TURLOCK, Calif. --- Lumberjack freshman
Isabel Perez-Zoghbi claimed a national qualifying mark and a top-3 spot on the all-time school record list in just her first collegiate race this weekend at the Kim Duyst Invitational at Stanislaus State. The Merced, California native posted a winning time of 1:01.76 in the 400-meter hurdles, good enough to win the race and provisionally qualify her to the NCAA Division II national championships in May. Her performance highlighted a quality meet from the Green & Gold in their first full travel meet of the season, as 18 Lumberjacks hit conference qualifying marks and times.
"All around we saw some really great performances from the team today," head coach
Sarah Ingram said. "Some hitting PR's and others executing their race strategies. There's lots of learning for this young team too, being the first full meet of the year."
For Perez-Zoghbi, her time slips her just past former Lumberjack Marti McCoy for third all-time in school history. It also currently ranks her first in NCAA Division II and is the first national qualifier ran so far in the event.
"Isabel ran away with the show today," Ingram said. "Hitting an NCAA provo and beating out last years CCAA champion in the 400-hurdles! As of right now, Isabel is ranked first in the nation. When meets from the weekend update by the end of Sunday there may be more results, but it's a damn good start for this eager freshman!"
On the women's side, returning CCAA champion
Joy Hano earned first place in the 100-meter hurdles with a wind aided time of 14.51 seconds. She also finished second in the long jump (5.1 meters) and fourth in the 200-meter dash (26.14).
Grace Kasberger and Chris Roberds also earned top-10 finishes in the 100-hurdles with times of 16.14 and 17.05 respectively. Kasberger also had another top-10 finish in the long jump with a jump of 4.66 meters. Her teammate and fellow heptathlete
Cocome McKamey finished eighth (4.83 meters). In the women's 5k, three Lumberjacks finished in the top 10, with
Saedy Williamson (18:24) and
Rosa Granados (18:36) placing third and fourth while
Jessica Hill-Roddick (19:25) placed ninth.
Nizhoni Kears placed fifth in the shot put with a mark of 10.56 meters while in the pole vault,
Erin Bechtold vaulted 3.05 meters to place sixth.
On the men's side, seven Lumberjacks punched their ticket to the conference meet in the 5,000 meter-run, led by
Carson Smith's fifth place finish in a time of 14:58.
Jaxon Leduc placed 10th in his heat with a time of 15:06 while the freshman duo of
Luis Sandoval and
James Woolery ran qualifiers of 15:11 and 15:15 in their first collegiate 5k. In the throws,
Terrence Allen and Robert Cardenas placed eighth (12.64 meters) and 10th (12.14 meters) in the shotput. Allen followed that up with a fourth place performance in the javelin throw (48.57 meters). In the 200-meter dash,
Grant Van Emmerik opened up his season with a sixth place finish, running 22.65.
UP NEXT
The North Coast squad will be on the road again next weekend when the team travels over highway 299 to compete at the Chico Wildcat Invitational at Chico State on Friday, March 10 and Saturday, March 11.
