Women finish 11th at state
The Saddleback women's track & field team finished in 11th place on Saturday at the CCCAA State Track & Field Championships at College of San Mateo. It was the fourth highest finish in the 40-year history of the program.
Saddleback peaked at the right time, saving their best for last at the state finals. The Gauchos finished in the top six in five events, including setting a program record in the 800 meters.
Dana McGrath and Megan Good both set the new standard in the 800 meters, with McGrath edging Good at the finish line. McGrath finished second in the finals, crossing the finish line in 2:12.79. Good was right on her heels, finishing third in a time of 2:13.96. Good had set the program record at the Occidental College Distance Spring Carnival Meet in early March when she ran a 2:14.25, breaking a record set by Kathy Grayson in 1990.
Saddleback also had a fourth place finish in the 4 x 400 relay when they crossed the finish line in 4:01.07. The relay team of Rylee Kerr, McGrath, Good and Alycia Turner were running in wet conditions as a steady rain fell throughout the final day of the meet. The quartet had the second fastest time in program history last weekend at the Southern California Regional Finals when running a 3:58.87 in hot and dry conditions.
Kerr was not finished, finishing sixth in the 400 meters in a personal-best time of 58.09. It moved her up to third all-time in Saddleback history, just behind Celine Smith (58.05, 2016) and Kelly Phillips (56.51, 1997).
Another finishing on a hot streak was Amanda Amundson, who finished sixth in the pole vault. Amundson cleared 3.15 meters, which was just an eyelash off a personal-best of 3.18 meters at the OCC Classic earlier in the year.
Saddleback finished with 25 points as a team at the finals…just one point behind 10th place De Anza College and nine points out of sixth place. It was the fourth best finish in program history, trailing 1986 (5th), 2012 (6th) and 2018 (8th).