The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Hurdles

  • Cross Country National Championship

    Cross Country National Championship

    By | Keaundrey Clark

    On the track’s first 400 meters, she gets her foot stepped on. She looked down and felt her shoe was coming off. Moments later kicks her shoe off. There was no turning back at that point.

    This is how Junior Tatiana Gillick’s afternoon was spent during the NCAA Cross Country National Championships. Gillick who faced a number of hurdles and obstacles throughout the season, had to face one more, but she didn’t let that stop her.

    Just moments into the National Championships another runner stepped on Gillick’s shoe and pulled it loose. Gillick kept running as the shoe came off halfway through the first turn, she left it on the course and continued the run.

    “Having the fortitude and resilience during the season helped her.” said Cross Country Head Coach Jamie Harris. The toughness and resilience she showed this year was one of the reasons she helped HSU Women’s Cross Country be one of the best in Division Two this season.

    Gillick started the season in adverse fashion as she started the season in a boot, suffered a shoulder injury during the season, she also fell during the California Collegiate Athletic Association championship meet.

    “She was a unique challenge as a coach because she started the season injured,” said Harris.

    Gillick was brought back slowly from injury this year, gradually getting race ready. It took her a few races to get back to the level she displayed last season. She had multiple top 10 finishes this season.

    Saturday wasn’t what Gillick was hoping for, but the Junior All-American looks poised to return next season. For her and her teammates she gained expiernces that will her HSU Cross Country next year.

    “Don’t let the huge crowds psyche you out,”said Gillick. “You have a chance just like everyone else. Everyone who’s get to nationals, at that point you have the power to get an All-American spot.”

    The junior will try for All-American honors next season. HSU Women’s Cross Country hasn’t had a runner receive All-American honors since Bridget Berg in 2011.

    “The silver lining is that Tatiana’s a junior, and has next year to aim for the coveted All-American,” said Head Coach Sarah Ingram. “It’s been a valuable experience for her, and the goal for next year is to get the whole team out here.”

    Despite completing the 6k race with just one shoe, Gillick crossed the finish line in 22:17.7, good enough for a 79th place out of 247 runners.

  • LumberJack Elite

    LumberJack Elite

    By Andre Hascall

    There are many noteworthy student athletes at Humboldt State University. This week we highlight track star and future graduate student, Alyssabeth DeJerez. A fourth year Psychology Major on her way to graduate from Humboldt State, and continue her education in Human Development at Sacramento State.

    DeJerez went to Bonita Vista High School, in San Diego. “In High School I wasn’t really good at track,” DeJerez said. “It quickly became my passion.” Unable to go to a Division 1 school for track, she decided to come to Division 2 HSU. In 2014, DeJerez’s second year at Humboldt, she ended the season being eighth overall in the 400 meter hurdles. Accomplishing this just a year after her promise to Humboldt coaches.

    “I had the opportunity to transfer my sophomore year,” DeJerez said. “Now way. I’m not going to leave the school that believed in me.” Paying back the school and the team that put faith into her by going back to back First overall in the 400 meter and 400 meter hurdles in 2015 and 2016. Alongside being first place two years in a row, DeJerez broke records for the Humboldt State Women’s Track. In the the 400 meter hurdles she is, All-Time Top #1 with a time of  59.23 seconds, All-Time Top #1 in the 400 meter at 54.5 seconds, and All-Time Top #2 in the 200 meter with 34.94 seconds.

     

    Juggling between sports and studies will always be a difficult task. DeJerez even considered taking a year off from school at one point. But the professors in the Psychology department wanted her to stay on her path. “ They said i had the potential to go to grad school, and walked me through every step of the way,” DeJerez said. “I wouldn’t be leaving in the Fall if it weren’t for them.”
    DeJerez works multiple jobs as well, helping with students in Eureka who have behavioral issues, and in the Research Labs in the Psychology Department. Having a full schedule not only would make you tired, but it doesn’t leave much room for social life other than at practice. “I pretty much don’t sleep very much,” DeJerez said. “But if I didn’t have my team it’d be worse.