Kenny Cress / Sports Writer | Posted: Thursday, September 30, 2004 12:00 am
Alice Saucedo never has been one to back down from a challenge.
Now, she/s running against women less than half her age.
The 42-year-old mother of three has been the top runner in the Hancock College women/s cross country program most of this season. As of last week, she was one of just four Hancock women/s runners.
She says running against much younger women doesn/t faze her. "Running is running," she says. "I/ve always been running.
"Sometimes it does seem odd," to be competing against runners just out of high school, Saucedo says. "But it just makes me try harder. It/s something I want to do."
Hancock cross country coach Louie Quintana hits the local recruiting area hard, and he knows who many of the prominent local racers are. That/s how he was able to hook up with Saucedo.
"I knew she was running 5k/s," at the recreational level, says Quintana. "We saw her run the 1,500 meters at an open meet, the Easter Relays at Santa Barbara last spring, and I asked her then about coming out."
Saucedo has always jumped into competition. "I/ve always played basketball, I used to play city league softball, I/ve always been into sports," she says.
So when Quintana approached her about coming out for his cross country program, Saucedo figured, "Why not?"
Saucedo had never run for Quintana before, but the two have known each other for awhile. "I went to school with his younger sister Tina," at Righetti High School, Saucedo says. "She graduated a year behind me in school."
Quintana was a long-time coach at Righetti before he came to Hancock.
Saucedo showed well in her first meet, finishing among the upper half of runners at the Ventura Invitational. Then she was upset because "I had to miss the second meet 7 I had a foot injury."
She was planning on running in the team/s third meet of the season, the Golden West Invitational last Saturday. "I/m determined," she said before a workout last week.
Saucedo did run. She was Hancock/s second runner, behind freshman Alma Olmedo. Olmedo is a 2004 graduate of Santa Maria High School.
Saucedo is a veteran road racer, and she likes varied terrain. Thus, she took quickly to cross country.
"I like the trails. It/s almost like hiking, at a faster pace," she says. "I like that better than running in circles around a track."
Saucedo is taking 12 units at Hancock. "I have a couple of years left," before she gets her AA degree. "With the No Child Left Behind act, anyone who wants to (teach or be an assistant) has to have some kind of degree."
She is a teacher/s assistant at Mary Buren School in Guadalupe. Saucedo works with a fourth grade class.
She enjoys the class she works with but, "If I do go into teaching, I think I/d like to teach children a little younger, probably second grade. I think that would be a fun thing to do."
After her school days or classes are through, Saucedo hustles over to the Hancock cross country workout area.
On a Tuesday for example, "It/s hectic getting over here, from school and everything," she says. "But once I start running, it/s actually relaxing."
Her children, 19-year-old Samuel 7 "He goes to Hancock too," Saucedo says with a chuckle 7 17-year-old Jason and 13-year-old Sara live with their father. But, "I/m still part of their lives," says Saucedo.
"I call every day. I see them on weekends, we go to movies."
Jason is a senior at Righetti. Sara is a student at McKenzie Junior High School in Guadalupe. "I/m the only runner in the family," says Saucedo.
Now Quintana figures, if he could get just get more women like Saucedo out for the team. Come to think of it, he would simply like more women runners, period.
Kelli Wolfe was Hancock/s best women/s runner as a freshman last season. She/s red-shirting this cross country season because of a knee injury she suffered during track last spring.
"We have four women now, and we should get a fifth soon," Quintana said after a workout last week concluded.
He chuckled. "Spots are always open. We need more women (in the program), period."
Sports writer Kenny Cress can be reached at 739-2237 or by e-mail at kcress@pulitzer.net
September 30, 2004