GRAND FORKS, N.D. (VCSUVikings.com) – Megan Johnson qualified for nationals in long jump, and the Valley City State track & field team broke eight school records Saturday at the UND Open.
Valley City State University athletes won one event and had seven Top 4 finishes and 26 Top 8 finishes at the meet that featured NCAA Division I University of North Dakota and a mix of NCAA Division II, Division III and NAIA schools.
“Right now, this is a team that is just tapping into its potential,” said VCSU head coach Chris Johnson. “To break eight school records and have a national qualifier in one track & field meet is quite an accomplishment to say the least. Myself and the rest of the coaching staff are extremely proud of the growth that many of our athletes have made in such a short span of time this season.”
Megan Johnson – a senior from Enderlin, N.D., – won the women’s long jump Saturday with a mark of 5.46 meters (17 feet, 11 inches), eclipsing the national qualifying standard of 5.45 meters. She is the first Viking to qualify for the NAIA National Championships this season. Johnson’s leap was also a new school record, breaking the old record of 5.44 meters (17 feet, 10 inches) set by Danielle Olson back in 1996. It was one of eight school records that would fall on the day.
On the men’s side, Dennis Gonzalez placed fourth in the 5,000 meter run with a school-record time of 15:28.62. That narrowly edged the record previously set by Gary Schafer in 1989.
In the women’s 5,000 meter run, Viking junior Grace Miller placed third and set a new school record with her time of 19:15.34, topping the record of 19:53.27 set by Monica Madavi in 2015.
Allyssa Weitkum placed fifth in the women’s 600 meter run with a school-record time of 1:39.35, breaking the old record of 1:40.11 set by Anna Fuka in 2012. Macy Dimler also placed fifth in the 60-meter hurdles, crossing the line in a school record time of 9.73 seconds. That broke her own record from last season.
Keauna Hansen also broke her own record from last season in the 400 meter run, finishing in eighth place with a time of 1:01.47. The women’s 4×400 relay team of Hansen, Dimler, Weitkum and Julianne Wilson placed sixth (4:14.92) and shaved two seconds off their school record time from earlier this season.
Finally, Peyton Halverson placed eighth in the women’s pentathlon with a school record of 2,373 points, surpassing the record of 2,328 set by Lisa Oliveras in 2012.
A Top 4 finish for the Viking women went to Bryeann Robertson in the shot put, who placed fourth at the meet with her mark of 12.50 meters (41 feet, 1/2 inch).
Joel DelaCruz and Alex Otto both had third-place finishes on the men’s side with impressive performances. DelaCruz took third in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.07 seconds, which is just two-hundredths of a second off the school record. Alex Otto cleared 1.95 meters (6 feet, 4 3/4 inches) in the high jump to place third. His mark is the top height in the North Star Athletic Association this season and is just .03 meters off the national qualifying height of 1.98 meters.
Up next: Valley City State competes at the Bison Open hosted by NDSU on Feb. 2-3.