EMPORIA, Kan. -- Standout sophomore
Isabel Perez-Zoghbi of Cal Poly Humboldt women's track & field finished her season on Thursday afternoon in Kansas at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships after running a time of 1:00.46 in the 400m hurdles. She placed 16th in the nation.
Perez-Zoghbi went into the NCAA Outdoor Championships ranked 13th overall in the 400 hurdles with a time of 59.66. Last season, Perez-Zoghbi finished 19th in the nation as a freshman at the NCAA Championships in Colorado with a time of 1:02.04. This season, she earned a silver medal at the CCAA Championships in Turlock and is one of 20 people that nationally qualified in the 400 hurdles event.
Perez-Zoghbi has qualified for nationals twice in two seasons and improved her time on the national stage by nearly two seconds. The difference of sixth place and sixteenth place in the preliminary heats on Thursday was less than a second difference and goes to show how close the fhe field was to qualify for the final race on Saturday.
Perez-Zoghbi stood out this season during both the indoor and outdoor season. During the inaugural indoor season for Humboldt, she was named U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-West Region for the 800m and 400m, and was the only Lumberjack to earn All-West Region in two events as well as qualify for the NCAA Indoor National Championships. She went ranked No. 11 in the 800m with a time of 2:09.47. Nationally, Isabel completed her first indoor season ranked 17th in the 800m and was one of three runners in the West Region to advance to the NCAA Championships for this event. She was also the only freshman in the event due to it being Humboldt's first season of competition in indoor track.
Her outdoor season saw a silver medal at the CCAA Championships in the 400m hurdles and her second consecutive appearance at the Outdoor National Championships, where she improved from 19th to 16th and knocked two seconds off her previous time at nationals. She was not only an All-CCAA recipient, but also a USTFCCCA All-West Region recipient for the 400m hurdles. Perez- Zoghbi is one of three Lumberjacks, joining
Cocome McKamey and
Grace Kasberger, to earn All-West Region for both the indoor and outdoor seasons.
