Humboldt heads to Wildcat Invitational
’Jacks head to Chico for 2nd meet
Coming off a solid opening to the season last week in Turlock that saw 18 qualifying marks for the conference championship meet, the Lumberjacks will try to build on that success this weekend as they battle opponents as well as the elements in Chico.
Some of Humboldt’s track athletes got their first taste of Chico two weeks ago at an event for heptathletes that saw the Lumberjacks take second and third place. Now, the entire team will be making the trip to Central California to compete at University Stadium.
The event actually got started on Friday with the men’s and women’s hammer throw, but all other events will take place on Saturday. The full meet will start at 10 a.m. on Saturday with the javelin throw and other field events, track events will begin at 11 a.m. with the 100-meter hurdles.
Those early events will feature Humboldt top performer Joy Hano. The junior took first place in last week’s 100-meter hurdle event at the Kim Duyst invitational. Fellow hurdler Isabel PerezZoghbi will also try to lead the pack after winning the 400-meter hurdles last week. The freshman’s astounding performance in her first career meet was the third-best time in school history and was a provisional national qualifying mark. Those two will be among the Lumberjacks’ trying to build on their early success in pursuit of a conference championship and a spot in the nationals.
Rowing season opener canceled by weather
The Humboldt women’s rowing team was scheduled to begin their season with a pair of events this weekend hosted by Sacramento State and UC Davis, but both have been canceled due to the inclement weather and excessive rain.
In a statement announcing the cancellation, Sacramento State said that because of recent storms, there is an increasing amount of water being released from Folsom Dam, which goes through Lake Natoma and the Hornets’ race course. At 20,000 CFS (cubic feet per second), the lake is closed to all boating traffic. The lake is scheduled to be at 30,000 CFS by Friday.
Sacramento State also canceled its Hornet Invitational track meet for the following week, but did not release a statement explaining the reason for that decision.
For the Lumberjacks’ rowing team, it means another week for their longawaited season opener. Head coach Matt Weise had explained some of the thinking heading into the regatta on Tuesday, prior to the meet being canceled.
“The racing season is very short,” said Weise. “They only get maybe 12 cracks at the racecourse all year, and we train 12 months out of the year for 12 opportunities.”
Unfortunately, they lost two of those opportunities this weekend. But they’ll now look ahead to the Husky Open in Seattle in two weeks, which presents an opportunity for the ‘Jacks to test themselves against the best programs in the West.
“There’s not very many schools on the West Coast,” said Weise. “So we race anybody, anytime, wherever we can go.”
The team will also be hosting its own Humboldt Regatta on April 1.
Date set for Humboldt’s dinner, auction
Cal Poly Humboldt announced the details of the 37th annual Celebrity Dinner & Sports Auction. The event will take place on April 15 at the Sapphire Palace at Blue Lake Casino.
The event helps raise money for athletic scholarships for various programs at Humboldt. Former MLB pitcher Jeremy Affeldt, three-time World Series Champion with the Giants, will serve as the event’s keynote speaker.
Beyond his distinguished athletic career, Affeldt has spearheaded efforts to end human trafficking and modern-day slavery in addition to other philanthropic efforts. He founded Generation Alive, a nonprofit organization that teaches and inspires young people to act by serving others. He is also an entrepreneur as a co-founder of Free Roam Brewing Company in Boerne, Texas.
Individual tickets for the event are $100 and a table for eight is $800. All money raised at the event will benefit Cal Poly Humboldt student-athlete scholarships.