Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Fortuna’s Russell Pascascio alongside his high school basketball coach Norm Sotomayor after receiving his Big 5 Boys Athlete of the Year trophy earlier this week.

By Ray Hamill — Just weeks after being named the 2024 Humboldt Sports Big 5 Boys Athlete of the Year, Fortuna’s Russell Pascascio is preparing for his next challenge.

Pascascio, who was a two-sport standout for the Huskies, was presented with his trophy at Fortuna High School this week.

And he already has eyes on the next chapter in his academic and athletic careers.

The standout student-athlete, who beat out a talented and deep pool of candidates for the 2024 Athlete of the Year award, will be attending College of the Redwoods in the fall.

After starring for the Huskies in basketball and track and field, however, Pascascio says he will be focusing just on track and field at the next level.

He certainly has the talent to succeed in college and is joining a competitive and successful Corsairs program that has helped several local athletes fulfill their ambitions and not just move on to four-year programs but excel there.

This past spring, five former Corsairs enjoyed huge springs competing at the Division-II level.

Josie Peterson (Chico State), Chance Hefter (Chico State) and Grant Van Emmerik (Cal Poly Humboldt) all won individual championships at the California Collegiate Athletic Association championship meet, while Brianna Green (Fresno Pacific) and Hannah Hartwell (Fort Lewis) both qualified for the NCAA national championships.

And now Pascascio is hoping to follow in their footsteps as he looks to make some noise against college competition.

There is no doubt he has the tools and talents to succeed with the Corsairs.

After his second straight all-league campaign in basketball this past winter, the Fortuna senior followed that with another memorable season in track and field.

He placed first in both the triple jump and high jump at the H-DNL championships and would follow that with a first place in the high jump at the North Coast Section Meet of Champions, matching his PR in the event with a jump of 6’ 5”. 

That was good enough to qualify for the state championships.

He finished his senior having placed first in the high jump in 10 of the 11 meets he competed in this year.

Pascascio says he will compete for CR in the high jump and may also compete for the local community college in the triple jump.

Good luck to Russell on his journey and congratulations on a well-deserved athlete of the year award.