Northridge’s Vett Finds Surprising Results in Test Drive : College track: Distance runner steps down to 1,500 meters and winds up with a personal-best effort.

For a guy whose main goal at the start of the year was simply to make it through the season without injury, Derik Vett of Cal State Northridge isn’t doing too badly.

The fifth-year senior from Buena High has posted five personal bests in races ranging from the 800 to 5,000 meters this season. After Saturday’s Northridge Open, make it six.

Vett hacked more than seven seconds off his lifetime best in the 1,500, clocking 3 minutes 49.09 seconds to place second in his heat. The effort lowered his previous best of 3:56.34 and moved him to fifth on the all-time Northridge performer list.

“I’m shocked,” said Vett, who was hampered by an assortment of injuries and illnesses during his first four years at Northridge. “I never expected to run this fast. But when I came through (800 meters) in 2:01, it didn’t feel that tough so I just kept going. With a lap to go, I was hurting, but I figured I could hang on.”

Tony Young of the Long Beach Track Club and Mark Junkerman of the Santa Monica Track Club should get assists for Vett’s performance. Young served as the rabbit for the first 880 yards (1:57.9) and, after he dropped out, Junkerman kept pushing the pace, coming through 1,320 yards in 2:59.3--Vett clocked 3:03.9--and finishing with a stadium-record 3:45.53.

“I didn’t even consider how fast I was running,” said Vett, whose personal best of 9:08.66 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase ranks fifth on the all-time CSUN list. “I just concentrated on trying to catch Junkerman. I’m really glad I got to do it at my last home meet of my collegiate career.”

Northridge teammate Sasha Vujic ran a season-best 3:53.64 to finish third.

Vett’s racing itinerary will include the steeplechase in the Occidental Invitational next week and either the 5,000 or the 10,000 in the Santa Monica distance classic the week after that.

But Saturday, Vett was basking in the glow of his latest triumph.

“I’m a 5,000-10,000 (meter) runner,” he said. “I never imagined myself running this fast in my wildest dreams.”

Although Vett’s performance might have been the most surprising by a Northridge athlete in the meet, there were several other notable efforts.

Kevin Hendrix, the 1990 NCAA Division II champion in the 100 meters, ran a wind-aided 10.37 seconds to win the first heat of that event and exceed the provisional qualifying standard (10.40) for the Division I championships.

Hendrix’s performance gave Northridge eight provisional qualifiers for the Division I meet, but the Matadors are still looking for their first automatic qualifier.

Provisional qualifiers will be used to fill out the fields, if needed, in the NCAA meet. But they are not guaranteed of a bid, as are the automatic qualifiers.

Darcy Arreola of Northridge, who already had posted provisional qualifying times in the 800 and 1,500 meters, won both events Saturday.

Arreola ran a season-best 2:06.80 to edge Rose Monday (2:06.91) of Track West in the 800 in the morning and ran 4:26.33--to Monday’s 4:28.68--to take the 1,500 in the evening.

Northridge weightmen Dave Youngberg and Ryan Vierra set personal bests in the hammer throw and shotput, respectively.

Youngberg, a Division II All-American last season, placed third in the hammer with a toss of 186 feet 5 inches and Vierra put the shot 55-11 to finish third.

Youngberg improved his previous best mark by nearly five feet. He is 10th on the all-time Northridge list.