Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — The College of Sequoias women’s basketball team is getting a special addition to the roster for the upcoming season.

They’re getting the 2024 Humboldt Sports Big 5 Girls Athlete of the Year.

Recent Eureka graduate Kaitlin Giacone is a two-time Big 5 MVP on the basketball court and has been one of the top softball players in the H-DNL for the past few years, as well as a very good soccer player.

And now she’s our Big 5 Girls Athlete of the Year after another outstanding year playing multiple sports for the Loggers.

Giacone leaves quite a legacy in her wake at Eureka High.

She is a rare three-time Big 5 conference champion on the basketball court and a two-time reigning conference MVP.

She also is a rare three-time Dick Niclai tournament champ, and has won North Coast Section championships in soccer.

And that’s not all.

This past spring the standout senior was one of the best softball players in the Big 5 and an inspirational all-league team leader who has won conference titles in that sport as well.

And now she’s taking her talents to the College of the Sequoias women’s basketball program where she will play for one of the top JC coaches in the state (Tyler Newton) and should continue to enjoy success.

In reality, this gifted and hard-working multi-sport athlete could easily have played softball at the collegiate level — she is that good — but opted to play basketball instead.

And she closed out her high school in dynamic fashion, hitting a walk-off home run in her final ever high school at-bat.

She will be missed at Eureka High, where she was a popular teammate and inspirational team leader, but there’s every reason to believe she will continue to be successful at the next level.

And she walks away from high school as the 2024 Humboldt Sports Big 5 Girls Athlete of the Year.

She also walks away with a lot of memories she will carry with her forever.

“For me, being (Big 5) MVP in my junior and senior year was definitely my biggest accomplishment, but also the Niclai tournament (final) when we came back after St. Bernard’s beat us (in the regular season),” she said last month after committing to play for Sequoias. “That was definitely a cool moment.”

A huge shout out to the local businesses that have stepped up to help sponsor this year’s awards, a group that includes Mendes Supply, DelReka Distributing, Bode Construction, The Humboldt Fence Company, and Chris Prior of Coldwell Banker Cutten Realty, whose generosity ensures all six award winners will receive trophies to honor their accomplishments.

In addition to the 2024 Humboldt Sports Team of the Year, this weekend we’re also announcing our other end-of-year high school award winners, including our Little 4 Boys and Girls Athletes of the Year, the Coach of the Year, Team of the Year and the Big 5 Boys Athlete of the Year.