Saving her best 3,000-meter steeplechase race for last, Central College women’s track and field senior Megan Johnson won the national title at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships Friday.

Running the seventh-fastest time in Division III history, Johnson bested the field in 10 minutes, 13.46 seconds, becoming Central’s first female individual national champion since Alicia Whisner won the javelin throw in 2007. Johnson was joined on the All-American podium by teammates Caroline McMartin and Addison Parrott who finished second (10:22.61) and seventh (10:37.31), respectively. It’s the first time since 2002 three Dutch women were individual All-Americans in the same event.

Climbing up eight spots in the men’s decathlon, Gavin Smith also earned a podium finish and first team All-American honors with 6,808 points and a sixth-place outing. His efforts provided the fourth All-American performance by a Dutch decathlete since 2018. Kale Hobart was also 17th in the decathlon (6,312 points), while teammates Reid Pakkebier (6,311 points) and Gage Huyser (6,099 points) finished in 18th and 20th. Olivia Bohlen’s 12th-place finish in the heptathlon earned her second team All-American accolades with a two-day total of 4,654 points. She gave the Dutch women their first All-American in the heptathlon since Jill Ziskovsky was fifth in 2011.

Central has five individuals across four events on Saturday for the final day of competition.