Catrina Bindel is in her third season as the high jump coach for the Humboldt State men’s and women’s track & field programs.
Bindel earned All-American honors during her collegiate career competing at NCAA Division I Wake Forest University (1991-96). The Eureka native competed in the heptathlon, high jump and various events. She is the program’s current record holder in the indoor high jump, indoor pentathlon, outdoor heptathlon and outdoor high jump. Bindel also has eight records that still stand in the program’s top 10 finishes.
Bindel earned a bachelor of science from the Wayne Calloway School of Business and Accountancy at Wake Forest in 1996.
In 1996 Bindel moved to Austin, Texas where she trained with the renowned track and field coach, Dan Pfaff, at UT Austin. From 1996-99, she competed professionally as a post collegian and traveled internationally and competed in Europe. She competed in the USATF Nationals in 1997 and 1998, finishing fifth in the nation in 1998 in the heptathlon. At that time, Bindel ranked sixth in the nation and 46th in the world in the heptathlon by Track & Field News. In 2000, Bindel hung up her spikes to have her son Markus Bindel-Reiher who is graduating this year from Eureka High School.
She qualified for and competed in several USATF Junior Nationals earning a second place finish in 1991. Bindel qualified for the World University Games in Catania, Siciliy and the 1990 USA v Canada multi-event dual meet in Canada. She also qualified for and competed in the 1996 Olympic Trials in Atlanta.
She is a graduate of Eureka High School and a three-time California State Championship Finals qualifier in the 800m and high jump. Bindel served as Eureka’s assistant coach from 2002-11 and she currently serves as the program’s head coach since 2012.
“Track and field has been and always will be a passion for me,” said Bindel. “I feel extremely blessed to be able to share the joy of running, jumping and throwing things with others. We have an incredible coaching staff that brings a wealth of education, experiences and knowledge to the track.”
