The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: women athletes

  • Cal Poly Humboldt alumni destroy women’s rugby team

    Cal Poly Humboldt alumni destroy women’s rugby team

    by Savana Robinson

    The Cal Poly Humboldt alumni dominated the 2023 women’s rugby alumni game on Sept. 30. Both teams played for the same university and put their all into the match. With an end score of 87 to 5, the alumni defeated Cal Poly Humboldt, whose team is mainly made up of newcomers, many who saw their first game on Saturday.

    Cal Poly Humboldt’s team captain Courtney Campuzano caught a couple of breakaways in the game, meaning took off with the ball, escaping players trying to tackle her. Campuzano is a senior majoring in social work. Campuzano was excited to see so many alumni back to play in the match, stating it felt awesome to see alumni happy to come out. She noted that some new players played the most they ever had. 

    Rachel Gonzales runs with the ball to score during the Cal Poly Humboldt Alumni game on Sept. 30.

    “I saw these rookies get stuck in,” Campuzano said. “One’s been here for maybe two weeks.”

    Saturday was Ashlyn Broeland’s first game as a player for Cal Poly Humbolt’s women’s rugby team. A junior majoring in environmental studies with an emphasis in education, Broeland is number nine on the team. Her position on the team is scrum half, which is an important role because it forms the link between the forwards and the backs.

    “I’m really excited for our new players to get out there,” Broeland said. “This is a really good chance for them to learn the game.”

    Cal Poly Humboldt’s cheer team came to support Broeland, their cheer captain, who has been on the team for three years.

    Sophia Nielsen played on the alumni side, having graduated in 2021 with a degree in wildlife.

    Senior Courtney Campuzano avoids being tackled with the ball by Rachel Gonzales during the Cal Poly Humboldt Alumni game on Sept. 30

    “[The most fun part was] being with my teammates I haven’t seen in over a year,” Nielsen said.

    Wynnie Savageford graduated in 2023 with a bachelor’s in criminology and justice studies.

    “[I like] the camaraderie of being around everybody and just being back in the pitch together,” Savageford said.

    Head coach Catalina Leon was most excited for the team to put together the skills they’ve been working on in an actual game. Leon stated that the biggest part of their strategy was communication and putting those fundamentals to work.

    “We were able to do that because we were able to get some breakaways and it worked,” Leon said. “It also showed us the areas that we still need to work on.”

    Leon said that overall the girls played well, especially considering that the majority of the girls joined this September.

    Lauren Bankerd, a junior majoring in kinesiology, scored the only try (goal) on Cal Poly Humboldt’s side. It was her third career goal, having previously played one semester.

    “[The most exciting part is] sprinting down the line, the adrenaline pumping because you don’t know if someone’s behind you or not, and you’re just gunning,” Bankerd said. “The crowd screaming and everything.”

  • Women in sports history

    Women in sports history

    Gertrude Ederle, swimming

    Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel in 1926 after just five men had completed the feat. The 19 year old finished the 35-mile swim through frigid waters in 14 and a half hours, which topped the men’s record by almost two hours. She also won a gold medal and two bronze medals at the 1924 Paris Olympics.

    Janet Guthrie, race car driving

    You’ve probably heard of NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, but do you know who Janet Guthrie is? In 1977, Guthrie became the first woman to earn a starting spot in both the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500. Her ninth place finish in the 1978 Indy 500 was the best performance by a woman until 2005.

    Billie Jean King, tennis

    King won a record 20 Wimbledon titles over her 18-year career. She scored a major victory for women when she battled her male counterpart, Bobby Riggs, in 1973 in a match deemed “Battle of the Sexes.” Riggs claimed that the women’s game was inferior to the men’s. King fought for equal prize money for women and became the first woman to win more than $100,000 for a match.

    Surya Bonaly, figure skating

    In the 1998 Nagano Olympics, French figure skater Surya Bonaly performed her signature backflip where she landed on one foot. In 1976, the International Skating Union banned the backflip, but she became the only person to complete the move at the Games in 1998. Bonaly went ahead with the flip after a poor start, but will go down in history for landing the only backflip in Olympic competition.

    Nancy Lieberman, basketball

    Lieberman was a baller. She became the first woman to play in a men’s professional basketball game as a member of the United States Basketball League in 1986. After a hall-of-fame WNBA career, Lieberman made her stamp on the men’s game once again in 2010 by becoming the first woman to coach a men’s professional team with the Texas Legends of the D-League, now known as the G-League.

    Ibtihaj Muhammad, fencing

    Muhammad became the first U.S. Olympian to compete in a hijab at the 2016 Rio Games. Her father said fencing was a sport that was uniquely accommodating to her religion, which requires her body to be fully covered. She helped the U.S. win bronze in saber fencing with a 45-30 rout of Italy.

    Serena Wiliams, tennis

    Williams has become a household name in the tennis world. She has dominated the court since she stepped onto the professional scene. Her total of 23 Grand Slam titles sets the record for the most Grand Slam wins by a singles player in the open era of tennis history. Williams has won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, all with her sister Venus. The pair are unbeaten in Grand Slam doubles finals. Serena’s record of 39 total Grand Slam titles puts her third on the all-time list, and second in the open era. She is highly regarded as the most dominant athlete of this millennium.