FINAL RESULTS

CHICO, Calif. -- Cal Poly Humboldt kicked off their 2024 Outdoor Track & Field season on Saturday at the Wildcat Invitational, hosted by Chico State. The Lumberjacks competed against members from Chico State, Cal State Monterey Bay, Butte College, College of the Redwoods, Shasta College, College of the Siskiyous, Yuba College, and a few unattached athletes. Across both squads, Humboldt saw many athletes reach personal records and junior women's 100m hurdler Joy Hano reach an NCAA Division II Provisional mark with a time of 14.02 seconds. 

Beginning with the women's running events, Cal Poly Humboldt showed well in their season opener. Mia Roberts finished 3rd place in the women's 100m dash with a personal record time of 12.54. Right behind her in 4th place was Cadence Peery with a time of 12.63. 

In the 200m, Hano led the 'Jacks with a 3rd place finish and time of 25.89. Notching another PR was Mia Roberts, who finished right behind Hano in the race with a time of 26.18. Coming in 6th place was Grace Kasberger with a time of 26.82. 

The women's 100m hurdles saw Joy Hano win both the prelim heat (14.17) and finals (14.02, NCAA Provisional mark). Lots of 'Jacks qualified for the 100m hurdle finals and two more PR's were achieved. Cocome McKamey finished in 3rd place and ran a 14.79 PR, making her 7th all-time in the Humboldt record books. Ginny Brooks finished right behind McKamey in 4th place and ran a 15.44 PR. Chris Roberds (5th, 15.62) and Grace Kasberger (6th, 15.89) rounded out the finals. 

The women's 4x100 relay dominated the day as Mia Roberts, Grace Kasberger, Cadence Peery, and Joy Hano raced to victory with the 7th fastest time in Humboldt history (48.41). 

In the men's running events, Humboldt also saw success throughout the day of racing. Beginning with the 100m prelim, Ryan Castro ran a PR time of 10.73, which is the 4th fastest time in Humboldt history. Christian Megas also made the record list, as he ran the 8th fastest 100m in history with a time of 10.79. Harry Singh finished 9th in the prelims with a time of 11.12. In the 100m final, Castro placed 3rd (10.91) and Megas placed 6th (11.00).

The men's 200m featured familiar names as Megas finished in 2nd place (21.92), freshman Joey Bowser finished 5th (22.41), Castro grabbed a PR with a time of 22.74 and finished 10th, and Singh crossed the finish line in 12th (22.83). 

The men's 110m hurdles saw sophomore Walker Dorris take 2nd place with a time of 15.73. 

Grant Van Emmerik led Humboldt in the 400m with a 2nd place finish and time of 48.86. Bowser crossed the line in 6th place (50.89). 

In his first time running debut, 400m hurdler Michael DeTamble ran a time of 59.08 and finished 7th overall. 

The 4x400m relay had two Lumberjack teams finish in the Top-3, as the A squad with Evan Schweitzer, Julian Jensen, Joey Bowser, and Grant Van Emmerik finish 2nd with a time of 3:25.75 and the C squad of Walker Dorris, Michael DeTamble, Landon Thorp, and Lucas Garin finish third with a time of 3:26.47. 

The field events saw Cocome McKamey PR in the javelin (27.69m), Bryce Pearson take 4th place in the high-jump (1.84m), Paul Domingue (13.43m) and Taylyn Henry (10.36m) both win the triple jump, Ginny Brooks (5.24m) take 2nd place in the long jump, and sophomore Erin Bechtold win the women's pole vault (3.35m, PR, 3rd all-time). 

"I'm very proud of how the team performed in their first outdoor meet of the year," stated assistant coach Teigan Eilers. "The months of hard work and practice are really starting to show just how ready they are to perform. As a whole, we have much more depth than we have had in previous years and it was great to see just how many high performers we have across so many different events. The sprinters and hurdlers really shined today, and some of the times ran for this early in the season show how much potential we have. The energy was contagious today and the athletes are eager to improve going into a stretch of competitive meets!"

From the throws, Joseph Gonzalez opened up the outdoor season with a huge personal best in the discus throw (42.46m), landing him a 2nd place finish. Gonzalez also captured 3rd in shotput with a throw of of 13.68m, closely followed by his teammate Robert Cardenas, who captured 4th place with a toss of 13.52m. 

The women Lumberjack throwers also had big personal records in the shotput competition with Nizhoni Kears capturing 2nd place with a throw of 11.51m, closely followed by teammate Grace Kasberger who threw a personal best of 11.33m. 

Freshman Samantha Smith produced a personal best throw in the discus completion, throwing 36.44m and taking 3rd place. Gillian Davis was right behind in 4th place with a throw of 36.01m. 

Throws coach BJ Willkomm stated, "There were several other personal best records set at the Wildcat Invitational, establishing a strong opening weekend for the Lumberjack throwers!" 

Cal Poly Humboldt will travel to Corvalis, Oregon next Saturday (March 16) to compete in the Pacific Northwest Invite.