PACIFIC TWILIGHT: Johnson’s Record 100 Hurdles, Kongela’s 100 Hit NCAA Marks

Pacific Twilight Results (M) / Pacific Twilight Results (W)

FOREST GROVE, Ore. – Returning to the same site where they won the Northwest Conference women’s 100 meter hurdles and men’s 100 meter dash a week ago, George Fox University’s Irene Johnson in record-setting time and Dakari Kongela won those events again with NCAA Division III provisional times in the Pacific University Twilight track and field meet Saturday here at Lincoln Park Stadium.

Johnson sped away with the women’s 100 hurdles in 14.47, easily surpassing the NCAA provisional mark of 14.95 and only 12/100ths of a second from an automatic mark. She now ranks 8th nationally in the event, and also set meet and stadium records. Her time also topped the previous George Fox record of 14.63 by All-American Sharon Barnett in 2000. 

Kongela captured the men’s 100 in 10.78, bettering the 10.88 he ran last week.  He equaled the provisional mark of 10.78 and now stands tied for 28th nationally.  He also set new meet and stadium records in the event. 

Because of George Fox’s graduation ceremonies on Saturday, only a limited number of Bruins were entered in the Pacific Twilight.  Allen Cassell, Cam Eberhart, and Ryan Lane in the men’s 1500 meter run, and Marlee Zakrevsky in the women’s hammer, were the only other Bruins who competed. 

The meet field featured 23 teams from every level of intercollegiate competition and a number of open competitors.  The field expanded greatly to 596 total athletes over the 36 hours leading up to the meet when five Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams were admitted after their conference meet was cancelled due to a H1N1 influenza (swine flu) scare at meet host Western Oregon University. 

The Bruins have two more meets in which to try for national qualifying times before the NCAA Division III National Championships May 21-23 in Marietta, Ohio.  The first is Saturday, May 9, in the University of Oregon Twilight meet, and the second is the Willamette University Last Chance meet Thursday, May 14.

George Fox 2009 NCAA Division III Qualifiers

Men

Joel Krebs - Javelin (6th, 203-7 / 62.6m)

Ryan Forbes - Decathlon (9th, 6,365 pts)

David Dillow - Decathlon (14th, 6,237 pts)

Nate Dillow - Decathlon (20th, 6,161 pts)

Dakari Kongela - 100 (28th, 10.78)

Women

Beth Stam - Javelin (7th, 142-0 / 43.28m), Heptathlon (22nd, 4,139 pts)

Irene Johnson - 100 Hurdles (8th, 14.47)

Cindy Walsh - Long Jump (29th, 18-0.25 /5.49m)