SAN MARCOS, Calif. -- On the final day of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships, Cal Poly Humboldt saw two podium finishes to go along with a sixth place finish for the men's team and a seventh place finish for the women's team. 

"We had many highlights this weekend, and we have so much to be proud of," said head coach Sarah Ingram. "Our athletes competed well, however we just don't have the depth of numbers of some of these other schools to score higher as a team. Our men actually scored more points than projected based on rankings, but they still finished 6th out of 8 teams. And our women finished 7th out of 12 teams. The conference as a whole really stepped up its game and ran some very very fast times! Our returning conference champions each took 2nd place, despite their marks improving significantly from last season, so although bittersweet, we can't be disappointed as they did everything right to the best of their ability, and the competition just did better on this day."

The Women's 4x400 team was seeded into the second heat of the two-heat final, and ran against only one other team in that heat. The team ran an eight second season best (3:59.60) to win the heat and beat out three additional teams that were seeded faster, to clinch a 5th place overall finish.

Ingram stated, "That was pretty cool, our ladies really got after it and ran their legs off to get that time and place, and it allowed us to move up ahead of Sonoma in the team scores who was up one point on us before the last event." 

Every relay team scored points on Saturday, with the Men's 4x400 team running a four second season best (3:19.88) and placing 4th. The Lumberjack men's 4x100m also took 4th place with a time of 43.26, and our women 7th with a time of 49.39.

Sophomore Sebastian Vaisset-Fauvel had a bold race in the 1500m, running back to back PR's in prelims and finals, winning his heat of the prelim with a time of 3:53.85 and taking 5th in the finals with a time of 3:52.48. 

Joy Hano earned a silver medal and All-CCAA honors with her second place podium finish in the 100m hurdles, finishing with a time of 14.07. Hano is currently ranked number 21 in the nation for Division II and has a good chance to potentially earn a national bid to compete in Pueblo, Colorado at the end of May. 

Harry Singh had another incredibly huge weekend of new personal bests, running PR's in the 100m prelim, 100m final, 200m prelim, and running on both 4x400 and 4x100 relays. He nearly missed the top 10 program record board in both his individual events this weekend, so he'll be joining the last chance crew in Azusa trying to continue his streak. 

Dom also ran back to back PR's in prelims and finals in the 800m to earn 6th in the final with a time of 1:53.30.  

Aris Valerio's 800m performance, taking 2nd place, moved him up the national rankings to number 22 and earned him a silver medal with a time of 1:50.33. 

Isabel Perez-Zoghbi is now number 15 nationally in the 400m hurdles after running a time of 1:00.54.

"Case in point is Isabel, who ran a lifetime personal best in the 400m hurdles and moved up in the national rankings six spots to 15th, took 4th place in a very competitive field," said Ingram. "After this weekend our conference has four of the top fifteen 400m hurdlers in the country! The strength of our conference is crazy!"

Ingram sounded hopeful about having a few national appearances stating, "Aris Valerio, Isabel Perez-Zoghbi, and Joy Hano have a chance at qualifying for the national championship with these rankings, but we won't know for sure until after this upcoming weekend's final qualifying meet. We plan to take a small group to Azusa Pacific for a last chance meet to see if we can better their marks and improve their chances." 

Terrence Allen took 6th in the javelin and 8th in the shot put, and freshman Robert Cardenas had a big final throw to move up to 6th place in the shot put. Freshman female shot putter, Niz Kears, improved her lifetime best in just about every throw on Saturday, finishing the competition in 9th place and improving her lifetime best over 2.5 feet over the course of her freshman season. 

Meet Highlights

All-CCAA (Top-3) performances:

Grace Kasberger - 2nd place Heptathlon (Silver Medalist)
Cocome McKamey - 3rd place Heptathlon (Bronze Medalist)
Joy Hano - 2nd place 100m Hurdles (Silver Medalist)
Aris Valerio - 2nd place 800m Hurdles (Silver Medalist)

Point Breakdown of Those Who Earned Points:

Grace Kasberger - Heptahlon, High Jump, 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay - 11.5 points
Joy Hano - 100m Hurdles, 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay - 9.5 points
Cocome McKamey - Heptahlon, High Jump, Triple Jump - 8 points
Isabel Perez-Zoghbi -  400m Hurdles, 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay - 6.5 points
Saedy Williamson - 3,000m Steeplechase - 4 points
Christina Roberds - 100m Hurdles, 4x100m relay - 2.5 points
Amelia Jackson - 4x400m relay - 1 point

Aris Valerio - 800m, 4x400m relay - 9.25 points
Grant Van Emmerik - 400m, 4x400m relay- 5.25 points
Harold Singh - 100m, 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay - 4.5 points
Sebastian Vaisset-Fauvel - 1500m - 4 points
Terrence Allen - Javelin, Shot Put - 4 points
Robert Cardenas III - Shot Put - 3 points
Dominic Raffetto - 800m - 3 points 
Jaxon Leduc - 3,000m steeplechase - 2 points
Carson Cohn - 10,000m - 1 point
Zach Blood - 4x400m - 1.25 points
Ryan Castro - 4x100m - 1.25 points
Nico Bartlett - 4x100m - 1.25 points
Connor Pratt - 4x100m - 1.25 points

For more information on Cal Poly Humboldt track and field, please visit humboldtathletics.com and follow us on all social media platforms.