Location: PE 407 [map]
Phone: (949) 582-4640
Fax: (949) 347-9328


Mark Blethen
Head Coach
(949) 582-4640
mblethen@saddleback.edu

Matt Sherman
Assistant Coach
msherman4@saddleback.edu

Taz Murtaugh
Assistant Coach

Simon Arkell
Assistant Coast

John Klink
Assistant Coach
jklink@saddleback.edu

8/10/11: Men’s track & field has massive transfer rate

The men’s track & field team had a sensational 2011 campaign, finishing fifth in Southern California and eighth in the state.  The transfer rate has been equally impressive, as 89% of the eligible sophomores have received a scholarship, according to the coach’s office.

The Saddleback track & field record book is littered with names from the sophomores on the 2011 team, and now they will be taking their act to the four-year level.  Eight of the nine members earned scholarships, with one more likely to drop after the fall semester.

Sprinter Tanner Terry set program records in both the 100-meters and 200-meters, and was part of the record-setting 4 x 400 relay team.  Terry will continue his career at Cal Poly Pomona, earning a scholarship with the Broncos.  Cal Poly Pomona is located in Pomona, California, and competes in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

Kansas State will be home to Cameron Savage, who set the program record in the pole vault this past season.  Savage will head to K-State, located in Manhattan, Kansas.  The Wildcats compete in the Big 12 conference.

Andrew Kokinakes will take his act to Chico State after finishing with the third best time ever in the 400-meter hurdles and being a part of the record-setting 4 x 400 relay team.   Chico State is located in Chico, California, and competes in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

Thrower Derek Vermillion had a solid two-year career, becoming the third best performer in Gaucho history in the hammer throw in 2011 after being the eighth best performer as a freshman in 2010.  Vermillion will stay local at Cal State Fullerton, who competes in the Big West Conference.

Throwing partner Dillon Bales finished his Gaucho career with top-10 performances in both the hammer (5th & 6th) and discus (9th), and will continue his career at South Dakota State University.  SDSU is located in Brookings, South Dakota, and the Jackrabbits compete in the Summit League.

Jeremy Johnson finished as the No. 9 best performer of all time in the decathlon, and will compete at the University of Saint Mary, in Leavenworth, Kansas.  The Spires recently added track & field for the 2012 season, and compete in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, under the umbrella of the NAIA. 

Edgar Vasquez had a solid two-year career for the Gauchos, finishing as the No. 5 performer of all time in the 400-meters in 2011.  Vasquez will head to the Concordia University, joining the Cavaliers’ program.  Concordia is located in Portland, Oregon, and competes in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, an NAIA affiliated conference.

Joining Vasquez at Concordia is Max Waters, who competed in both track & field and football for the Gauchos.  Waters competed in the throws events for the Gaucho program.

Men’s T&F finishes 8th at state

The men’s track & field team had a solid performance at the state meet on Friday and Saturday, finishing eighth in the state.  The Gauchos were led by Remy Conatser and Andrew Kokinakes, who both finished second in their respective events.

Saddleback was rated in the top-10 for most of the season, and didn’t disappoint when it mattered.  The Gauchos had six top-10 finishes, including five in the top-5

Conatser was considered one of the favorites heading into the hammer throw final on Friday and lived up to the hype.  His toss of 187’ 4.25” was good enough for second place…just 2.5 feet shy of his program record. 

Kokinakes had a stunning run in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 52.78, only .07-seconds off of his personal best time, considered the third best performer in program history.

Not to be outdone, the 4 x 400 relay team of Edgar Vazquez, James Poole, Kokinakes and Tanner Terry set a program record when it ran the relay in 3:14.76, finishing fifth in the state.  The time was .40-seconds better than the program record they set earlier in the season.

Another one of the favorites in the sprints was Terry, who has been running hot in recent weeks.  Terry started with a somewhat disappointing ninth place finish in the 100-meters with a time of 10.94 on Saturday, but bounced back with a great time of 21.50 in the 200-meters, to finish fourth in the state. 

Another athlete that left nothing in the tank was Vince Fusco in the 400-meter hurdles.  With teammate Kokinakes finishing second, Fusco ran the race in 54.01, good enough for a fourth place finish.

The eighth place finish was the second best finish of all time for the program, next to a seventh place finish in 2005.  The Gauchos had 30 points as a team, just five points out of fifth place.

5/14/11: Men’s T&F finishes fifth at SoCal Finals

The Saddleback men’s track & field team put on another solid display on Friday by finishing fifth at the Southern California Finals at Mt. San Antonio College.  Tanner Terry had two top-10 finishes as the Gauchos had a number of qualifiers for the state meet next week.

Terry finished fourth in the 100-meters (10.66) before lacing them up again to break his own school record in the 200-meters (21.09), in finishing second.  Terry wasn’t done there, as he ran the anchor leg for the 4 x 400 relay team (3:18.60), which finished sixth.

Other fine performances were turned in by Andrew Kokinakes (53.02) and Vince Fusco (53.52), who finished fourth and fifth respectively in the 400-meter hurdles.  Cameron Savage had a third place finish in the pole vault (16’ 6.75”) while Rory Mount finished seventh in the shot put (47’ 4.75”).  Remy Conatser was up to his old tricks, finishing second in the hammer throw with a toss of 182’ 10.75”.

Saddleback finished with 42 points on the afternoon, good enough for fifth place.

5/9/11: Terry sets two records as Gauchos head to SoCal Finals

Tanner Terry is red hot on the track and the Saddleback men’s track & field team is headed in the right direction headed into the Regional Finals on Friday.   Terry set program records in both the 100-meters and 200-meters at the preliminary meet on Friday as the Gauchos have the pieces in place to make a good showing in the finals.

Terry ran the 100-meters in 10.42 seconds, breaking the old record set by Adrian Spikes-Brown in 1994 (10.47).  He then went out and did the same in the 200-meters, finishing in 21.13, breaking the old hand-timed record set by Tony Fuller in 1979.  Terry’s time in the 100-meters is the fourth fastest time in the state this year and the 14th fastest time in the nation.  His 200-meter time ranks third in the state and 13th in the nation.

Terry won’t be alone this weekend as a number of other athletes have a good chance at making history in the SoCal Finals.  Pole vaulter Cameron Savage qualified for the finals by tying for first with a vault of 15’ 1” on Friday.  Savage already set the school record at 17’ 1” earlier in the season and his biggest vault of the season was the best vault in the entire nation.

Remy Conatser finished second in the prelims in the hammer throw with a toss of 179’ 9.25” but heads into the finals as the favorite.  He set the program record earlier in the season with a throw of 189’ 10”, which was the best throw of the season for the entire country. 

Vince Fusco has had a tremendous freshman season for the Gauchos and qualified on Friday in both the 110-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles.  Fusco’s time of 53.28 in the 400-hurdles on Friday was good enough for fourth at the prelims and was the fifth fastest time in the state this season.  He also finished in fifth in the 110-meter hurdles on Friday and his season-best time of 14.78 earlier in the season was the ninth fastest time in the state and the 12th best time in the nation.

Andrew Kokinakes has been one of the top athletes in the 400-meter hurdles all season long and cruised to a sixth place finish at the prelims on Friday.  His season-best time of 52.71 earlier in the season ranks No. 2 in California and eighth in the nation.

The 4 x 400 relay team of Edgar Vasquez, James Poole, Kokinakes and Terry put on another good show on Friday when it qualified for the finals with a time of 3:17.18, good enough for third place.  The season-best time of 3:15.16 is the fifth fastest time in the state this season and ranks 17th nationally. 

The Southern California Finals are scheduled to go off at 3:00 PM this Friday at Mt. San Antonio College.

5/1/11: Men’s track & field finishes strong at OEC Finals

The men’s track & field team had a lot of ground to make up if they were going to catch either Riverside or Orange Coast at the Orange Empire Conference finals on Friday at Riverside College.  The men performed brilliantly, but still finished third in taking home a number of individual honors.

The Gaucho men performed about as well as could be expected on Friday, finishing first in eight events, more than any other program in the conference.    Tanner Terry took home the impressive double-double in the 100-meters and 200-meters, with times of 10.55 and 21.21 respectively.  He then guided Saddleback to a win in the 4 x 400 meter relay, as the Gauchos turned in a time of 3:15.81, one of the fastest times in program history.

Vince Fusco continued to dominate in the 110-meter hurdles, winning the event with a time of 14.78 before finishing in second in the 400-meter hurdles to teammate Andrew Kokinakes, who won the event in 53.65.

Remy Conatser has been dominating the competition all season long in the hammer throw and once again manhandled the field on Friday, tossing the hammer 181’ 4”, more than 20 feet further than his nearest competitor.

Cameron Savage has been doing the same all season long in the pole vault, and comfortably won the event with a vault of 16’ 6” on Friday.  His nearest competition was over a foot shy of his vault in the OEC Finals.

The final winner of the day belonged to Dillon Bales, who had a solid toss of 146’ 11” in the discus throw, beating the nearest challenger by more than five feet.

Team Scores:
Riverside 346
Orange Coast 181
Saddleback 147
Golden West 48
Fullerton 42
Santiago Canyon 41

4/25/11: Men’s T&F third after prelims

The men’s track & field team competed at the Orange Empire Conference Preliminary Meet at Riverside College last Friday and sits in third place with the finals yet to come on this coming Friday.  The Gauchos are expected to make a run at Orange Coast for second place, as the short-distance and relay finals remain.

Saddleback has faired well in the running events in 2011 and with Tanner Terry, Vince Fusco and Andrew Kokinakes still yet to run this Friday, the Gauchos could make a late run at Orange Coast for second place in the Orange Empire Conference. 

Terry won the qualifier on Friday in both the 100-meters (10.69) and 200-meters (21.70) and has the ability to give Saddleback a big boost in the standings with two wins.  He also competes on both the relay teams, which are expected to battle with Riverside for the conference title.

Fusco has been consistent all season and won the 110-hurdles preliminary on Friday.  He had the second fastest time in the conference during the season behind Joshua Hemphill of Riverside, but defeated him on Friday in the qualifying round.  Max Waters finished third in the event on Friday, and with a solid performance in the finals could also give Saddleback a big boost in the conference standings. 

Kokinakes and Fusco finished 1-2 in the 200-meter hurdles on Friday and are the favorites to repeat that performance this Friday at the finals.   

In others finals in field events, Remy Conatser won the hammer throw (181’ 4”) and finished eighth in the javelin (149’ 2”).  Rory Mount also finished third in the shot put (45’ 7.25”).

The Gauchos will compete in the conference finals at Riverside this Friday at 10:00 AM. 

4/4/11: Program records fall at OCC meet

The Saddleback men’s track & field team has been competing at a high level all season long, and most around the program thought it was just a matter of time before a handful of program records were going to fall.  That all came to a head on Thursday at Orange Coast College when they tied or broke three schools records. 

Remy Conatser, Cameron Savage and the 4x400 relay team of Edgar Vazquez, James Poole, Andrew Kokinakes and Tanner Terry all wrote their names into the Saddleback record books after some stellar performances on Thursday.

Conatser broke his own record in the hammer throw with a toss of 182’ 4”, nearly 1.5-feet further than his throw in the opening meet of the season at Fullerton College on February 11.  He currently has the second best throw in the state next to Tucker Weathers from Modesto Junior College (182’ 8”). 

Savage continues to lead the state by over two inches in the pole vault after tying a school record with a vault of 17’ 1” on Thursday.  It was 4.25” better than his previous best jump of the season and tied the record of Nick Jennings, set in 2010.  The next closest competitor in the state is Kyle Ballew of Los Angeles Valley College, who vaulted 16’ 10.75” this past Saturday.

Vazquez, Poole, Kokinakes and Terry had been improving all season long but when tested against one of the best teams in the state on Saturday (Riverside), they came together to set the program record in the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:15.16.  The stellar time on Thursday shattered the old record of 3:15.67 set by Bo Rogers-Wright, Daivon Dumas, Mike Wessendorf and Brandon Howard set back in 2008.  The Gaucho foursome is currently rated No. 3 in the state behind Pasadena City College (3:13.40) and Riverside College (3:15.08). 

3/26/11: Track & field wins Prairie War at Cuyamaca

The Saddleback track & field teams won the sixth annual Prairie War against Cuyamaca College on Friday at Cuyamaca with a 206.5-143.5 win over the Coyotes.  The Gaucho men narrowly defeated Cuyamaca 93.5-87.5 while the women were dominant, beating the Coyotes 113-56.

Saddleback evened the annual event at three wins apiece on Friday on the strength of a dominating performance by the women.  The Gaucho women won 15-of-18 events as Michelle Wicker and Ashley Hatcher both won three individual events before helping both relay teams to wins.  Wicker won the 100-meter hurdles (15.40), 400-meter hurdles (1:07.47) and high jump (5’) before anchoring both the 4 x 100 (51.0) and 4 x 400 (4:31.96) relay teams to wins.  Hatcher captured first place in the 200-meters (26.95), long jump (16’ 8.25”) and triple jump (35’ 5.5”) before joining Wicker on both the relay teams.

Other winners on the day for the women’s team included Kaelyn Kaichi in the 100-meters (12.81), Chelsea Owens in the 800-meters (2:34.92), Evonna Ramirez in both the 1,500-meters (5:07.54) and 3,000-meters (10:53.51), Kelli Gibson in the pole vault (11’ 4”), Jerrilynn Stanwood in the discus (138’ 2.25”) and Elizabeth Tepe in the hammer (150’).

The men were challenged by Cuyamaca throughout the meet, but managed to win 10 times, dominating in the field events.  Remy Conatser won both the javelin (160’ 5”) and hammer (178’ 8.25”) while Dillon Bales won the discus (140’ 4.5”) and Rory Mount won the shot put (46’ 7”).  Vince Fusco joined Conatser as a two-time winner, taking home first place in both the 110-meter hurdles (15.53) and 400-meter hurdles (56.04).  Tanner Terry won the 200-meters (21.91) before helping the 4 x 100 relay team to a win (42.46).  Sam Grosso took home first place in the 3,000-meters (9:18.45) while Cameron Savage yet again dominated the competition in the pole vault (16’, 5”). 

The track & field teams will compete again on Friday when they travel to Orange Coast College to take on both Orange Coast and Riverside College.  Meet time is set for 12-noon.

3/17/11: Gaucho T&F is rolling and moving up in rankings

The Saddleback track & field teams are off to arguably their best start ever in 2011 and last week scored dominating wins over Golden West College and Santa Ana College.  The folks at gocollegetrack.com have the men now tied for third in the state rankings while the women have moved up to No. 8.

Previous to the 2011 season, both teams had never been ranked in the top-10 at one time and now both are not only ranked, but moving up.  The Saddleback men moved into a tie for third in the state rankings with American River College, behind only Mt. San Antonio College and Riverside College while the women moved up two spots to No. 8. 

The Gauchos showed off their stuff again last Friday at home when the men defeated Golden West College, 110-44, and the women score victories over both Golden West (90-64) and Santa Ana College (110-34). 

The men were completely dominant, winning 15-of-18 events and turning in some solid performances in the process.  They took home both first and second place in eight of the 16 non-relay events and took home the first three spots in four events. 

Tanner Terry completed the double-double by winning both the 100-meters (10.79) and 200-meters (21.64) before helping the 4 x 100 relay team to a win.  Sam Grosso had a similar fate in the 1,500-meters (4:17.32) and 3,000-meters (9:11.91), winning both events and shaving nearly 11 seconds off of his personal best in the 3,000.

Saddleback also had dominating performances in the hurdles races, as both Vince Fusco and Andrew Kokinakes turned in personal-best times.  Fusco became the seventh best performer of all time in the 110-hurdles with a time of 15.18 seconds while Kokinakes became the third best of all time in the 400-meters with a time of 53.28 seconds. 

As usual, the Gauchos were once again solid in throws events, winning all four contests.  Remy Conatser turned in a personal best when winning the discus with a toss of 143’ 9” while Jeremy Johnson won the javelin with a personal-best throw of 157’ 1”.  

The women won 12 of 18 total events against Golden West and Santa Ana, and had some personal best and record-setting performances. 

Elizabeth Tepe shattered her own record in the hammer throw with a toss of 162’ 2”.  She set the program record with a throw of 155’ 4” back on February 11 at Fullerton College and is nearly 25-feet better than any other athlete to come through the program.

Ashley Hatcher became the fifth best performer of all time in the long jump when she leaped 18’ 0.25” to win the event by over a foot.  She added nearly 14 inches to her personal best before helping the 4 x 100 relay team to another solid win. 

Michelle Wicker was up to her old tricks, winning three events on her own before helping both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay teams to wins.  Wicker set her personal best, becoming the fourth best performer of all time in the 100-meter hurdles (15.22).  She then won the 400-meter hurdles (1:09.49) and high jump (4’ 9”) before joining the relay teams. 

Kaelyn Kaichi was also a three-time winner on the day, winning both the 100-meters (12.80) and 200-meters (26.56) with respectable times before helping out in the 4 x 100 relay. 

Other winners on the day included Evonna Ramirez in both the 800-meters (2:35.59) and 1,500-meters (11:01.17) and Kelli Gibson in the pole vault (10’ 6”).

2/28/11: Men’s T&F wins again over Santiago Canyon

The Saddleback men’s track and field team racked up another win on Friday when it defeated Santiago Canyon College, 85-69.  The Gauchos won 11-of-18 events and had some solid individual performances along the way.

Sprinter Tanner Terry had an outstanding day, winning both the 100-meters and 200-meters, blowing away the field.  Terry’s time of 10.70 in the 100-meters put him as the No. 4 performer in the history of the program in that event, and his winning time of 21.44 seconds in the 200-meters shaved 0.23 seconds off his personal-best time, putting him at No. 2 all time in that event.

Another event the Gauchos completely dominated was the hammer throw, where Remy Conatser won the event with a throw of 180’ 11”, becoming the top performer of all time in the event.  Derek Vermillion finished second in the event with a throw of 146’ 11”, placing him at No. 4 all time.  Conatser would also pick up a win in the discus, with a throw of 143’ 2”.

Cameron Savage was once again a winner in the pole vault, jumping 16’ 4.75”, which was a season-best performance and ranks as the third best performer of all time in the event. 

In addition to the aforementioned wins, Saddleback picked up wins from Sam Grosso in both the 1,500-meters (4:17.73) and 3,000-meters (9:32.87), Vince Fusco in the 110-meter hurdles (15.38), Adam Digby in the 400-meter hurdles (57.69), Ty Poteet in the triple jump (39’ 7.75”), Rory Mount in the shot put (44’ 2.25”) and the 4 x 400 relay team of Fusco, James Poole, Andrew Kokinakes and Clinton Schooler.

Saddleback will compete again on Friday in Antelope Valley against Antelope Valley College, Bakersfield College and College of the Canyons. Meet time is set for 2:00 PM.

2/23/11: T&F teams both rated in the top-10

The latest state rankings came out by gocollegetrack.com and both the men and women’s teams cracked the top-10 list.  The Gaucho men came in at No. 4 in the latest computer rankings while the women came in at No. 10.

The two rankings are the highest either team has been ranked since the inception of the rankings in 2007 and it also marks the first time that both programs have been ranked at one time. 

The men have had some tremendous efforts thus far during the season and over the weekend received a handful more at the Cerritos Invitational on Friday and Saturday.  The Gauchos had 13 top-10 finishes at Cerritos, led by hammer thrower Remington Conatser.  The freshman from Capistrano Valley hammered the competition (no pun) with a throw of 175’ 3”, which was his second best throw of the season after setting the program record with a throw of 180’ 11” on February 11.

Cameron Savage was once again in rare form in the pole vault, finishing tied for first with a jump of 15’ 11.75”.   Second place finishers for Saddleback included Rory Mount in the shot put (45’ 9”), Andrew Kokinakes in the 400-meter hurdles (55.53) and the foursome of Kokinakes, Tanner Terry, James Poole and Edgar Vasquez in the 4 x 400 relay.  Terry also had a third place finish in the 200 meters with a time of 21.93 seconds, becoming the ninth best performer in program history.  Dillon Bales also recorded a third place finish with a throw of 143’ 10” in the discus. 

The women also had a number of benchmark performances as the Gauchos finished in the top-10 in 12 different events.  Saddleback finished in second place in three separate events, led by a season-best performance by Tawnya Turton in the hammer throw.  Turton’s toss of 137’ 3” put her as the second best performer all time in the history of the program behind teammate Elizabeth Tepe.  She was joined by Kelli Gibson in the pole vault (10’ 6”) and Christina Perez in the high jump (4’ 4”) with second place finishes while discus thrower Jerrilynn Stanwood was two inches off her personal best after finishing fourth (129’ 2”) over the weekend.  Michelle Wicker became the ninth best performer all time when she ran a 1:08.93 in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing fifth in the event.  She also became the fifth best 100-meter hurdles performer in the history of the program after finishing sixth in the 100-meter hurdles (15.70).  Chelsea Owens also had a top-5 performance for Saddleback, running the 1,500 meters in 5:00.55, becoming the ninth best performer in program history.

Saddleback will compete again this Friday at home when they host Santiago Canyon College in a duel meet. 

2/14/11: Hammer record falls and men’s T&F blasts Fullerton

The Saddleback men’s track & field team was impressive in its opening meet of the season on Friday, basting Fullerton College 106-48 to start the season on a high note.  Remington Conatser led the charge in the field competition, winning two events and setting a school record in the hammer throw.

Conatser (pictured) hurled the hammer 180’ 11”, bettering the school record of 180’ 2” set by AB Shaheen last season.  He then followed up that performance with a win in the javelin with a throw of 160’ 5.5”. 

The Gauchos ended up winning 13 events on the day, dominating all aspects of the meet.  Tanner Terry was impressive in the sprints, winning both the 200-meters (22.08) and 400-meters (50-flat).  Other first place winners in the running races included Edgar Vasquez in the 800-meters (1:59.66), Josh Eisenberg in the 3,000-meters (9:45.43), Vince Fusco in the 110-meter hurdles (15.73) and Andrew Kokinakes in the 400-meter hurdles (55.42).

In addition to Saddleback winning both the 4x100 and 4x400 relay races, they were dominating in the field events.  Along with the two wins by Conatser, Cameron Savage won the pole vault (4.9 meters), Rory Mount won the shot put (13.29 meters) and Dillon Bales won the discus (43.62 meters). 

The Gauchos will compete again this Friday and Saturday at the Cerritos Invitational.

2/1/11: Vaulters start hot in Reno

The opening event of the 2011 track & field season took place last weekend in Reno, Nevada, and the Saddleback contingent was well represented in the opening meet of the season.  Cameron Savage (left) had the top community college result of the weekend while Kelli Gibson finished first among the women.

Savage was looking to build on a great finish to the 2010 season when he finished fifth in the state meet at Victor Valley College last May.  He jumped 16’4.75”, which was the third best jump in program history and the top indoor mark of all time. 

Gibson’s jump of 10’9.75” was a personal best for the freshman from El Toro High School and the sixth best jump in the history of the women’s program.

In addition, freshman Peter Klepp (El Toro) had a great start to his college career, jumping 14’0”.

The rest of the track & field team will compete for the first time in 2011 at Fullerton College on February 11.

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