AZUSA, CALIF.- A pair of Central College women’s track and field distance event records fell during the first two days of the Bryan Clay Invitational hosted by Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) over the weekend.
Six members of the Dutch men’s and women’s distance crew travelled West to compete at one of the biggest meets in the country. Athletes from all collegiate levels as well as some professional athletes were in acton. Megan Johnson (senior, Parkersburg, Aplington-Parkersburg HS) was the individual champion of the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase open category in a school record time of 10 minutes, 19.79 seconds.
“It was really exciting to see Megan take the lead in her race and win the entire open section,” Dunham said. “It was also great to see her set a new school record.” Also in the open steeplechase category, Caroline McMartin (senior, Pella) was sixth in 10:30.78 and Addison Parrott (junior, Danville) was 47th in 10:49.07.
“We had a great first day with the steeplechasers,” Dunham said. “All three ran great times and I believe there is a lot of room for improvement as we continue through the season.” Noah Jorgenson (senior, Sidney) was 55th in the men’s invitational 800-meter run, crossing the line in 1:50.17. Running in the open division of the women’s 800-meter run, Peyton Steffen (sophomore, Marion) took down a school record that had stood since 1975 with a time of 2:12.52. She finished 76th in a field of 238 runners.
“Both Peyton and Noah had fantastic races putting them in a great spot for this part of the season,” Dunham said. “I was really happy for Peyton to set the school record.” Caleb Silver (fifth year, Conrad, BCLUW HS) battled through what Dunham called a small injury to finish 60th in the men’s open steeplechase in 9:23.17.
“I was extremely proud of him and his mental and physical toughness to get through that race,” Dunham said. “We will get him healthy and he will be racing again soon.”
All six Central runners are slated to run in one of the 1500-meter races late Saturday night.
