Submitted photos – The Fortuna Huskies, from left to right, Libby Johnston, Kelsi Hall, Kylee Fennell and Kadence Mace,

By Ray Hamill — One local athlete got the new track season off to a flying start this week while another enjoyed a career moment on the golf course, and that makes them our Athletes of the Week, sponsored by College of the Redwoods Athletics.

Arcata senior Anneli Macdonald has started the new track and field season in style after placing first in three events at the Panther Relays in McKinleyville, comfortably outpacing the field by well over a minute in the 3200 meters.

And that gets her the nod for one of our athletes of the week.

Eureka freshman Jerome Lyons, meanwhile, is coming off a week he won’t easily forget after hitting a hole in one during a practice round at the Eureka Municipal Golf Course, and that gets him the nod for our second athlete of the week.

Our team of the week honors got to the Fortuna High softball team.

The Huskies just continue to win and are now 8-0 after four more wins this past week, including a couple of clutch victories over Clear Lake and Credo at the Cloverdale tournament over the weekend.

Submitted photo – Jerome Lyons

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Jerome Lyons

Eureka Golf, Freshman

Lyons is enjoying a memorable debut season in H-DNL boys golf and is contention for a top-seven season finish and all-league honors, an impressive achievement for any golfer, but especially a freshman.

And on Wednesday, he hit a hole in one at the Eureka course, acing the 163-yard second hole using a five iron.

Lyons is one of three Eureka boys who currently sit in the top 10 in league standings (including teammate Talon Vigil, who leads the field) and the Loggers are firmly on course to win this year’s league title.

For more on Lyons’ big week, see H-DNL freshman gets a hole in one at Eureka Municipal Golf Course …

Anneli Macdonald

Arcata Track and Field, Senior

Macdonald appears ready to close out an impressive high school career with a bang and got the new tack and field season off to a dominating start with a big showing over the weekend.

Macdonald placed first in the 3200m in a time of 11 minutes, 15.69 seconds, and also took top spot in a pair of relay events — the 4x800m and the 12-4-8-16 relay —  along with sisters Mathilde and Soquel and teammate Ai-Lan McGoldrick.

Anneli is the two-time defending league champion in the 3200m (as a freshman and junior) and if early indications are anything to go by she will be tough to catch once again this spring.

For more on her big week, see H-DNL teams start to build momentum at Panther Relays …

TEAM OF THE WEEK 

Fortuna Softball

The Huskies are off to a strong start this season, and while the competition will get tougher when they open the Big 5 next week, thus far they have taken care of business and won all eight of their games.

This past weekend, the Fortuna girls rallied on back-to-back days at the Cloverdale tournament, battling back in the seventh inning to beak Clear Lake 5-2 and Credo 8-7, the latter victory coming on a walk off.

They followed that with a big 3-2 win over Little 4 favorites Hoopa on Thursday.

For more on the Huskies’ big week, see Huskies rally late again, advance to tournament championship …