By Ariana Wilson
The 2024-2025 school year has begun, and so have the fall seasons for our newest athletic teams on campus. Although this is the third season for women’s triathlon, this season follows the last collegiate races for the inaugural Triathlon team at Cal Poly Humboldt. This winter, mens wrestling laces up their shoes again for the first time since the early 1990s.
Graduate student Farrah Tyler qualified in 2022 for the Western Regionals in Springfield, Missouri as the first member of the Humboldt Women’s Triathlon team to compete at the USA Triathlon (USAT) championship. There are currently only 40 schools nationwide with National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Women’s Triathlon teams, and Cal Poly Humboldt is the last school added under an agreement set by NCAA and USAT. There is not currently an NCAA tournament for Women’s Triathlon, but they are emerging as an NCAA championship sport.
“Kinsey helped me to manage this and trust my training, which led to my result qualifying the team for Nationals,” Tyler said. “To control the variables and feel prepared to meet the challenges or uncertainties of a race as they occur is integral to racing competitively.”
Women’s Triathlon Coach Kinsey Mattison is a triathlete as well. In 2018 and 2019, Mattison raced professionally, finishing in the top 5 at five Half Ironman races and a win in Xi’an, China. She is from the Pacific Northwest, so being in Arcata is like an extension of her roots in Bend, Oregon. Her love of the landscape translates into her coaching and her athletes.
“I hope the love of interacting with our environment through running in the community forest, cycling through the redwoods, and swimming in the lagoons carries through the program.” Tyler said. “It is a special opportunity to have a team in this nook of the North Coast.”
Junior and environmental science and management major Aydee Aredondo hails from a running and swimming background, so the transition to Triathlon was almost a no-brainer. The team competes in what is known as sprint triathlons, consisting of a 750 meter swim, a 12 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile run. Over the summer, Aredondo competed in a triathlon in Long Beach that the 2028 Summer Olympic Triathlon course will follow.
Aredondo is prepared to push her limits this season while having fun and enjoying her sport. One of her main goals this season is to make progress in the bike portion of her race and to remember the little things.
“I want to stay connected with the people I’ve met along the way,” Aredondo said. “They’ve made a big impact and a big difference.”
Abdurrahman Garner, a junior transfer from Sacramento City College, is optimistic about the wrestling season ahead.
“This year as a new program is an opportunity for us to set the tone for years to come,” Garner said.
Mens wrestling returns to Humboldt as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, representing new beginnings for both Garner and the legacy of the sport at our school.
“The community has had their arms out for us and people in the community want us to succeed and want to support Cal Poly Humboldt,” Garner said. “It’s about the little things, how we prepare and the mindset we have. Our coaches go over the little details over and over so we can be technically sound.”
Liam Clark, a transfer from Palomar College, is invested in the Cal Poly Humboldt wrestling program. After seeing the newest addition to the coaching staff, Lennie Zalesky, he knew where he would end up next. With 10 men on the team, there is opportunity for more personal coaching and growth. Clark and Garner have seen this first hand as their preseason and practices have begun.
“I have treated every word they say as scripture, it’s important to buy into a coach’s plan for you,” Clark said. “We don’t want to be 10 guys who are just good at wrestling, we want to be a room of dawgs and hammers who are rooting for each other and shooting for the same goal.”
Zalesky has an impressive resume, reviving the team after a 30 year hiatus with 21 years of head coaching experience. As an athlete at Iowa University, Zalesky was a three-time All-American and three-time Big Ten champion, leading Iowa to four straight NCAA team championships. In 2022, he was awarded the Lifetime of Service Award in Wrestling for the state of California after coaching nine years at UC Davis and eleven years at California Baptist University, and winning Pacific-10 Coach of the Year in 2007, Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2016, and NCAA DII Coach of the Year in 2017.
“The individual attention the coaches give each of us, with a room of 27 people, is amazing,” Clark said. “As a team, we are trying to build cohesion and a culture of hard work, no excuses, dominant style, and relentlessness. I want to restart the tradition of winning and dominance.”
Their season begins on Nov. 1 and goes through the first weekend of November, where the team will face Menlo College in Atherton and several other duels at the Menlo Invite.
Humboldt Wrestling’s lone home match is on Jan. 10 at Lumberjack Arena against Simpson University.
Women’s Triathlon does not have any home events, but they have two in-state races coming up: Santa Cruz on Sept. 22 and Berkeley on Oct. 27.
Ariana Wilson is a junior journalism major and the Lumberjack Sports Editor. As a member of the Cal Poly Humboldt Women’s Volleyball team she brings an athletes perspective to our rising sports section. She intends to merge her passion for the environment and conservation with her love of journalism as a science writer.