer in program history. The vault was nearly 1.5 feet better than her closest competitor on the day.
Stanwood won the discus with a toss of 34.67 meters (113’ 8.96”), narrowly edging out her nearest competitor from College of the Canyons. The Gauchos had three other competitors finish in the top six in the event, taking home 21 points in the event.
 Reedy won the hammer throw with a toss of 40.76 meters (133’ 8.72”) to turn in the third best performance in program history. The throw was nearly 9.5 further than her closest competitor in the event.
Ashley Hatcher finished second in the long jump (17’ 4.25”), third in the triple jump (34’ 0.25”), fourth in the 100-meters (12.99) and fifth in the 200-meters (26.71), finishing in the top-5 in all four events.
Other second place finishers included Amy Jystad in the 3,000-meters (11:27.09), Michelle Wicker in the 100-meter hurdles (15.21) and Tawnya Turton in the shot put (10.87 meters).
Team Scores:
Canyons, 154
Antelope Valley, 137
Saddleback, 104
Bakersfield, 93
San Bernadino Valley, 53
12/14/12: T&F women win 10 events at opening meet
If the opening meet of the season was any indication, the Saddleback women’s track & field team is going to have a good year in 2012. The season opened last Friday at Orange Coast College, and the Gauchos took home first place in 10 separate events in finishing 1-1 on the day in team competition.
Saddleback received four first place finishes from sophomore Ashley Hatcher, who won the 100-meters (13.1), 200-meters (27.21), long jump (18’8.25”) and triple jump (34’4.75”). Her leap in the long jump made her the No. 4 performer of all time in the event for the program, and was a personal best by nearly seven inches over her best effort in 2011. Hatcher became the No. 2 performer of all time a season ago in the triple jump, and her leap on Friday was good enough for No. 10 on the all time list.
 Sophomores Michelle Wicker and Tawnya Turton both won two events on the day, as Wicker had a first place finish in both the 100-meter hurdles (15.60) and 400-meter hurdles (1:09.56) while Turton won both the shot put (39’3.5”) and hammer throw (156’3”). Both of the tosses by Turton were personal-best marks, with the hammer throw making her the No. 2 performer in program history and the shot put throw making her the No. 3 performer of all time.
Other winner on the day included Kelli Gibson (11’0.25”) in the pole vault and Jerrilynn Stanwood in the discus (129’11”).
In team competition, Saddleback defeated Santiago Canyon 95-34 while narrowly falling to Orange Coast College, 79-69.
The Gaucho track & field program will be back in action again this Saturday when they travel to Cerritos College.
5/14/11: Women’s T&F finishes 10th at SoCal Finals
The Saddleback women’s track & field team had some tremendous performances on Friday at the SoCal Finals, finishing 10th in Southern California. A number of athletes had top-10 performances, led by Tawnya Turton’s second place finish in the hammer throw.
The team was still stinging after leading hammer thrower Elizabeth Tepe fouled out of the competition a week ago, ending her season prematurely. Turton picked up the pieces, finishing second on the day with a season-best throw of 149’ 10”, just 13 inches shy of the winning throw by Mt. SAC’s Noel Wright.
Turton was not alone; however, as Saddleback had other top-10 finishes on the day. Michelle Wicker finished fifth in the 100-meter hurdles (14.72), just a hair off her best time of the year. Evonna Ramirez finished sixth in the 5,000 meters (18:23.19), setting a personal best by 44 seconds, while the 4 x 100 relay team finished seventh with a season-best time of 48.35. Kelli Gibson finished fourth in the pole vault (11’ 1”) while Jerrilyn Stanwood’s toss of 132’ 10.75” in the discus was good enough for fifth place. Kaelyn Kaichi had a solid day, finishing seventh in the long jump (17’ 1.75”) while helping the relay team finish seventh. Ashley Hatcher’s leap of 37’ 2” was good enough for a sixth place finish in the triple jump.
Saddleback finished with 31 points on the afternoon, just seven points out of a top-5 finish.
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