Vaqueros

One of the major strengths in recent seasons for the Glendale Community College men's tennis program was having a bona fide No. 1 singles player on board to solidify its lineup. Among those who have attacked the net and returned powerful backhand and forehand shots with excellence for the Vaqueros were Dylan Kim, Rony Yeghnazary and Alex Sarkissian. All competed in the state tournament, with Kim and Sarkissian each winning a championship. Now, Trevor Campbell will look to take his place in the pantheon of elite singles players for Glendale college, which opened its season Thursday with a nonconference road match against Fullerton College.

GLENDALE — Much like the program itself, the 2011 Glendale Community College men's golf team has become better and better as the season has progressed. It's a huge factor as to why the Vaqueros are set to make their inaugural appearance in the state championship, which will be held at 8 a.m. Monday at Kings Country Club in Hanford. "We have a good lineup and we have some experienced players," said Glendale college men's Coach Greg Osbourne, whose team finished second at the Southern California Regionals on Monday at Bermuda Dunes Country Club and will be one of eight squads competing for state prominence.

Something didn't look right to Eddie Lopez when last season concluded for the Glendale Community College men's cross-country squad. For the first time since 1996, the Vaqueros didn't win the Western State Conference championship. At first, that shocked Lopez, but the veteran coach eventually understood why. "You can't win all of the time," Lopez said. "It was just a matter of time when the [conference] streak would end, even though we were in contention until the last meet.

GLENDALE — Toshiteru Fujisaku had a performance that most No. 9 hitters would dream of having. Plate appearances have been hard to come by for the Glendale Community College baseball player throughout the season, but he hasn’t let it deter him from making the most of any opportunity handed to him by Coach Chris Cicuto. Fujisaku enjoyed his biggest moment of the season Thursday afternoon, as he hit a pair of three-run home runs and drove in seven runs to carry Glendale college to a 13-6 Western State Conference victory against rival College of the Canyons at Stengel Field.

He wanted overachievers, and found the perfect group. Glendale Community College women's cross-country Coach Eddie Lopez had to sound like a professional salesman for that to happen. Lopez sold the program's potential to nine freshmen. It took some time for Lopez to get the people he wanted, but now he's got an up-and-coming squad that will look to improve on last season's third-place finish in the Western State Conference. "When I recruit, I want overachievers who buy into our program," said Lopez, who received recruiting evaluations from assistant coach David Rodriguez.

GLENDALE — Glendale Community College baseball Coach Chris Cicuto used a trendy phrase after he nearly saw his team squander a six-run lead in the ninth inning. Cicuto looked at the new scoreboard in right field at Stengel Field after the Vaqueros posted an 11-9 victory against L.A. Mission College in a Western State Conference Southern Division contest Thursday afternoon. “A lot of crooked numbers up there,” Cicuto said. “That’s college baseball.

GLENDALE — To say the least, the Glendale Community College baseball team’s defense and pitching have fallen apart at the wrong time of the season. Those are the main reasons why the Vaqueros are quickly falling out of contention for a playoff spot. Glendale college had plenty of problems in the field and saw its pitching continue to struggle Thursday afternoon during a 10-2 home loss to College of the Canyons in a Western State Conference Southern Division contest at Stengel Field.

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan They're confident and they have something to prove. At least that's what Glendale Community College baseball Coach Chris Cicuto has to say about the 2004 Vaqueros. The confidence lies in the freshmen and sophomore returners, among them, starters Rene Gonzalez, A.J. Anthony, Matt Jordan, Scott Smith, Jon Conley and Bill Spottiswood. "They expect a lot from each other," said Cicuto, who, in his first year, is the third GCC coach in the past three seasons, succeeding Jon Strauss and Bob Myers.

GLENDALE — The Glendale Community College baseball team had a taste of what it was like to win last season. This season, the Vaqueros want to savor more of the same. Last season’s 23-21 record was the winningest mark thus far in Coach Chris Cicuto’s four-year tenure and was a shot in the arm for a program that won just nine games the year before. There’s still room for improvement, however, as the Vaqueros finished eight games below .500 in the Western State Conference and fell short of their playoff goal.

Believe it: The Glendale Community College women's volleyball team would like to become heavy hitters. It's a program that's struggled for many years, culminating in it being shut down in 2002 because the college's athletic department decided the team couldn't field a sufficient amount of players. Things have changed since. Granted, the Vaqueros haven't posted a winning record since the program resurrected. But, they appear to have followed through on their well-conceived plan to recruit from the local talent base.

 GLENDALE - Behind a solid pitching performance and timely hitting that complemented good base running, the Burbank 9-10 All-Stars set themselves up for a rematch against a team who looked to be their superior just two days prior. With the 12-2 win over Vaquero in the District 16 Tournament on Monday at Babe Herman Field, Burbank will again face an undefeated Crescenta Valley squad at 5 p.m. today at the same venue. "I'll be honest, it's going to be tough," said Burbank Coach Tony Castiglioni, whose team lost to Crescenta Valley, 19-2, on Sunday.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - From one end zone of Glendale Community College's Sartoris Field to the other, more than 30 participants were hard at work Tuesday morning. Not catching footballs, but instead catching fly balls, scooping up grounders and running bases during the inaugural Vaquero Baseball Youth Clinic. With nearby Stengel Field unavailable, the campers, hailing mostly from Glendale, La Crescenta, Burbank and Toluca Lake, soaked up pointers given to them by Glendale college baseball Coach Chris Cicuto and his assistants during the week-long event.

One of the major strengths in recent seasons for the Glendale Community College men's tennis program was having a bona fide No. 1 singles player on board to solidify its lineup. Among those who have attacked the net and returned powerful backhand and forehand shots with excellence for the Vaqueros were Dylan Kim, Rony Yeghnazary and Alex Sarkissian. All competed in the state tournament, with Kim and Sarkissian each winning a championship. Now, Trevor Campbell will look to take his place in the pantheon of elite singles players for Glendale college, which opened its season Thursday with a nonconference road match against Fullerton College.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - It wasn't an ideal season for the 15 sophomores on the Glendale Community College football team, but Saturday night provided an opportunity for the Vaqueros to end their playing careers as winners. To their coaches, they were winners on Saturday. But on the scoreboard, they weren't, despite a valiant effort in a heart-wrenching game. L.A. Southwest College made sure that it was the team that got to celebrate a win for its sophomores. The Cougars ruined the Vaqueros' sophomore night, defeating Glendale college, 56-50, in overtime in a Pacific Conference American Division game at Sartoris Field.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — The emotions of a trying, difficult and all-around tough season were apparent on Glendale Community College Coach John Rome's face. Minutes after the Vaqueros suffered a 47-41 loss to Santa Monica College on Saturday in a Pacific Conference American Division game at Sartoris Field, Rome was in tears when he talked about the determination of his team. "These are my sons," Rome said. "I believe that. I'm proud of these guys every day. They've never quit.

After coming achingly close to wins this season only to fall short, the best remedy for the Glendale Community College football team's season-long losing streak was to leave nothing to chance, and nothing to the fourth quarter. Bolstered by the return of injured quarterback Kevin Hunter and powered by one of the more prolific rushing attacks in the state, Glendale jumped all over host Santa Barbara City College early and never relented. Glendale's 38-17 Pacific Conference American Division victory Saturday night was its first win of any kind since a win over L.A. Southwest to close out the 2010 campaign and lifted an immense weight off the shoulders of coaches and players alike.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — It may be a bit if a stretch to conclude that the Glendale Community College football team's 35-13 Pacific Conference American Division loss to West Los Angeles at Sartoris Field Saturday night came down to a blocked first-half extra-point attempt, particularly considering the Vaqueros were outscored, 21-0, in the second half after trailing by one at the break. But if the missed point wasn't quite that which the game turned on, it was certainly a harbinger of misfortunes to come, as it turned out to be the first domino in a special teams collapse that also included two game-changing Wildcats kick returns and a missed field-goal attempt to end the first half, all of which factored heavily in the Vaqueros' seventh loss in as many games this season.

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — Five yards away from a potential game-tying touchdown, the Glendale Community College football team may have fumbled away its best chance of winning this season. A botched exchange between third-string quarterback Anthony Carter and running back Joe Wiggan at the five-yard line was recovered by Los Angeles Pierce College with a little over a minute left and preserved a Brahmas' 28-20 Pacific Conference American Division win Saturday night at Sartoris Field.

VALLEY GLEN — With no reliable passing option at quarterback, the Glendale Community College football team turned to its steady ground attack to try and mount a comeback against L.A. Valley College in its Pacific Conference American Division opener on Saturday night. With two long fourth-quarter drives consisting solely of running offense and ending in Timothy Broughton touchdowns, the Vaqueros gave themselves a chance to pull out a come-from-behind win, but when your entire arsenal consists of rushing plays, the clock becomes your enemy very quickly.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - Having played on nearly even terms with one of the elite teams in Southern California throughout most of the first half, things quickly unraveled in the third quarter for the Glendale Community College football team on Saturday night. It's a quarter that Glendale college Coach John Rome would just as soon forget after he saw the Vaqueros commit three turnovers that were all cashed into touchdowns. In the process, the Vaqueros also lost starting quarterback Kevin Hunter to an unknown injury following an interception in which he made a tackle and was lost for the remainder of the contest.