Last Cal Poly Humboldt home track meet of the year
"I could not contain my excitement all week long. It’s just an amazing feeling being home."
Eddie Carpenter wrote this article for Cal Poly Humboldt’s The Lumberjack. It is available for republication or reference. If you think their work is important, you can support it here.
On March 26, Cal Poly Humboldt hosted an invitational track meet. The Jacks have competed in a total of six meets so far. This was Humboldt’s first official home track meet of the season. The event kicked off with the women’s and men’s 4×100 meter relay. It was a blink-and-you-miss-it experience consisting of six rival teams.
Sophomore Joy Hano competed in the long jump, 100-meter hurdles, 100-meter open, and the 4×400 meter relay. She described how ecstatic she felt during her events.
“I had this energy in my body just being home,” Hano said. “After a really long stretch on the road, it felt amazing. It was super exciting. Literally, I could not contain my excitement all week long. It’s just an amazing feeling being home. So happy that we have great weather today and a great showing.”
Hano set new personal records in all of her events. After some hardships in long jump at an OSU meet, Hano was able to come back and set a personal record by five inches. She placed first place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.85 seconds, third in the 100-meter run, and set a personal record by 0.2 seconds with a time of 12.63 seconds. She also competed in the 400-meter relay where she dropped a second from her personal best time.
Decathlete Travis Allen believed that the invitational helped him prepare for upcoming meets.
“I had some highlights. Did pole vault, cleared a couple heights,” Allen said. “Did the hurdles, got a PR there… Going to these events, you’re not going to see improvements every single time, but if I can get more points here and there overall, that’s going to help my decathlon.”
Distance runner Elliot Portillo was enthusiastic about his performances and those of his peers.
“Today I ran the 1500 meter and the 1000 meter. I think that the training we’ve been doing- we’ve been out here pretty much since January,” Portillo said. “I think now as we get into the mid of our season, everyone’s been seeing a lot of improvement. Even if you see today, a lot of people came away with personal bests in a kind of more low-key event…Everyone came out today much more confident in their ability to execute when it matters.”
Portillo hopes to put a time on the record list at the school before he leaves.
Humboldt’s first section of 4×100 men’s relay team placed third with a time of 3:34.02. Their second section of 4×100 men’s relay was not recorded because they did not finish. In the women’s 4×400 meter relay, Humboldt placed second with a time of 4:02:87. Humboldt athletes are now preparing for the Mike Fanelli Track Classic on March 31.