Saddleback Sports Briefs
Track & Field: OEC Championships
When the SoCal Track & Field Preliminaries roll around next weekend, Saddleback will be well represented in the field. Eight Gaucho athletes qualified for the SoCal Prelims, with impressive showings at the Orange Empire League Championships on Saturday at Orange Coast College. On the men’s side, Ray Lian and Matt Van Dyke captured league championships for Saddleback. Lian took the javelin title on the last throw of his performance with a distance of 194 feet and two inches.
Van Dyke claimed the 10,000 meters title with a time of 33 minutes and two seconds, an improvement of over 50 seconds from his fourth place finish last year. Joing Lian and Van Dyke at the SoCal Prelims will be Matt Garcia in the high jump, Rick Fenton in shot put, Colin McRoberts in steeplechase, and A.J. Kimura in the 10,000 meters.
Kelley Breen took home the lone championship for the Saddleback women, with a time of 11 minutes and 36 seconds in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Katie Rauschl will be the other Gaucho representative in the SoCal Prelims in the javelin throw.
Women’s Tennis: SoCal Playoffs
After capturing the Orange Empire Conference title in a match against Orange Coast College on April 10, the third-seeded women’s tennis team welcomed and quickly dismissed Grossmont College at the Saddleback courts for a 5-0 victory in their SoCal Regional Quarterfinal match.
Grossmont was quick put behind the eight-ball when the team arrived with only five players, giving the Gauchos default victories at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles.
In No.1 singles, Kristina Drzymkowski earned a team point, dispatching her opposition with sets of 7-5 and 6-2. Clara Kearney had a tough time in her first set, 7-5, at No. 3 singles, but made quick work in the second set, 6-1, to earn another point for Saddleback.
Michelle Neville had the least amount of resistance in her No. 5 singles match, with sets of 6-2 and 6-2.
Saddleback faced the winner of No. 2 Cuesta College and No. 8 Cerritos College, which was played on Monday in San Luis Obispo.
If Cuesta won, Saddleback traveled to face the Cougars. If Cerritos won, the Gauchos hosted the Falcons. In either result, the match took place on Tuesday. Look for the results of these matches here at www.lariatnews.com.