Gauchos finish 6th at SoCal Finals

Gauchos finish 6th at SoCal Finals

The Saddleback women's track & field team had a great finish at the Southern California Regional Finals on Saturday at San Diego Mesa College.  The Gauchos finished sixth in the southern half of the state heading into the state finals next week. 

Saddleback was led by a handful of athletes who finished on the podium in their respective events.  Two of them, Anna Gillis and Sara Fleming, will represent the Gauchos in multiple events. 

Gillis won the hammer throw last weekend on the opening day of the SoCal Finals (prelims) and followed it up by finishing third in the discus on Saturday.  Gillis had a toss of 42.02 meters on her second throw, which was just an eyelash out of second place and a few feet away from a personal-best. 

Fleming has become one of the more dominant middle-distance runners in program history over the past two months.  She qualified for the state meet in both the 800 meters and 1,500 meters on Saturday.  Fleming set a new personal-best in the 800 on Saturday, crossing the finish line in 2:16.29 to finish fourth overall.  She had already moved into second place on the Saddleback all-time list with a time of 2:16.60 at the OEC Championships two weeks ago and with the finish edged closer to the fastest time ever posted by Kathy Grayson in 1990 (2:14.20).  Fleming also qualified in the 1,500 meters with a personal-best time of 4:44.63, finishing second in the southern half of the state.  She already held the top time in Saddleback history when she ran a 4:43.68 back in 2015 during her freshman campaign.   In addition to track & field, Fleming (pictured) finished 17th this past fall at the state cross country finals.

Joining Fleming in the 800 meters is Megan Good, who finished sixth overall in a time of 2:17.74.  It was a personal-best for Good, who owns the fourth fastest time in program history behind Kathy Grayson (1990), Fleming (2018) and Margaret Pridgen (2002). 

Saddleback will compete next at the CCCAA State Track & Field meet starting this Friday in Bakersfield.