MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.— Central College women's track and field senior Caroline McMartin (Pella) stood on the first team All-American podium for the second night in a row after finishing sixth in the 5,000 meters Saturday.

Weather delays pushed the last few races of the meet late into the night with the women's 5,000-meters starting at 10:10 p.m. local time. McMartin was 2,6000 meters into the race and in 20th place before making a steady climb over the next six laps. Her final lap of 1:11.06 was the second fastest in the field and enabled her to go from 10th to sixth and finish in 17 minutes, 2.80 seconds. She was coming off a runner-up finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase Friday night.

The only faster final lap belonged to Dutch teammate Megan Johnson (senior, Parkersburg, Aplington-Parkersburg HS) who closed in 1:10.02 to move up into 10th and finish in 17:02.80. Johnson was in last place through 3,400 meters before surging forward 10 spots.

"It was a rough afternoon with delays and scheduling issues," coach Brandon Sturman said. "It made the warm up hard to know exactly what to do and when. They both finished strong, Caroline just had better position and was able to catch more runners in front of her. It's a testament to her hard work and dedication."

McMartin, Johnson and Addison Parrott (sophomore, Danville) combined for 23 points, enough to give Central an eighth-place finish as a team. It was the women's first outdoor national top-10 finish since placing runner-up in 1984.

"They did a heck of a job carrying our team this weekend," Sturman said. "We want to keep climbing up the ranks and win a big trophy."

In the women's 1,500 meters Peyton Steffen (sophomore, Marion) was one spot away from a podium finish, taking ninth in 4:36.07. She's credited with second team All-American honors.

"She got knocked down 300 meters into the race and it was hard for her to recover," Sturman said. "It was unbelievable for her to rebound like she did but she got passed at the finish line to miss the podium."

Kale Purcell (junior, Holton, Kan.) also just missed the podium in the men's triple jump despite setting a new school record with a leap of 48-0.5 on his final preliminary jump. He finished 10th for second team All-American accolades.

"He was able to get a slight PR and take full control of the school record," Sturman said. "He got a little unlucky and lost the tie breaker for the final spot in the finals. He's looking forward to the future."          

Noah Jorgenson (senior, Sidney) also earned second team All-American honors by finishing 11th in the men's 1,500 meters. He crossed the line in 4:02.55 and was also a national qualifier in the 800 meters.
           
"Noah has put a lot of time and effort in and he's reaped a lot of benefits," Sturman said. "He's accomplished a ton in terms of schools records and national appearances. He's had a heck of career, just caught a bad break today and wasn't feeling his best."