Matt Sherman
Head Coach
msherman4@saddleback.edu
Office: PE 607
Phone: (949) 582-4532

Mark Blethen
Assistant Coach
mblethen@saddleback.edu
Office: PE 407
Phone: (949) 582-4640

11/18/12: Fisk leads Gauchos to 12^th place finish

Freshman Kyler Fisk finished in fifth place overall at the state cross country finals, leading the Gauchos to a 12^th place finish overall.  Fisk was just five seconds out of second place and 12 seconds off the lead, as Saddleback had its second best finish ever at the state meet.

Fisk had been improving throughout the season and saved some of his best for last, flirting with the lead in finishing the 4-mile course in 20:22.30.  Ricardo Medina also had a solid meet, finishing 24^th overall after running the course in 20:53.38. 

The Gauchos finished just 12 points away from a top-10 finish, and were 89 points ahead of 13^th place Mt. San Antonio College. It was the best finish for a Saddleback cross country team since finishing in sixth place in 1997. 

On the women’s side, Anna Gamboa finished in 44^th place, and was 4^th among athletes from programs that did not qualify as a team.  Gamboa finished the course in 19:39.66, just 38 seconds out of the top-20.

11/4/12: Men’s XC finishes 8^th at SoCal Finals

The men’s cross country team put in another solid performance at the Southern California Finals on Saturday at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa.  Kyler Fisk finished ninth overall as the Gauchos finished in eighth place as a team and qualified for the state meet in Fresno on November 17.

Fisk was just seven seconds from a top-5 performance, finishing the 4-mile course in 20:27.65.  His ninth place finish out of 195 runners led a group of five Gauchos that all finished in the top 60 in the race.  Ricardo Mendoza finished in 43^rd place (21:16.36) while Derek Herrera finished in 45^th place (21:18.37) as Saddleback easily qualified for the state meet in two weeks.

Saddleback finished with 211 team points, comfortably in front of Mt. San Antonio who finished ninth (285) and just 13 points behind seventh place San Diego Mesa. 

The state meet will be held at Woodward Park in Fresno on November 17.

10/26/12: Harriers take third at OEC championship

Led by freshman Kyler Fisk's individual runner-up finish at the Orange Empire Conference championship on Friday, the Gauchos had all five scoring runners place amongst the top 15 runners in the meet and the Gauchos will now advance as a team to the Southern California Regional Championship on Saturday, November 3rd, at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa.

Although Saddleback had five runners finish in the top 15, so did Riverside and Orange Coast as the top three teams were far-and-away better than the rest of the field. Riverside won the event with 26 points, followed by Orange Coast with 40 points, and Saddleback placed third with 54 points.

Fisk 's time of 20:59 was just nine seconds off the winning pace and eight seconds ahead of the third place finisher. Derek Herrera (pictured right) put on a kick in the final yards to move up to 11th place (21:54) with Brian Gomez in 12th (21:58). Rounding out the scoring was Ricardo Medina in 14th place (22:01) and Mike Stoeffler in 15th (22:10). Fisk earned first-team all-conference honors while Herrera, Gomez, and Medina each earned second-team all-conference honors.

In the women's race, Ana Gamboa placed eighth overall in a time of 20:26 to earn second-team all-conference honors and qualify for next weekend's regional championship. Amanda Idris placed 30th overall in a time of 22:00 to also qualify for the regional championship. Quinn Xifo placed 33rd (22:05) and Kim Eleazar was 43rd (23:05) but the Gauchos placed seventh as a team and will not be traveling to the regional competition as a complete squad.

Orange Coast won the women's race with Fullerton placing second.


10/13/12: Fisk leads Gaucho harriers to third place finish

Freshman Kyler Fisk had his best finish on Friday in leading the Saddleback men’s cross country team to a third place finish at the Mt. SAC Invitational.  Fisk finished second overall out of 200 runners, as the Gauchos finished second among programs from Southern California.

Fisk has been improving and making strides on the top-5 for weeks, but it all came together on Friday in Walnut when he finished the 4-mile course in 20:53, just 13 seconds off the pace set by Glendale (AZ) harrier Joshua Espinoza.  Saddleback also had one other top-10 finisher as Ricardo Mendoza finished 10^th with a time of 21:29.  In all, the Gauchos had four finishers in the top 26 in finishing third overall behind Cerritos College and Hartnell College (north).    Saddleback also finished two spots in front of San Bernadino Valley College, who entered the week ranked no. 5 in Southern California.

Saddleback will have the week off before competing in the Orange Empire Conference Finals at Irvine Park on October 26.

10/6/12: Men’s XC finishes third at tough Brubaker Invitational

The Saddleback  men’s cross country team is rounding into shape as the season rolls on, and knew the annual Brubaker Invitational would be a good indication of where they stand moving forward.  The Gauchos responded with a solid performance, finishing third in a tough field.

Saddleback had nine other schools to face on Friday, four of which were rated ahead of them in the weekly Southern California rankings.  The Gauchos responded with a vengeance, finishing behind San Bernadino Valley and Riverside while finishing ahead of both Mt. San Antonio and El Camino, programs that had been rated higher entering the meet.

Ricardo Medina (left) led the charge for Saddleback, finishing eighth overall out of 125 harriers with a time of 22:34.2 on the 4.45-mile, Irvine Park Course.  Medina was just three seconds out of fifth place and 13 seconds out of third, leading a Gaucho team that averaged 22:55.9 for its top-5 finishers.  Kyler Fisk (right) turned in a tremendous effort in finishing 11^th in the race (22:36.3) while Derek Herrera was close behind in 13^th (22:50.3). 

Saddleback cross country will be in action again at Mt. SAC on Friday.  Race time is set for 10:00 am.

9/25/12: Men’s XC dominates Cuesta meet

The men’s cross country team was a dominating force this past Friday in winning the Cuesta College meet in San Luis Obispo.  Freshman Ricardo Medina won the individual medal, setting a new school record on the course.

Medina (left) ran the 4-mile trek in 22:09.01, finishing 12 seconds ahead of his closest competitor.  He was part of a dominating team performance by Saddleback, who had eight finishers in the top-11 in the field. 

Along with Medina were a third place finish by Brian Gomez (22:26.5, pictured right), a fourth place finish by Mike Stoeffler (22:40.5) and a sixth place finish by Derek Herrera (23:08.6).  In all, Saddleback finished comfortably ahead of Cuesta on their home course, with a total team time of 1:54.19.  West Hlls College finished in third place in the event, which was run at the Fairbanks Course in San Luis Obispo.

The Gauchos will compete again on October 5^th in the Brubaker Invitational at Irvine Park.

9/17/12: Gauchos look strong at SoCal Preview

The men’s cross country team had a strong showing at the annual Southern California Preview Meet this past weekend, competing against 27 other programs from around the state.  The Gauchos did not compete as a team due to multiple races on the day, but had great individual showings in both races.

Given the number of participants in the field, the race was split in to two separate races and Saddleback opted to have a number of participants compete in both races.  This made it impossible for them to have a team score, but didn’t take away from a great effort on their part.

In the main race, Ricardo Medina (left) finished in seventh place overall with a time of 21:06.98.  His time was faster than any participant in the overflow race, and he had only two competitors from Southern California with faster times.  Finishing closely behind him was Brian Gomez in 13^th place.  Gomez (right) ran the 4-mile course in 21:18.63, good enough for 8^th place among Southern California competition at the event.

The overflow race had a number of solid performances of their own, as Derek Herrera, Will Murphy and Ben Hoffman all finished in the top 35 in the race.  Herrera finished 10^th in the overflow race with a time of 22:32.85, which was good enough for 68^th overall on the day out of 311 competitors.  Murphy was close behind with a time of 22:56.25 and Hoffman finished in a time of 23:31.04.

Saddleback will compete again on Friday in San Luis Obispo at the Cuesta College event.  Race time is scheduled for 3:00 pm.

9/8/12: Harriers open the 2012 season

The Saddleback cross country teams opened the 2012 season at the Palomar Invitational on Friday with the men's team placing second and the women's team placing fourth.

The men's team scored 50 points to easily separate themselves from third-place Cerritos (93) and just missed out on an opportunity to catch conference-foe Riverside (32 points) which won the 8-team event. Ricardo Medina (pictured) placed third (21:39), Brian Gomez finished fourth (21:46), and Mike Stoeffler placed eighth (22:15) as the Gauchos had three runners finish among the top 10. Riverside also had three runners finish in the top 10 (1st, 2nd, 6th). Derek Herrera (22:50) and Will Murphy (22:59) placed 17th and 18th, respectively, to account for Saddleback's final points.

The women's team finished fourth out of 10 teams in tight scoring among the top five teams. Cerritos won the event with 31 points, followed by Palomar (93), Riverside (98), Saddleback (110), and Fullerton (112). Ana Gamboa placed sixth overall (20:43) for the Gauchos with Quinn Xifo placing 17th (21:40) and Amanda Idris placing 19th (21:47).

1/17/12: Armijo runs in Olympic Trials

Former Saddleback College student-athlete Jesse Armijo qualified to compete in last weekend’s Olympic Trials for the marathon which were held in Houston, Texas. 

Armijo, who excelled in cross country at Saddleback during the 2000 and 2001 seasons, finished 69^th overall in the field of 85 finishers with a time of 2:22.25.  Meb Keflezighi of Mammoth Lakes won the marathon Olympic Trials in a time of 2:09.08.

While at Saddleback, Armijo placed 24^th out of 225 runners at the cross country state championship during his freshman season in 2000 and then placed 45^th at the state championship during his sophomore season in 2001.