The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Field

  • Hum-built; Track is back at Green and Gold Invitational

    Hum-built; Track is back at Green and Gold Invitational

    By Alex Anderson

    The heavy rain that poured on the Redwood Bowl exposed the gritty nature of Cal Poly Humboldt’s track & field athletes at the Green and Gold Invitational, a celebration of competition, recognition, and tradition. 

    “We get used to doing things the hard way and having a good attitude about it,” said Sarah Ingram, head track coach. “I think that that’s something that’s been really sort of contagious throughout our program and forever, you know, our alumni are sturdy. It’s the same with our freshmen … they learn it pretty quickly. It’s a gritty bunch.” 

    The event on Feb. 17 represented the start of the track & field outdoor season and allowed the athletes to come together, share some fun and break into the competition mindset. Track & field alumni were recognized for their achievements and contributions to the program as part of the day’s festivities. 

    Cal Poly Humboldt’s CCAA champion Joy Hano mid hurdle at Green & Gold Invitational.
    Cal Poly Humboldt’s Walker Dorris hurdling down the track at the Green & Gold Invitational on Feb. 17.

    Coach Ingram saw the Invitational as a “rust-buster” for her athletes, a re-entry into the race season. Ingram’s main goal for the event was for the athletes to enjoy themselves and stay healthy. 

    “Biggest goal of today, especially with the weather that we have, is having some fun getting exposure to the sport again,” Ingram said. “Being outside, getting exposed to that and dealing with it and staying healthy.”  

    In typical Humboldt fashion, poor weather conditions set the tone for the event, as HSU track & field alumnus and current assistant coach Kate Eilers explained what makes Humboldt’s program special. Serving as the event’s main alumni honoree after her recent induction into Cal Poly Humboldt’s Hall of Fame, Eilers believes that the program is set apart from the rest. 

    “There’s a lot of schools that will just recruit runners, and they’re either good or they’re not good, and they’re just seen as points on the board,” Eilers said. “Our Jack’s family builds athletes. We’re ‘Hum-built’ across the board in every sport, and I don’t think that’s typical in the college environment. We bring in athletes, we give people chances, we bring them into the family and we encourage their growth as a human being not, just as an athlete. You have to be the person capable of achieving your goals before you can achieve those goals. That takes a lot of character development beyond just the physical aspect of competing… Humboldt cares.”

    Humboldt is indeed a special place for athletes, including pole vaulter Justin Vigna, who attributes Humboldt’s beauty and tight knit community to the program’s uniqueness.  

    “It’s a little bit smaller of a team, so everybody can talk to each other,” Vigna said. “I see these people all the time, every day. We get to know each other and it’s really like a family.” 

    The meet ended with a fun tradition, the infamous redwood log relay, where teams of about 5 athletes grab logs from the surrounding forest and race with them in hand. This year, one team brought up the rear, slowly making their way around the track with one of the biggest stumps out of all the teams. Dead last, the entire track & field team went back and ran alongside the last straggler, cheering him on all the way to the finish line, shirtless in the pouring rain. That’s Humboldt track & field. 

    Cal Poly Humboldt’s Daniel Gober digging deep to carry the log across the finish line during track & fields famous redwood log relay.
  • Jacks Pass

    Jacks Pass

    By | Keaundrey Clark

    Softball – After five consecutive weeks in the number one spot, Humboldt State softball dropped to No. 4 in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll.

    The Lumberjacks are 21-4 overall and 14-4 in CCCAA play after dropping three out of four games at Cal State San Bernardino this past weekend.

    HSU has a bye this week before it resumes play at the Tournament of Champions in Turlock, Calif., March 31 when they take on Hawaii Pacific. The Jacks have yet to play a home game at their softball field due to bad conditions.

    Rowing – Humboldt State rowing had a very successful showing in Saturday’s Blue Heron Regatta. The Blue Heron Regatta featured HSU, Cal Maritime, Chico State and Mills College.

    The Lumberjacks got off to a great start, when their A and B teams took home first and second place in the Women’s Varsity Eight. HSU’s A team finished with a time of 7:05, while the B team completed the race right behind them with a time of 07:11.7.

    HSU saw the same results in the Novice Four when its A and B teams took home first and second place, respectively, with times of 7:39.5 and 7:58.8.

    The Jacks are back in action next weekend when they travel south to participate in the San Diego Crew Classic.

    Track and Field – Humboldt State senior Alyssabeth DeJerez was named the California Collegiate Athletic Association Female Track Athlete of the Week two weeks in a row after record-breaking performances the last 3 weeks.

    The senior earned an automatic qualifying mark when she finished first in the 400m hurdles on Saturday. Her performance resulted in a career best time of 58.84, strengthening her number one ranking in the all-time program record book.

    DeJerez was named Athlete of the Week for the first time this season on March 7 after earning a provisional qualifying mark with a 54.96 finish in 400m dash at the Kim Duyst Invitational.

    Earlier this season teammate  Ariel Oliver was named Athlete of the Week Oliver snagged victories in the shot put and discus at the Chico State-hosted Wildcat Invitational earlier in the year.

    Her distances of 14.17m (shot put) and 46.33m (discus) were both provisional qualifiers for the 2017 NCAA Track and Field Championships.

    Oliver leads the nation in the shot put and ranks third in the discus.

  • Women’s sports working hard through Springbreak

    Women’s sports working hard through Springbreak

    By Curran Daly

    While school stopped for students over the past week, not everyone was given a break. A few of HSU women’s sports teams had a busy week.

    Women’s track and field competed at the Hornet Invite in Sacramento. With multiple standout performances.

    Most notable was track athlete, Alyssabeth DeJerez. DeJerez ran the 400m hurdles in 58.84 seconds. Her time automatically qualified her for nationals and improved on the Humboldt State record that she already held in the event. DeJerez was named CCAA student athlete of the week.

    This was not Dejerez’s first great performance of the season. Earlier in the season DeJerez was also named the CCAA Female Track Athlete of the Week for her performance at the Kim Duyst Invitational at Stanislaus State.

    “I got to Humboldt with this determination to make a name for myself,” DeJerez said. “I kinda sacrificed a lot. I don’t go out on the weekends, I build my diet around how I want to perform, I have to prep my body and roll out.”

    Humboldt State Women’s track and field team is ranked number two in the country. Coach Scott Pesch believes it is his runner’s hard work and his fellow coaches that have helped the women’s program reach its number two ranking.

    “I gotta thank my coaches,” Pesch said. “I can’t do this alone that’s for sure.”

    Women’s track is not the only nationally ranked women’s team on Humboldt’s campus. The Humboldt women’s softball team has been ranked number one in the nation in recent weeks and the Humboldt Women’s Rowing team opened the season ranked fourth in their pre-season poll.

    Women’s rowing had a very busy spring break competing in Sacramento, Davis, and then spending the rest of the break in Newport Beach training before racing in the Berg Cup this past Saturday. Overall, the women’s team spent nine days on the road a busier spring break then they are used too.

    “We’ve never trained the entire week of spring break, so this was kinda a new adventure,” Coach Robin Meiggs said. “We raced some of our big division one rivals.”

    Those rivals include UC San Diego, UC Irvine, Long Beach State and Sacramento state.

    The break was an opportunity to get away from cold early morning practices. The team was able to enjoy practices that started at 9 a.m. and enjoyed weather about 15 degrees warmer than their used to.

    On March 25. the women’s rowing team will be participating in the Blue Heron Redwood Sprints Regatta in Eureka. The meet will start at 7:45 a.m. and will end around 10:30 a.m.