LA JOLLA, Calif. — Joy Hano and Aris Valerio posted top-10 marks on the Humboldt all-time record list en route to hitting a pair of national qualifying marks to highlight a successful weekend at the Aztec and Point Loma Invitationals.
"I can't remember a time when we've had this many athletes setting new lifetime personal bests this early in the season, and all in the same weekend," head coach Sarah Ingram said. "The wins, the NCAA provos, the PR's, they are impressive and they all speak loudly for themselves, but what you can't see by those results is this incredibly positive energy building week by week within the team. Everybody believes in the process and in their teammates. Everybody is contributing. It's just a really fun environment."
Hano ran 14.11 in the 100m hurdles to PR by nearly two tenths of a second en route to a meet victory and a NCAA DII Provisional Qualifying Standard. The San Gabriel native currently ranks second on the all-time top-10 list at Humboldt and sits only five hundredths of a second behind school record-holder Clara Triggs mark which was set in 1990. Her mark this weekend also ranks her first in the CCAA and seventh nationally. Hano also climbed to fourth all-time in the 100m with her wind aided time of 12.21 seconds.
Valerio competed in a deep 800m field over at the Aztec Invitational hosted by San Diego State University. The Murrieta, California product ran 1:51.06 to finish second behind Bobby Poynter of USC. His time is the fastest run in the conference so far this year and ranks him sixth in Division II while also provisionally qualifying him to the national meet in May. The time also vaulted him to sixth all-time at Humboldt.
Both marks add to a weekend that saw six changes to the Lumberjack all-time top-10 list. It also leaves the North Coast squad with five athletes ranked in the top-15 nationally. Three of these athletes currently have qualifying standards.
Isabel Perez-Zoghbi capped off her busy weekend with another victory in the 400m hurdles (1:02.92). It's her third consecutive win in the event and fourth overall this season.
In the 800m run, Amelia Jackson and Mariska Kessler both earned top-8 finishes and season bests. Jackson placed fifth in 2:18.56 while Kessler placed eighth in 2:20.
On the men's side, Carson Smith joined his teammate at the Aztec Invitational and raced a competitive 1500m field where he placed seventh in a personal best of 3:54.84. His time ranks sixth in the CCAA.
Back in La Jolla. Zach Blood raced to a huge PR in the 400m dash where he placed eigth in 50.71. Harry Singh finished eighth in the 200m with a PR of 22.44. Julian Jensen and Dominic Raffetto raced to top eight places in the 800m run with times of 1:55.13 and 1:55.97. After a personal best in the steeple the night before, Jaxon Leduc came back to place third in the 1500m run with a time of 4:02.41.
After making his season debut last weekend in Oregon, Slade Cavallero had a breakthrough in the 400m hurdles with an eighth place finish (57.44).
In the throws, Robert Cardenas finished second in the shotput (13.21m / 43' 4.25") and in the discus (40.03m / 131' 4") while Terrence Allen finished second in the hammer throw (45.75m / 150' 1") and Jason Trent finished seventh (41.66m / 136' 8").
UP NEXT:
The 'Jacks will head to the Bay Area to compete at the Stanford Invitational and the Mike Fanelli Track Classic at San Francisco State University from Thursday, March 30 through Saturday, April 1.
