ASHLAND, Ore.--- After seeing a strong performance on Thursday at the SOU Meet #1, both of the Humboldt State Lumberjacks' men's and women's track and field team continued their strong performance on Day Two of the SOU Meet #1 in Ashland, Ore. Humboldt State had 16 student-athletes finish in the top eight in their respective events.
Grace Kasberger lead the way for the Lumberjacks with her second-place mark of 1.51m (4-11 ½) in the high jump, which was a personal best jump for Kasberger. Leading the way for the men was newcomer
Paul Domingue with his third-place jump of 1.91m (6-3 ¼) in the high jump.
"All around as a team, we're learning our events as we compete," said Humboldt State head track and field coach
Sarah Ingram. "This year it has been difficult to get the same amount of technical training time in before we hit the road, but it doesn't appear to be holding anybody back. The smaller format of the meets and the shorter length of competitions due to COVID has really improved the quality of the events for the athletes and coaching staff. We just feel like we're able to be better prepared for each event and to be more available to each athlete competing, and it's a nice change of pace to what we're used to. Tomorrow we will be at a new venue for our third day in a row of competition, and with events spread out more throughout the day, we will see how our endurance holds up. Then we'll have a couple days to recover and work on some fine tuning and catching up on class work, before we get back to it next week."
Domingue also finished in the top eight in the 200-meters with a third-place time of 23.03. Besides Domingue's third-place jump, HSU had three other top eight finishers in
Jackson Miller,
Henry Hagen and
Travis Allen. Miller placed fourth (1.86m, 6-1 ¼), Hagen finished in seventh (1.76m, 5-9 ¼) and Allen had an eighth-place jump of 1.66m (5-5 ¼). "Paul (Domingue) and Jackson (Miller) had a strong showing and I am happy with their finishes," noted Ingram. "High jump is a very technical event, and I am asking them to change some things about their take-off position, which can be challenging to learn to execute during a competition, and still perform at a high level."
HSU saw three of its hurdlers finish in the top ten in the women's 100-hurdles in
Joy Hano (second, 15.84),
Christina Roberds (fifth, 16.54) and
Lilyahna Engebretsen (eighth, 18.40). "Joy (Hano) had a very good time, despite some big technical imperfections, so we are really excited what she can run when she cleans it up a bit," noted Ingram. "Chris Roberds also had a very strong race and set a new PR."
Henry Hagen had a third-place time of 15.89 in the men's 110-hurdles. "Henry (Hagen) had a strong early season race, which will set him up nicely for some big points in his decathlon competition next week," added the Lumberjack head coach.
Over in the women's 200-meter dash,
Zoe Becker finished in sixth (27.76) and
Valerie Heywood finished in seventh (28.39).
Emily Bath and
Serena Smith paced the 'Jacks in the 800-meter run. Smith finished in fourth (2:30.80) while Bath ran a 2:32.87 to finish in fifth.
In the men's 800-meter run,
Aris Valerio ran a 1:56.34 to place second in a tactical battle. "This was a strong opener for Aris," said Ingram."
Bath and Smith bound back moments later for the women's 4x400 relay, joined by
Grace Kasberger, and
Valerie Heywood, they finished in fifth place with a time of 4:33.09
"Grace (Kasberger) had a big break through with a 3.5" PR in the high jump, which set a good tone for the day," noted Ingram. "She was really nervous about the event, but she did a really nice job keeping a cool head and listening to the technical cues each attempt, improving her form and personal record tremendously today! I'm really proud of her performance."
Please go to
https://live.athletictiming.net/meets/7672 for the complete results and also video coverage of the field events.
Humboldt State will travel to Monmouth, Ore., tomorrow to participate in the WOU Dual along with Oregon State. The dual will start at 10am with the field events.
