Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — Two local college teams will compete for a conference championship in the coming days, while another local college athlete enjoyed a career day this week.

And all of them are included in our weekly awards this week.

On the soccer fields, the Cal Poly Humboldt women capped an impressive run through the regular season with a 3-3 tie at Chico State on Thursday, which qualified the Jacks for next week’s CCAA Tournament.

This marks the fourth straight year the CPH women have advanced to the six-team postseason tournament, which gets under way on Sunday.

And that’s enough to make the Jacks one of our teams of the week.

They’re joined by the College of the Redwoods football team.

It’s been a tale of two seasons for CR this year.

Head coach Jason White and his players began their campaign 0-6, but have turned around their fortunes in recent weeks with three straight wins.

And that means they will play for a conference championship this weekend in the final game of the regular season, an impressive turnaround for a program that moved up to the more competitive National Division this year.

And they’ve succeeded in exciting fashion, with two of those three wins secured with a come-from-behind touchdown in the final minute of the game.

Redwoods will need some help if the championship is to be achieved.

CR must win at home against American River on Saturday and hope Butte can beat Sierra.

Our athlete of the week, meanwhile, goes to a standout cross country runner.

CR sophomore Gabby Crosswhite enjoyed a career day at Friday’s JC NorCal championships in Fresno, running a PR time on the way to qualifying for the upcoming state meet.

The former Fortuna Husky also placed second at last weekend’s Golden Valley Conference championships in Ukiah.

College of the Redwoods Athletics – Gabby Crosswhite in action for CR at Fresno.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Gabby Crosswhite

College of the Redwoods Cross Country, Sophomore

Crosswhite saved her best for last.

The Redwoods sophomore qualified for the NorCal meet after a strong showing at the conference championships and ran the fastest race of her life in Fresno on Friday.

She placed 29th overall out of 70 runners at the NorCal meet, crossing the finish line of the 5K course in a time of 20 minutes 41 seconds.

“Gabby ran outside of herself,” CR head coach Reed Elmore said. “She peaked it at the perfect time.”

For more on her big week, see Crosswhite qualifies for state championships …

Drew Gwerder/Cal Poly Humboldt Athletics

Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

TEAMS OF THE WEEK

College of the Redwoods Football

Cal Poly Humboldt Women’s Soccer

The college teams stole the local sports headlines this week, with big performances by both programs.

Under the guidance of head coach Grant Landy, the CPH women finished fifth in the CCAA to advance to a fourth straight conference tournament.

The team defense has paved the way for the Jacks’ success this fall, posting seven shutouts in 11 conference games.

But they needed their offense to get them over the line on Thursday, with the Jacks scoring three goals for the second straight game.

The CR football team has been every bit as impressive in recent weeks.

And Redwoods has done it against some top-notch teams.

Last weekend, the CR players rallied to beat the No. 3 team in the state, winning 22-21 at Butte.

It was CR’s first win over the Roadrunners since 1990 and leaves the local community college program in contention for a conference championship and a playoff spot going into the final weekend of the regular season.

Four teams — Redwoods, Butte, Sierra and American River — are deadlocked at 3-1 atop the conference standings, but if CR wins on Saturday there’s every chance the conference championship will be heading to the North Coast.

For more on the Lumberjacks’ big week, see Humboldt women tie Chico to secure tournament berth …

For more on CR football’s big week, see Redwoods remains in conference race after big win at Butte …