It’s Homecoming week at McKinleyville High and that means the school will induct a new class to the Panthers Hall of Fame.
This year’s inductees include Erin (Dickey) Mikolai (class of 1999), Cody Bates (2012), Morgan (Coonfield) Oseto (2016) and the 1996-97 boys basketball team.
The inductees will be honored at the Hall of Fame Reception on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the school’s multi-purpose room, and the induction ceremony will be streamed live on the McKinleyville High School Athletics Facebook page.
The inductees will also serve as the Grand Marshals for the Homecoming Parade on Friday, beginning at 12:35 p.m., and they will be introduced prior to the start of the football game against Ferndale on Friday night at 7:15 p.m.
Mikolai is the first cheerleader to be inducted into the McKinleyville High School Hall of Fame after participating in four seasons of cheer in both football and basketball.
She was also a key member of MHS squads that participated at the California State High School Cheerleading Competition, Cheerleaders of America Cheerleading America Competition, and NCA US Championships.
Mikolai was a two-time All American nominee for the National Cheerleading Association, and following high school she cheered for Humboldt State University for one season in both football and basketball.
Mikolai returned to MHS in 2001 as the cheer coach and coached for 15 years until 2016.
Recently, she has returned to coaching cheer for McKinleyville youth football.
Bates, meanwhile, competed in two sports — basketball and golf — during his time at Mack High, and he earned a total of six varsity letters.
Bates played four years of basketball, one at the frosh level, one at the JV level, and two years of varsity.
As a Senior, he was a starting guard for the Big 5 runners-up and NCS Division-4 qualifiers.
But it was in the sport of golf where Bates enjoyed an excellent run of success, earning All-League honors in all four years that he represented the Panthers, finishing in the top five in all four seasons.
After placing fifth in league as a freshman, Bates finished third in league as sophomore, before winning back-to-back league titles in his junior and senior years, including a dominating 20-stroke win as a senior.
He also helped lead the Panthers to four consecutive team league championships.
Bates closed out his high school playing career by winning the North Coast Section Division-2 individual championship, shooting a 66 at Tilden Golf Course in Berkeley.
Bates continued his golf career at Sacramento State where his career scoring average was 75 over 77 rounds of golf.
He earned All-Big Sky Honorable Mention during his senior year with the Hornets, who won a conference championship that year.
Oseto, meanwhile, left a legacy in distance running that no one has matched as a McKinleyville Panther.
The 2016 Mack graduate dominated the distance running landscape locally during her high school career, competing in four seasons of cross country and four seasons of track and field and earning a varsity letter for each season that she participated.
Oseto was a three-time H-DNL champion in cross country and a runner-up once, whole also winning three section Division-4 championships.
As a senior, she ran the three-mile course at Hayward High School in a very impressive 17 minutes, 02 seconds, defeating the runner-up that year by two minutes and leading the McKinleyville girls team to a second-place finish.
Oseto qualified for the state championships each year, finishing third at the prestigious meet as a sophomore and second as a junior and senior.
Oseto also competed in numerous distance events in track and field, making her mark primarily in the 1600 and 3200 meters and becoming the first four-time league champion in each event.
She also won league titles in the 800m and the 4x400m relay, as well as an NCS Redwood Empire championship in the 3200m four times and in the 1600m twice.
She would close out her high school career with a fourth-place finish in the 3200m at the state championships, before going on to compete in cross country and track and field at Nevada-Reno for three seasons.
Rounding out this year’s inductees, the 1996-97 Panthers boys basketball team was the first team in school history to win a Big 5 title, sharing the championship with Arcata.
The team was coached by Jeff Merker, who led the Panthers to a 21-11 overall record and a 6-2 record in league.
Midway through the season the Panthers were 10-9, but they would close out strong, winning 10 of their next 11 games to qualify for the Dick Niclai Tournament.
After surviving a scare against Del Norte, the Panthers faced off against Arcata in the semifinals, and in front of a packed gymnasium, they won 74-57 to reach the final, where they would get the better of St. Bernards, 63-56, to claim a second consecutive Niclai trophy.
They were seeded No. 4 for the NCS Division-4 postseason and would claim the school’s first-ever section playoff win, topping Drake High 73-63, before eventually falling to No. 1 Tamalpais in the semifinals.
McKinleyville’s Isaac Gildea was named Big 5 MVP that year, while brothers Chris and Kevin Weaver were named to the All-League team.
