Glendale Community College

After she stepped on to the all-weather track Saturday, Grace Zamudio realized the weather conditions would be conducive while looking to further elevate her decorated racing career. There was less wind and more heat around Antelope Valley College for the Southern California Championships, paving the way for the Glendale Community College women's track and field star to gobble up some more individual accolades while also looking to punch her ticket to the California Community College Track and Field Championships.

For the third season in a row, the Glendale Community College baseball team won the Western State Conference South Division and for the third straight season will try to equate that to postseason success. GCC (25-11), seeded seventh, will host Grossmont (26-10) in the best-of-three California Community College Athletic Assn. baseball regionals first round. The series opener is Friday at 1 p.m. with the second game set for Saturday at 11 a.m. If a third game is necessary, it will take place on Saturday, 30 minutes after the second game's conclusion.

Hundreds of students at Glendale Community College graduated Friday, leaving behind a campus struggling to accommodate future generations while facing an uncertain future themselves. In the face of a lackluster job market, many students are choosing to stay within the college sphere, transferring to four-year institutions. But even those campuses are starting to tighten the flow of incoming students as they deal with their own budget woes. During the last 18 months, cost-cutting measures at Glendale Community College have included the reduction of summer session, the elimination of winter session, pay reductions for the management, faculty and classified employee bargaining units, and early-retirement incentives for faculty members.

Glendale Latino Assn. will have its annual installation and awards luncheon beginning at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 28 at Oakmont Country Club. Nancy Guillen is taking a second term as president of this 16-year-old organization that raises funds for scholarships for Glendale students of Hispanic heritage who are seniors attending public or private high schools and Glendale and Burbank students transferring to four-year universities from Glendale Community College....

MEN'S TENNIS Glendale Community College 6, Amherst College 3: The host Vaqueros (8-5) picked up a nonleague victory Friday. Glendale got singles wins from Andrew You (2-6, 6-3, 10-6), Gaspar Macalutas (7-6(7-3), 6-3), Dat Le (3-6, 6-4, 10-8), Son Tran (7-6 (11-9), 6-2) and Stephen Joharry (7-5, 6-0). You and Lee combined for an 8-6 doubles win. COLLEGE BASEBALL Glendale Community College 9, L.A. Valley College 5: Chris Whitmer hit a two-run home run to lead the visiting Vaqueros on Friday in a Western State Conference South Division contest.

Members of Glendale fire, police and college police have been training since the morning in an active shooter scenario, which Lt. Brian Cohen said was planned months ago. The mock scenario is that of a shooter who has taken a teacher hostage and has shot several students in two classrooms, Cohen said.  Police then clear and secure the classrooms while crisis negotiators talk to the mock shooter. The second scenario, he said, would include a man who has taken someone hostage and is threatening to jump off a building.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - Four games into the season, the Glendale Community College football team had alternated winning and then losing games to come into Saturday night's American Division Pacific Conference contest against visiting Santa Monica College at .500. The Vaqueros dropped their league opener last week, so it appeared it was time for another victory even though their latest opponent was the reigning conference champion that had not lost a game in Pacific play since 2010. The contest turned out to be so close.

If anyone worried James Ellroy might dumb down the salty language laced throughout his crime novels for an appearance at Glendale Community College this week, they wouldn't have been disappointed. Within 90 seconds of taking the stage, the author of "L.A. Confidential" and "The Black Dahlia" had referenced sex, drugs and physical anatomy, a warm-up for the searing commentary on liberals and hipsters that was to follow. It was a refreshingly unabashed articulation of a unique worldview that has produced one of the most distinctive voices on the local literary scene.

In beginning her quest Friday to win a triple crown at the California Community College Track and Field Championships, Grace Zamudio didn't change her racing strategy. With a light breeze blowing, the Glendale Community College women's distance runner broke past the starting line in the 10,000-meter event and paced herself before breaking away from the pack in the final mile. Zamudio cleared the first hurdle in her quest to win three state championships, as she clocked 37 minutes:22.19 seconds to win the event at College of San Mateo and earn her first state title in track and field.

Looking to jump start his career, Angel Rodriguez left Cal State Northridge for an opportunity to join the Glendale Community College baseball team. Rodriguez, who spent last season as a redshirt at CSUN, sought the chance to receive more individual attention while looking to improve his overall pitching skills. Turns out things worked fine for Rodriguez, who helped the Vaqueros win their third Western State Conference South Division championship in a row and was tabbed the division's pitcher of the year.

Having already captured three Western State Conference and Southern California championships, Grace Zamudio would next like to make a name for herself statewide. The Glendale Community College standout distance runner will seek to complete the task when she takes to the track Friday and Saturday at the California Community College Athletic Assn. Track and Field State Championships at College of San Mateo. The sophomore will look to close out her fabulous career at Glendale by attempting to win the 10,000-meter race Friday and the 5,000 and 1,500 on Saturday.

After building up the Glendale Community College men's and women's teams and leading each to appearances in the California Community College Athletic Assn. Golf Championship, Greg Osbourne resigned his post as coach to become Cal State Bakersfield's director of golf. Osbourne recently accepted the position with Bakersfield and will replace the retiring Dave Barber, effective June 6. He will coach both programs at Bakersfield, which will be joining the Western Athletic Conference next season.

Family Promise is having its third annual Empty Bowl fundraiser on June 2 with proceeds going to provide safe shelter, meals and support for homeless families. Guests are welcome from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church of Glendale, 134 N. Kenwood St., Glendale. The event brings together independent potters, arts associations and other community groups to donate their handcrafted ceramic bowls. Guests who purchase adult tickets will receive one-of-a-kind bowls that will be used to serve a simple meal of soup with bread and a dessert donated by area restaurants.

This post has been corrected. See below for details.  Glendale Community College officials on Friday announced that roughly 100 empty positions that have remained unfilled now for three years will remain so for another. Officials at the meeting on Friday did not go into details on how much spending will need to be cut from the 2013-14 budget plan - that will come later this month - but holding the vacancies over for another year is a clear indication that the college is still in belt-tightening mode.

SANTA ANA - Good-bye hugs were exchanged in right field before a few tears and plenty of beads of sweat were wiped away by many of the members of the Glendale Community College baseball team. It came shortly after the Vaqueros saw their season wrap up Saturday with a 4-3 defeat against El Camino Compton in an elimination contest of the Southern California Fullerton Super Regional at Santa Ana College. “It's a special group of guys,” said Glendale college Coach Chris Cicuto, whose team finished 27-13.

The budget ax recently fell on the Glendale Community College's award-winning cheer program, deflating even the peppiest of its members. Bert Ring imagines what the local City Council might do to make things right.  -- Dan Evans, Times Community News Follow Dan Evans on Twitter: @EditorDanEvans .  

If anyone worried James Ellroy might dumb down the salty language laced throughout his crime novels for an appearance at Glendale Community College this week, they wouldn't have been disappointed. Within 90 seconds of taking the stage, the author of "L.A. Confidential" and "The Black Dahlia" had referenced sex, drugs and physical anatomy, a warm-up for the searing commentary on liberals and hipsters that was to follow. It was a refreshingly unabashed articulation of a unique worldview that has produced one of the most distinctive voices on the local literary scene.