Saddleback surpasses $2.3-million in scholarships

The Saddleback athletics department just finished up a sensational year of competition, finishing 6^th out of 110 community colleges in California in the Daktronics Cup.  The rewards are also rolling in as athletes have now surpassed approximately $2.3-million in scholarships for the year, with more to come.

Close to 45 athletes have already committed to four-year universities from Saddleback this season, with a handful more expected by the end of the summer.  The monetary number is expected to increase to more than $2.5-million by the end of the summer, which would be the highest number since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fifth largest number since the department started keeping track in 2011-12.

Saddleback is led by football, which has had 21 players commit to four-year schools.  The department also received a big boost from women's soccer, who had six players sign letters of intent after winning the state title in November.  A number of other programs like baseball and volleyball have had increased numbers in the past month since finishing up competition.  Success in water polo, track & field and golf also proved to provide scholarship opportunities.

Another part of the equation is academics, and Saddleback had 17 of the 19 programs on campus this past year exceed a cumulative 3.0 GPA.  The combination of success on the field of play and hard work in the classroom has proven to be a successful formula.

"It's been a fantastic year for Saddleback College athletics," Dean of Kinesiology and Athletics Dan Clauss said.  "The coaches and staff have persevered and worked hard to build programs through COVID-19.  The hard work is paying off."

Saddleback's largest year for scholarship rewards was in 2019-20 when the athletes earned just over $3-million in athletic scholarships.