It is fitting that Katrina and Patrina Hall, a twin sister duo whom helped transform the track & field program at the University of La Verne, will both be inducted into the Leopard Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2013.
Both achieved remarkable success during their time at La Verne during the late 1990s and have left a lasting legacy. Together, the they made an immediate impact on the Leopard program, elevating La Verne women's track & field to unprecedented status.
"When I first heard of their selection to the Hall of Fame, I was very excited for both of them," said Leopard head coach Pat Widolff. "They truly deserve the recognition."
The duo helped bring the Leopard women’s track & field team to prominence on both the conference and national scene. The ’97 Leopard squad enjoyed an unprecedented year by capturing the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference crown while qualifying several athletes to the NCAA Championships. Katrina would be honored as SCIAC Female Athlete of the Year that season.
"It was exciting because we had not been competitive until they arrived," Widolff said. "They both competed in five events and dominated the competition."
Katrina won the 100 meter hurdles at the SCIAC Championships and scored in the high jump, long jump and triple jump events. Sister Patrina was a scorer in both the 100 and 200 meter dash events and anchor the school record-setting 4 x 400 meter relay. The twins would also team up to win the 4 x 100 meter relay.
Both athletes would earn All-America honors the following season in 1998. Patrina enjoyed one of the most dominant seasons ever, setting SCIAC records in both the 200 meters and long jump that season while also setting school records in the 100 and 400 meter events. Her SCIAC record of 24.11 in the 200 meters still stands. Katrina would set a conference mark in the triple jump en route to a seventh place finish at the NCAA Championships.
Born and raised in Stockton, Calif., by their mother Sherry Roberts, Katrina and Patrina were raised in an environment that encouraged them to get heavily involved in sports. At Franklin High School in Stockton, both girls enjoyed a wide array of success in sports as they competed in cross country, basketball, soccer and track and field.
Their accomplishments in high school track & field enabled them to be recruited by many schools, including La Verne and a few Division I institutions, eventually deciding on attending the University of Oklahoma.
Two seasons later, Widolff would be more than delighted to receive the Hall twins for their junior seasons in the fall of 1996, and the rest would be history.
"The recruitment of both athletes was a long process," Widolff said. "It took a little longer for them to get to La Verne but in the end it was a rewarding experience."
Their legacy is littered across the Leopard track & field record book as they appear among the Top 10 performers in different nine events. Patrina remains the school record holder in the 200, 400 and long jump events. Katrina's impact was also felt as an assistant coach under Widolff. One of her achievements during her coaching tenure was help guide current Leopard senior Paul Turner to a NCAA Championship in the long jump in 2011.
The impact - or double impact - of the Hall twins is again celebrated as they appropriately share the stage once representing the University of La Verne. This time, they'll do so as newly-minted Hall of Famers.
