Liz Tepe, Track and Field, Saddleback College

Tepe finds her niche at Saddleback

If there ever was a feel-good story to tell, it is the one that has unfolded with Saddleback track & field star Elizabeth Tepe.  After barely graduating high school, Tepe now holds a piece of the American junior college record in the hammer throw while earning a 4.0 GPA in the classroom.

Tepe ‘s travels started in Parker, Colorado, where she was a below average student, barely earning a high school diploma from Ponderosa High School.  After working odd jobs for a while, she decided to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps.

“I left home when I was 16,” Tepe said.  “I worked about three jobs and had a terrible GPA, around 1.8 or 2.0.  I really didn’t have any other options and needed some changes in my life.”

Tepe then spent four years with the Marines’ Combat Logistics Regiment 15, where she met her husband. 

“I was never deployed, but I was in charge of training people for deployment,” Tepe said.  “My husband has been deployed three times and he will complete his eight years in December.  He plans on furthering his education.”

Tepe says the military taught her a different set of values from the ones she grew up with.

“In the Marines, you learn the value of discipline and hard work,” Tepe said.  “I decided to turn over a new leaf and get some discipline in my life.”

After her military service, Tepe enrolled at Saddleback with the idea of continuing her education and staying fit by joining the Gauchos track & field team.   She was convinced by the Saddleback coaching staff to try her hand at the hammer throw.  Fourteen months later, Tepe is among the nation’s elite in her craft both on the field and in the classroom.  She recently tied the American community college record in the hammer throw with a toss of 186’-7”, and has a 4.0 GPA in the classroom.  With this new-found talent, she has more doors that may soon be opening as a number of noteworthy NCAA Division-1 programs have been ringing her phone off the hook.

“Right now I am talking to USC and Georgia,” Tepe said.  “I already have an offer from Hawaii.”

For a young lady with no track and field experience in high school, she has made quite a mark for herself simply by getting involved and allowing her coaches to direct her toward her strengths.  From having limited options coming out of high school to having some truly exciting options presented to her while a student at Saddleback shows how hard she has worked and how far she has come.

“I feel so strongly about her as a student,” said Liberal Arts professor Michael Channing.  “She has been in two of my classes and I just admire her as the perfect example of a student-athlete.”

Tepe is currently studying biological anthropology and wants to pursue a four-year degree in evolutionary biology.