Jasmine Barnes set a new school record Saturday, highlighting some strong individual performances by VCSU track and field athletes at the large Bison Open.
 
Barnes broke VCSU’s indoor mile run record by more than 7 seconds Saturday, recording a time of 5:26.28. That placed her 12th in a field of 32 runners at the large meet, which featured numerous NCAA Division I and II schools. Barnes was the top NAIA finisher in the event and broke the old school record of 5:33.82 set by Allyssa Weitkum back in 2019.
 
Complete Meet Results
 
One week after setting the school record in the women’s pentathlon, VCSU freshman Emma Muggli slightly bettered her mark on Friday night at the Bison Open. She finished with 2,825 points, narrowly beating her previous record of 2,821 points, and setting new PRs in both the long jump and the shot put.
 
Cody Frounfelter set a big PR in the weight throw on Friday, beating his previous best by nearly 2 feet. His mark of 13.45 meters (44-1.5) led the team and placed him 21st in a field of 42 throwers. Frounfelter was one of several Viking throwers who set PRs during the Bison Open. Zac Kuznia led the Viking men in shot put with his PR of 12.71 meters (41.8.5).
 
Rigo Garcia ran 9:21.97 in the men’s 3,000 meters. That ranks him third in the conference this season. In the women’s 3,000 meters, Barnes finished in 10:55.90 and Karly Just in 11:04.83. Those performances rank them second and third in the conference, respectively.
 
Karina Olson ran a new personal-best in the 60-meter hurdles, clocking a blistering time of 9.09 seconds in the preliminaries of the Bison Open. That qualified her for the finals in a deep field of 25 runners. Olson finished by placing 8th in the finals. Her prelim time of 9.09 seconds was just .06 seconds away from national qualifying and .07 seconds off the school record. She is currently ranked second in the conference.
 
Up next: Valley City State heads to Brookings, S.D., for the SDSU Indoor Classic, Feb. 9-10. That is VCSU’s final tune-up meet before the NSAA Indoor Conference Championships on Feb. 18.