GULF SHORES, Ala. -- Less than 48 hours removed from winning the 10K title former Roseburg High athlete Jessa Perkinson kept enough juice in reserve to place third in the 5K, making her the fourth individual in Southern Oregon University women's history to become an All-American in two disciplines at the same national meet, the SOU Sports Information Department reported.
Her 16 total points were the most ever scored by a Raider on the women's side and put SOU in a tie for 20th place in the team standings.
For the third consecutive year, the Raiders captured an individual championship on the men's and women's side – a feat that had previously been accomplished once.
After getting burned by Perkinson down the stretch in the women's 10K, top-seeded Karis Frankian of The Master's got her revenge with a 17:16.51 win in the 5K.
Still, Perkinson managed to overachieve with a time of 17:39.31 for third place after entering as the fifth seed and is the first 5K All-American in SOU women's history.
The effort capped perhaps the most accomplished year ever put together by an SOU women's runner: She was also an All-American in cross country and with SOU's indoor distance medley relay team.
The sophomore isn't the fastest champion in NAIA history, but she may be the most efficient.
A softball standout in high school, Perkinson didn't compete in her first track meet until last year and didn't make her 10,000-meter debut until April 1, when she knocked out the old SOU record by 21 seconds. In her second try at the 10K, Thursday evening on the opening day of the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Blackwell Stadium, she dazzled again to top a 14-person field.
Perkinson's time of 36 minutes, 10.83 seconds was good for another school record, the eighth title in Raider women's history, the third in the last three years and the first in a distance race.
Her upset served as the bow on a day when Jared Hixon (1,500 meters) and SOU's men's 4x100 relay squad qualified for Saturday's finals and Joseph Dotson settled into 10th place through five events of the decathlon.
Perkinson entered as the No. 3 seed (36:14.72), nearly 100 seconds behind top-seeded Karis Frankian of The Master's College (Calif.), last year's runner-up. Perkinson and Frankian lost the rest of the field by the last few laps and went stride for stride until there were 200 meters to go.
That's when Perkinson went into a dead sprint, and her opponent could not. Frankian finally hit the finish line 13 seconds after Perkinson crossed.
"Jessa ran very, very smart," SOU head coach Grier Gatlin said. "The first six to eight laps she was toward the back, and by three miles was in the front pack of four. She just hung onto them and gradually it came down her and one more. At 200, she switched gears and took off. It was a special night for her."
(Photo & information courtesy Nick Dawson & SOU Sports Information)
(posted 6/1/16)
