Gauchos not Grumbling after finishing third

The Saddleback men's track & field team finished third at the Orange Empire Conference Finals on Friday at Orange Coast College.  John Grumbling led the charge on Friday by winning in the hurdles.

Grumbling (pictured) had a personal-best in the finals, running the 400-meter hurdles in 55.41 to earn 10 points for the team.  He qualified second earlier in the day, but shaved a half second off his time in the finals.

Another stunner on Friday was the 4 x 400 Relay Team of Grumbling, Antonio Moralez, Nick Van Vliet and Josh Suri.  The foursome stunned the field to win the race in 3:19.79 to edge conference heavyweights Riverside City College by 0.15 seconds.  It was the first win in the conference finals by a Saddleback relay team in five years.

Ulysses Orozco continued his dominance in distance races by winning the 5,000 meters.  Orozco breezed to the win in 15:23.07, completing the double-double after winning the 10,000 meters last week.

Miles Brubacher was another that did well at the OEC Finals when he finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase last weekend.  Brubacher finished the course in 9:48.00 to qualify for the Southern California Finals.

In throws competition, Aria Sadeghi had a solid finish when he stood third on the podium in the hammer throw (48.99m).

Saddleback will compete again this week when they travel to Antelope Valley College for the Southern California Prelims on Saturday.